Medications AND Alternative Choices (Healthy Habits #7)

As I have grown older, I have felt that everything we need to heal the body is found somewhere on this earth. Heavenly Father planned it that way. Now we need to find the cures. This leads me to say that I am a skeptical about some things, but lately I believe more and more that the medical field is going the wrong direction in many areas and that alternative medicine has some really good options.

When I moved to Utah, I was on one medication for high blood pressure. High blood pressure for me is hereditary. I have tried so many natural things including loosing weight and the blood pressure does not change. I am okay with that. I had an MD/ND in Washington and he worked with me trying things.  In one year of living in Utah, which is a proactive/preventive medical state in many ways, I am on 4 prescriptions.  My doctor freaked out that I wasn’t on something for my high cholesterol. He also felt I needed potassium and thyroid medication. So I don’t want to add more medication!

Now my important main medical issues to me are my bursitis in my hips and the osteoarthritis in my legs. Occasionally I have issues with my lower back and left shoulder. All of these issues are due to the 2002 roll over car accident I was in or just old age. Years of physical therapy and chiropractic work have helped some but often not completely. When you get older, you will try just about anything to see if it will work, especially when it comes to relieving pain.

I would guess most of my friends and family don’t even know I am in pain or when I am in pain. After awhile it is just part of life and we adapt to the pain and live with it. It doesn’t help that I have a higher tolerance to some pain than most people. I have been at levels 8-10 of pain and still out doing what needs to get done. A bit slower, but most the time I don’t say anything.

So when I found a new natural direction to go that has been working, I have been shouting to everyone that I have been pain free for 6 weeks! Like I said, most people didn’t know I was even in pain. I do not understand how energy works. I do not understand how pressure points, reflexology, or essential oils work, but I know in many cases they work. I chose to try Bowenwork. Like I said, I don’t get it but, during my first appointment with Andrea, a Alternative Medicine Practitioner, she picked up on a high school knee injury that no doctor has ever noticed. This is a description of Bowenwork:

“Bowenwork is a dynamic system of muscle and connective tissue therapy that was developed by the late Tom Bowen in Australia. It utilizes small but measured inputs to the body stimulating the body to heal itself, often profoundly.Bowenwork usually results in the relief of many specific injuries and other health problems, both acute and chronic. Signals are delivered to the nervous system at specific locations (on muscles, tendons, ligaments, or nerves) and the body does the rest.”

At my first appointment I laid on the bed wondering how it was even going to work. It was definitely new to me, but it made a few differences immediately and some over time. 

It has helped with my bursitis, osteoarthritis, digestive track, and amazingly my ear that has never popped well with elevation change. I just took a trip and my ear popped on its own for the first time since…I can even remember! 

Now this is not a one time cure all. It is a process. I had 6 weeks pain free then went on a road trip to Seattle where I slept on the floor, worked cleaning my aunts 1 acre property, demossed the roof, cleaned the gutters, and sat in a non-reclining seat for hours. My lower back is in excruciating pain as I write and I am going to see if my miracle practitioner can help.

So I will admit that I don’t understand the how and why, but I believe the body and mind are powerful. Instead of being skeptical about alternative medical choices, I am becoming a believer more and more every day and feel that medicine and alternative choices can work hand in hand.  And as I lay there on the table, I am learning to meditate for the first time in my life. That is an added bonus! 

 Andrea Jones Bowenwork in Lehi

Healthy Habits #5 Taking Control of My Life...Again

 Degenerative or Osteoarthritis

I have now been to three doctors in the last few weeks and have one more appointment in June. Things are progressing forward as I work to take my life back from pain. My family doctor diagnosed me with Osteoarthritis. Yesterday, I saw the orthopedic doctor who gave me an arthritis steroid shot in my hip. I have had cortisone shots in my hip for bursitis, but not steroid shots for arthritis. The pain was easily cut in half, but some still exists. According to the physical therapist  today, the pain that is left is being caused by the bursitis.

These shots are band-aids that can last for months or a year. They do not fix the problem. Degenerative or Osteoarthritis is a condition that involves the chronic breakdown of cartilage in the joints leading to painful joint inflammation. It is common with old age, but even more common if you have had issues caused from car accidents, improper cheer leading, and some of my other falls and injuries. 

The bursa is a fluid-filled sac that functions as a gliding surface to reduce friction between moving tissues of the body. There are two major bursae in the hip. Bursitis, or inflammation of a bursa, is usually not infectious, but the bursa can become infected. Unfortunately, both of my hip bursae are inflamed.

I was given the all clear to go do my 5K walks. The first one is tomorrow. I am not doing any permanent damage to the bursa or the arthritis by working it, but I am making it really mad so that it inflames or causes pain. The physical therapist said that cold or hot compresses are fine. So use what feels the best. They would like to see me do some swimming since that is the least impact on the area, but my elliptical and bike are also fine. 


Although the actual cause of osteoarthritis and bursitis are unknown and incurable, there are a lot of things you can do to ease the pain. The low impact exercise is one area to focus on. Another is to strengthen the core and the muscles around the area. Finally lose weight and take omega 3's. These will all help, but in the end when the pain gets too unbearable it will be hip replacement time. 

At least I know I am not causing more damage when I down the ibuprofen and push through the pain. So now I have 1 stretch and 3 exercises to do at home until my appointment next week. I am also going to see someone that is a Certified Bowenwork Practitioner. It is a unique form of neuromuscular re-patterning. It works primarily through the nervous system on both structural and energetic levels.

By taking control I am hoping to be able to alleviate some of the pain I have.  Especially the pain at night that causes havoc and keeps me awake. My advice to the younger generation: take care of yourself now so you don't have to go through what I am!