SOS...Could this be (severe) detox?

[rawwannabe]

Since last week, I noticed stiffness in my neck and shoulders, which is nothing unusual. Then, on Tuesday, I awoke w/ pain and inflammation in my left shoulder. As the day progressed, so did the swelling and pain. Tuesday night I want to the ER. Yesterday, I followed up w/ an orthopod, who diagnosed Bursitis (leaking calcium into the joint, which he likened to battery acid on skin, thus causing pain) and tendonitis.

He gave me a cortisone shot which seems to be working wonders and prescribed Celebrex (which I don't relish taking) as well as a pain med.

Until last night (through all of this) I remained raw. Last night I caved and had 2 slices of pizza w/ fresh garlic. Today, back to all raw.

Could this be a result of detox? With the exception of 3 meals, and coffee w/ 1/2 & 1/2, I have been completely raw.

Experienced raw foodists, please advise. Thanks! I'm quite concerned that my body would react so violently to cleansing if this is indeed detox.

[Revvell]

It's all detox.

You might wish to google Cortisone, the wonder drug. All it does is mask the pain. Drugs never work to heal or cure anything.

Take care,

Revvell

[Vegan Princess]

I had a horrible stiff neck for over a week. Got a couple massages and took it easy. This was a couple weeks into starting raw. Then it just went away. I hope you feel better soon. Try some warm soaks in the tub and treat yourself to a massage!

[Gwena]

Hey Rawwannabe,

I'm a clinical massage therapist and we often work with folks who have been diagnosed with bursitis. It's typically an overuse syndrome that is greatly helped with massage.

Basically the bursa (fatty pad that creates a cushion between 2 bones/a joint) is inflamed. For a lot of folks it just happens out of the blue due to numerous things, i.e. postural deviations, a weight baring injury, etc. Yep, usually tendonitis accompanies it. It's all inflammation. I'm no doctor so I can't diagnose you, but if I had bursitis, I would personally work on correcting the problem as opposed to taking more shots. Shots don't really fix the problem and it will only come back.

With regards to this being a detox symptom, though I tend to think detox attributes to many things, I'd be hard pressed to suggest your condition is due to detox. VERY hard pressed. If anything, an acidic body MIGHT aggravate the already existing problem, but diet doesn't create bursitis. Sitting at a computer all day clicking a mouse, or using your shoulder in a repetitive motion without doing bodywork to counteract the effects of these unnatural movements might, but not eating this or that. However, if I had a case of bursitis I'd probably up the greens and alkaline foods, reduce acidic foods and drink lots of good high alkaline water.

I'd suggest going to a great holistic physical therapist, clinical massage therapist or chiropractor for help. Your doctor can refer you and insurance will pay for your treatments.

I wish you all the best! ;)

[KatK]

What do you consider acidic foods? I've read a lot of things which just made me feel confused.

[luckitri]

Google pH value of foods and you will get many sites. They do not always agree.

Here is the first one I got this time.

http://www.trans4mind.com/nutrition/pH.html

There are some foods known to be acidic such as lemons, limes and apple cider vinegar with the mother in it (like Braggs) which actually have a healthy alkalizing effect on the body. I cannot explain to you why this happens but it is generally accepted as true. This is why many healing regimens add lemon juice or tell you to drink some apple cider vinegar with honey and water.

[rawwannabe]

Thank you all for your input. I really appreciate it.

Revell, I don't like the idea of taking drugs, but the pain was awful. Believe me, I am one very stoic person; for me to go to an ER,, I have to be in a LOT of pain.

Gwena, I should have gone for a massage as soon as the more intense pain began (before the swelling started). What's the difference between a clinical massage therapist, and a "regular" massage therapist, and how do I find one?

[Gwena]

Hey Rawwannabe,

A Clinical Massage Therapist is a bit different from a standard massage therapist in that they not only provide relaxtion massage of various kinds, but they mainly work to help provide relief for soft tissue problems such as Bursitis, Sciatica, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, tension headaches, TMJ, etc. They also manipulate the soft tissue to promote proper bone realignment with regards to postural issues like hyperlordosis (swayback), hyperkyphosis (huched back), pelvic tilting, leg length discrepencies, rounded shoulders (a big problem for most folks due to long hours at our computers and a big contributor to tendonitis and bursitis in the shoulders :o ) etc..

If you shoot me an email I can direct you on where to find a clinical therapist in your area. My email address is rawbazaar@gmail.com. I do recommend going to a person who has had clinical training as they will be more able to pinpoint your source of pain, and will have had the education necessary to perform the proper protocols. Do know that it will probably take more than one 20-60 minute session to effectively work the muscular structures that are causing your pain. As it takes a while to develop a bursitis, it also takes a little while to reverse one.

Wishing you the best. :)

[rawnora]

Even when there is no other apparent cause, dietary factors can and do cause inflammation in various areas of the body, including those affected by "bursitis". "Itis" means "inflammation". The prefix just refers to the specific area affected. Here's an explanation of inflammation from RawFoodExplained.com:

"INFLAMMATION - This is the stage of disease that is usually first noticed and is recognized by physicians as pathology, for it involves pain. Energy that would normally be available for activity there is pre-empted and redirected to the massive effort to cope with a severe condition of intoxication.
In inflammation, the toxicants have usually been concentrated in an organ or area for a massive expulsive effort. It is an evidence or symptom of increased and intense body activity directed at cleansing and repair. It is a healing activity. If this eliminative effort is suppressed by drugs, the toxicity increases until other organs become saturated—not only with this toxicity but with the drugs administered as well. This fourth stage of disease is the body's most intense effort to cleanse and restore itself. The following degenerative stages of disease will result if the causes of general body intoxication are continued."

