Frequently, I see patients in the clinic suffering from inflammatory conditions such as chronic pain, joint pain, inflammation, and arthritis. These conditions all present with various different symptoms. There are many reasons why we can actually have joint pain and arthritis in our bodies.
Typically it's some sort of inflammatory condition or an inflammatory response. While there are many factors that can cause inflammation, today I’d like to talk about one in specific - constipation. If you're constipated and you're not able to eliminate at least two to three times a day, chances are you're not getting rid of those toxins. Toxic load that keeps building up in your body can result in pain and inflammation. Let me tell you about my personal experience with this. About 10 years ago, I started having some bowel issues. I went to see my doctor and she suggested I increase the amount of water I was taking in to help with my constipation. I felt like I got no real guidance and left wondering what that really means and how much water I should actually be drinking.
Through my own research, I found out that you need to drink at least half your body weight in ounces of water a day just to maintain hydration. And, if you're drinking alcohol or caffeine, then you have to increase that even more. Following my doctor’s advice, I started drinking more than half my body weight in ounces of water each day and was still constipated. I went back to my doctor and she decided to run some tests. I went ahead and had an upper endoscopy and a colonoscopy as well. Neither of these tests showed any issues.
Over time I got frustrated because I still had constipation and chronic inflammation in my body. I was waking up at night tossing and turning side to side with hip pain and low back pain. At this point, my doctor decided to do a sleep study and see if I had sleep apnea. Based on the test results, it was determined that I had really interrupted sleep. I was told to work on my sleep hygiene, get some dark curtains, and stop being so stressed. Can you imagine how frustrated I was at this point? I needed to find answers, so I started looking at other alternatives to medicine and other kinds of treatment. When I found functional medicine and I discovered that this practice actually looks at the root cause of why a patient is having symptoms, I knew this was for me. I went on to become a functional medicine practitioner. I started studying and learning about functional medicine because I wanted to get to the root cause of why I was having pain. I wanted to understand why I wasn't sleeping at night, why my guts were a mess and why I was constipated.
Do you struggle daily with an inflammatory condition? Are you frustrated by your doctor saying, just take some Advil for your joint pain or take a sleeping pill when you can't sleep at night? Are you not getting any real guidance on your condition?
If so, please contact me. I can help you! Together we can put together a systemized approach looking at root causes of why you're having joint pain or arthritis. We can come up with a plan through specialized testing and treatment to help get you on a track of better health, optimal health, and real answers. You can reach me directly at tsheltonhealth@gmail.com. You can also visit my website - https://www.bettermedicinebetterlife.com or my Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/BetterMedicineBetterHealth.