I’m in the USA for 2 conferences and I just spent 3 super days visiting my brother and his family in Las Vegas. We had a super hike in Red Rocks National Park.
We went early to avoid the heat and it was fabulous until I slipped on some sand when going down a steep section in the way out.
I twisted my ankle and at the time I thought this is bad! This is very bad!
It was a big relief that I was able to walk out. I walked very slowly and used my sister-in-law’s shoulder in the steep sections, always keeping my foot flat.
However when we got home I found I could not put any weight on it at all. The pain was really bad if I tried! How was I going to be able to navigate airports, hotels, conferences, speaking on stages and standing at my booth over the next 10 days?
At Mindshare, I’m thrilled to have been selected to present on The Future of Health, a 5 min TEDx type talk. My topic is: Why Social Anxiety, Introversion and Loneliness can be Lethal and a Simple Nutritional Solution. It will be videotaped and I’ll be sure to share with you.
[UPDATE: January 2020 – Here is the blog post with a link to the presentation and additional information on pyroluria]I’ve also be nominated for a Rising Tide award at Mindshare.
And I’m presenting at the Integrative Medicine for Mental Health (IMMH) conference on “GABA for Anxiety, ADHD, Autism, Insomnia, and Addictions: Research and Practical Applications.”
I had to get it healed as quickly as possible!
I pampered my foot for the next 12 hours, keeping it elevated and alternating between ice and using a compression bandage.
The RICE – rest, ice, compression, elevate – technique really does work.
I was taken care of my my darling nieces and little Rascal, the taco-terrier came to check on me from time to time.
I could not stand on my foot at all that first day. When I did need to get up, I used the crutches. I was keeping well- hydrated so there were frequent bathroom breaks.
I also used arnica cream topically and arnica homeopathic pills orally 3 times a day.
It was pretty painful that first day so I also used DPA (d-phenylalanine), an amino acid which is great for physical pain. I also decided to use GABA, a calming amino acid – this helped me relax and feel calm, sleep better and I suspect it helped ease some of the muscle stiffness and the pain too.
By the next day I was able to walk very carefully and 2 days later I was walking with almost no limp. I did continue with all of the above RICE, arnica, GABA and DPA supplements too.
This is how my foot looks 4 days later. There is slight bruising and very little swelling. I can walk without a limp and can now wriggle my toes with no pain.
[UPDATE: July 2021]
I injured my knee last week (the diagnosis is patellofemoral pain syndrome) and I have been hobbling around (I had to use crutches for 2 days), doing physical therapy sessions, doing home exercises from the physical therapist, and using the RICE, arnica, GABA and DPA approach outlined above. It’s doing so much better in just a week but this injury got me thinking “why does this happen to me and how can I prevent it again?”
I have pyroluria and one of the classic set of symptoms with pyroluria is this: “Joints popping, cracking, or aching; pain or discomfort between the shoulder blades; or cartilage problems” (due to low zinc). That’s my first clue.
Because of the pandemic and being mostly home, I’m not taking the pyroluria supplements consistently. That’s my second clue.
I do have Lyme disease. There is a pyroluria-Lyme connection, and it’s well recognized that the Borrelia burgdorferi spirochete often affects the musculoskeletal system. That’s my third clue.
I also have dietary oxalate and pain issues and with the oxalate-vitamin B6 connection, I suspect this may be my fourth clue.
Now I plan to dig deeper into this particular set of pyroluria symptoms and look at the mechanisms at play that cause knee/ankle/hip/shoulder and other injuries to tendons, joints and cartilage (I’ve had many injuries over the years). It’s fascinating what I’m learning so far.
Stay tuned for an entire blog post on the topic. Until then please do share your experiences below if you have pyroluria and/or Lyme disease and/or dietary oxalate issues, and have or have had a lot of injuries. Keep in mind that just having pyroluria is enough to have these types of injuries and it’s the Lyme and oxalate issues that add to the problems. Having Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (EDS) adds to the complexity too.
If you’re new to pyroluria, this blog with my Mindshare video, Why social anxiety, introversion and loneliness can be lethal and a simple nutritional solution, has the following information:
- A brief overview of pyroluria
- A link to the Pyroluria Questionnaire from my book The Antianxiety Food Solution (which has an entire chapter on the topic).
- A discussion on how I first discovered the pyroluria-introversion connection
- And information on loneliness and the sociability/vagus nerve connections
Do you have pyroluria (social anxiety or introversion) or score high on the pyroluria questionnaire?
Have you noticed you are more injury prone when you are not on the pyroluria protocol or that your injuries stopped or became less frequent once you discovered you have pyroluria and started supplementing? And then got worse again when not supplementing?
What kinds of injuries have you had or have now?
Do you also have Lyme disease and/or dietary oxalate issues?
Have you used a similar approach for an ankle or knee injury – RICE, arnica, GABA and DPA?
What other tips do you have for a sprained ankle or knee injury?