Inflammation is something we associate with injury or overstressing a body part but it also becomes chronic even in the absence of those factors when people practice unhealthy habits over a long period of time. Less commonly, it can happen in the course of detoxification, too, as when a person makes radical changes to his/her diet. Expulsion of stored wastes can cause poisons to congregate and/or come into contact with vulnerable tissues (perhaps those that were already in a weakened state because of the previous lifestyle habits) in the body and when this happens, the body brings fluids to the area for the purpose of protecting the tissues involved via dilution, among other purposes. Many times inflammation that is caused by radical dietary improvement occurs in areas where a person has had problems before, but it can also arise in an area where there have been no previous complaints.

It amounts to subverting the body's wisdom when we cause the fluids the body has sent to an affected area to be re-dispersed through the use of anti-inflammatory drugs, ice treatment, massage or other modalities. Inflammation is a body-instituted process for healing and recovery and to turn it off is to turn off healing. Reduction of swelling does not equate to healing unless it has happened naturally after an affected area has been allowed to rest.

Inflammation, whether it's caused by injury or detox, calls for the same response -- rest. Rest is the only thing that can facilitate the healing process. By 'rest' I don't just mean keeping the affected area motionless, but also allowing the body to direct all its resources to healing by sparing it the task of converting food to fuel.

Happy healing, :)

Nora
www.RawSchool.com

[misslinda]

Nora's offered great insight and straight forward thinking/understanding.

Look at other body adaptations that we are familiary with.....fever,swelling,itching etc. The body is always trying to filter and detox foreign substances that don't belong in the body.

I had injuries 3 years ago and after taking prescribed anti-inflammatory meds, I was completely stiff on the left side of shoulder and neck. Ongoing, I began having stomach issues and developed upper respiratory problems too. Mind you, I was still struggling with raw. I put up with pain levels that put me in bed for days and barely walking or sitting. As my body detoxed old and new stuff, I went thru the waves of healing......to be expected and soooo worth it.

If you are willing to do it the natural way, there is going to have to be some willingness to increase your toleration of "pain." You can slowly work away from meds and continue on with raw and plenty rest and relaxed/postive thinking.

:)

[rawnora]

I should add I experienced something similar a few years ago after I'd been raw 3 years. I picked blueberries with a heavy pack on my back for a couple hours and the next day I couldn't move. I wasn't even aware that I had done anything to injure my back but apparently factors in my body converged to create a problem. After 3 nights without sleep, I started trying remedies, first massage, then hot/cold, then homeopathics, then herbs, and then muscle relaxants. When none of these worked, I had to take pharmaceuticals.

It is not the emergency use of pain meds in extremely unusual circumstances that creates and/or exacerbates disease, it is their chronic, repeated use. If a person has to resort to a remedy in order to sleep or function, the goal should be to use the least toxic methods available and do everything else possible to effect natural healing (i.e., fasting & rest). In people who are already making radical dietary improvements, the judicious use of remedies -- even pharmaceuticals -- is entirely appropriate in emergency situations.

Best wishes,
Nora
www.RawSchool.com

[misslinda]

Nora, now I have a question for you.........

You mentioned three years into raw, you opted for pharmaceuticals after 3 days of no sleep and other natural means didn't respond, how did your body then repsond to the medicaiton?

:)

[Journeytohealth]

Rawwannabe, I agree with Rawnora.....Detox can be a nasty thing.....Eat lots of fresh pineapple it has bromelain in it....that is an enzyme that brings down inflammation...also tumeric root works wonders just take a tsp or so a day with some honey and water...also my chiropractor suggested L-Glutamine caps. they are supposed to reduce the acid in the muscle.
But I have to say the probability of detox is very high...I have suffered various soft tissue issues and these supplements along with trying to continue with the raw as much as you can tolerate is best...

[rawnora]

Hi Linda,
It was a good lesson because I realized my feelings about pharmaceuticals were kind of unrealistic. I was worried that by taking drugs I was UNdoing a lot of healing my body had accomplished from being raw, but it forced me to recognize that small amounts of pain medication do so little damage that it doesn't warrant all the fear and resulting willingness to put up with pain that interferes with sleep or other important functions. I should say that chronic pain is a different issue, and if a person has been using drugs repeatedly it really is a good idea to try to develop a higher pain threshold, as you mentioned. When I was cooked I used to take pain meds every month for menstrual cramps, for example. After I went raw, although I had debilitating cramps many times, I only took meds once. With my back problem, I continued to take the meds for about a couple weeks, gradually taking less and less until I could sleep through the night. I don't recall feeling any particular side effects or detox afterwards, although during that time I was so focused on the pain that I probably wasn't as aware of my other bodily sensations.

I think it's important to keep a sense of perspective in a situation like that because if a person *perceives* that s/he has screwed everything up by taking drugs, it's easy to justify going backwards with the diet.

Thanks for asking. :)

Warmly,
Nora
www.RawSchool.com

[misslinda]

thanks for replying Nora......I bet those BLUEBERRIES were worth it :p

[luckitri]

Thank you for sharing that rawnora.

[rawnora]

You're welcome! :) Yes, I can say now that the berries were worth it but I'm not sure I would have then!

Smiles,
Nora
www.RawSchool.com

[rawwannabe]

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

I wish there was a hug emoticon.

Feeling better by degrees. This has to be detox. It's way too coincidental to be anything else. I SO GREATLY appreciate all of the advice and wisdom you've shared.

I'm going to thoroughly read your site when I have the time to give it the attention and focus it deserves, rawnora. From what I've seen, it looks fascinating!