Health-Conscious Series # 7 - Drink lots of milk in order to combat Osteoarthritis
Hearing the 'bone-crack'
It's like a creaking window inside my body. I experienced a soaring pain on my lower back last Monday (April 09, 2012) as I am leaning forward while cleaning the yard of our boarding house from dried leaves.
Ouch! I momentarily stopped. As if in slow motion, I held my breath and moved back in a stuttering walk.
This is not an ordinary back pain, the one I experienced before while carrying a cavan (50 kilograms) of rice and similar stuff on board ship or while at home after a day's harvest at the rice farm.
It's a pain that almost pricked me with a very large needle that made me stooped down on my knees, throwing away the coconut broom.
Holding my breath, I slowly went inside the house. I was glad other occupants of the house didn't came back yet from our province (in Bicol, Philippines).
I am not old yet. I'm at the prime of my life at forty. Experiencing this kind of pain led me to a lot of speculations.
- What did I done wrong to my neighbors? Perhaps, I did petty mistakes. Who hasn't?
- Is this already the symptom of osteo-arthritis or dislocated spinal column?
Either of these two, I related the incident to the wife of my cousin at the other house. She said, maybe, I affected an invisible entity. Superstitions still abound in this country. I didn't believed her.
I reviewed my activities during that day or my last months in Manila.
- I've been occasionally drinking beer and liquor with alcohol content from 5 percent up to 40 per cent. Alcohol content is one-half of the proof printed on the liquor's cover (pasted on the bottle). It did bring an effect of dehydration and bone-mass reduction, since I prohibits my body to absorb the nutrients needed to stay fit and healthy.
- I was not drinking milk on a regular basis because of being a lactose-intolerant. With a little sip of fresh milk, my next move is to got to the john in order to empty my tummy.
- My comfort drink nowadays is coffee-three in one. Meaning, the sachet I usually buy contains coffee granules, with sugar and cream, already. My cousin cautioned me that too much of it will lead to erratic heartbeat or even hypertension. I opposed his alert by mentioning the campaign of coffee industry that it has lots of antioxidants.
Surely, item two - of not having enough milk (as source of calcium and protein) in my diet led to to such freak incident - that bone-cracking episode in my life.
That is my gut-feel.
I haven't visited the nearest clinic of an orthopedic doctor. I need a personal research to know if my personal assessment is right.
Osteoarthritis Treatment c/o ironwork285
Osteoarthritis and other back pains
My aunt also suffered from osteoarthritis. She said, she's not fond of drinking milk and at young age, she already had this 'pain-in-the-ass' malady.
It is also called osteoporosis, whereas, most married women experienced this due to the effects of post-pregnancy ordeal, as in lactating their babies, thereby losing much of their bodily nutrients if not supported by supplements (like high--calcium enriched milk).
- I will deduce what I experienced as lumbar muscle strain or just a sprain in my back muscles.
- Maybe it's a slip disc, but it's not similar with what my 2nd engineer experienced way back 2002 that resulted in a spinal cord operation.
- I'm not aging yet, (I'm still young, please agree with me), so, I will not agree with a spinal stenosis as my probable prognosis.
- How about lumbar spine arthritis that can also be felt around my fingers? No, I haven't experienced the latter.
- Spondylolisthesis is a severe finding as it is considered a degenerative back pain as it causes unstable movement or a person experiencing this. I'm afraid, I've been experiencing this, right now!
I don't want to be afraid. I am always on the positive side of any problem. I'm still active doing my chores, although I will stop momentarily to catch my breath and fight an abrupt pain episodes on my lower back.
Remedies will include herbal first aide. I was advised by an elder friend that I heat tuba-tuba leaves and apply it directly on my aching back or apply a liniment to ease the pain and ask the help of a reflexologist, first.
Options, if others experienced this may lead to:
- Non-surgical treatment, like what I've mentioned above plus rest from my usual routine everyday.
- Surgical treatment or spine surgery can be crucial and sometimes fatal.
- Alternative treatments, may also suggests herbal medicine or even acupuncture in this side of the world (Asia mostly), if pain doesn't heal in a jiffy.
PS: I will never forget milk and its products (cheeses, etc.) as inclusion on my diet.
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