What Does Fish Oil Have to do With Neck Pain, or Sarcoid, or even M.S.?

I’ve had a chronic illness, called Sarcoid (Sarcoidosis, or Beck’s Sarcoid), for many years. Mine manifests in the lungs, although sarcoid can affect people in different ways. For me it’s a real energy zapper, and it also greatly affects my breathing. (I'm on oxygen at night.) Since I’m rather partial to breathing, having sarcoid has sent me on a quest over paths that I normally would not have chosen to travel. In fact it has pretty much affected my whole adult life and that of my family. I must say that all those paths are not necessarily a bad thing, because all of us have learned much and experienced things that ordinarily would not have come our way. But, more about that at some future time.

New Adventures

Because of all the health challenges, I’ve chosen several new adventures lately. Several months ago I started going to Merek Ramirez D.O.M. at the Harmony Centre of Integrative Medicine, in Springfield, Ohio for acupuncture treatments, and Chinese herbs. I am VERY impressed with him and his treatments. (Jim has also started going to him for leg pain that has bothered him ever since he totaled a rented pick-up truck 6 years ago.)

My next adventure is that of seeing a Holistic Health Counselor, Robin Gentry McGee. I’ve known for a long time that my health, energy and breathing are greatly affected by what I eat, and even though I’ve used different diets and many supplements over the years, I could tell that I needed more help. Robin’s website Just Great Foods asks an interesting question: How alive are you willing to be? Well, I’m not only partial to breathing, I’m also very partial to living, and being and doing. OK, count me in.

Something that has really impressed me is how much what Robin shares with me matches what Merek says and vice-versa, even though they have never met. This helps me a great deal because the areas I’m treading in now I’ve not been to before.

Robin has had very extensive training. Recently, she shared some things about FISH OIL that she learned from Dr. Barry Sears who was one of her instructors from The Institute for Integrative Nutrition in New York City. Fish oil is wonderful for inflammation and pain. Robin knows someone who had a chronic neck problem for years who has been helped dramatically by fish oil. Chronic illnesses, such as sarcoid may also be helped by using fish oil.

Dr. Barry Sears says that chronic diseases are caused by inflammation. He has had good results with using fish oil for inflammation. He says that fish oil even helps to regenerate the myelin sheath of M.S. patients. Here's a quote from his website:

There are two types of inflammation. The first is classic inflammation that is associated with pain, swelling, and redness. This can be characterized as screaming pain since it is very obvious and calls for immediate intervention. The other type of inflammation is silent inflammation or silent pain that is far more insidious. It doesn't generate the pain associated with classic inflammation and therefore goes untreated for years. We now know that this silent inflammation is the underlying cause of heart disease, cancer, and Alzheimer's disease. Virtually every type of chronic disease has a significant inflammatory component as its underlying cause. A primary focus of modern medical research remains the reduction of both classic and silent inflammation.

My stomach doesn’t seem to like taking a lot of pills, so I elected to use the Carlson brand of liquid, lemon-flavored fish oil. So far I’ve used the liquid fish oil on various vegetables, fish, baked potatoes, aduki beans and lentils. It has good lemon flavoring and actually tastes pretty good. I can see that it would be good on salads. I’ve not been using many salads lately because Merek told me that I should stay away from raw foods right now.

Raw Foods Aggravate the Spleen

I thought it was strange that Merek said to stay away from raw foods because so many people advocate raw foods as being totally good for you. Merek explained that according to Chinese Medicine, raw foods aggravate the spleen. An aggravated spleen then causes dampness in the lungs, which is very bad for me. I’d never heard of such a thing so I told Robin what he said, and she totally agreed with Merek. I found that fascinating! Merek also told me that there is new research coming out of China about sarcoid, which he will be investigating. I'm very interested to find out what he learns. It's great to have Merek and Robin in my corner.

So 2008 will be an adventurous year of cutting down on raw foods, and using fish oil and doing whatever else lies ahead…