Why Do Cancer Patients Have Joint Pain?
Unfortunately, joint pain is an all too common side effect of drugs frequently prescribed to breast cancer and ovarian cancer patients…(and even some prostate cancer patients.)
Aromatase Inhibitors are a class of drugs commonly prescribed to post-menopausal women with estrogen receptor positive ovarian cancer and breast cancer that cause unwanted joint pain in many women. Sometimes these drugs are also prescribed to men with prostate cancer.
Aromatase is an enzyme that synthesizes estrogen in the tissue. Aromatase inhibitors block this enzyme. Aromasin, Arimidex and Femara are examples of some commonly prescribed aromatase inhibitors.
Three Ways You Can Relieve Joint Pain Associated with Drug Side Effects (and for the rest of us, just keep your joints healthy!)
Studies show that you can relieve joint pain linked to drug side effects by:
More stretching and more movement, including yoga, tai chi and chi kung (movement and exercise traditions from India and East Asia).
Under the guidance of a qualified instructor, you can practice safely and gently and improve your flexibility and the health of your joints. You may even be able to find good video instruction on line! As little as 20 minutes a day can help!
Optimizing Your Vitamin D Levels
Once again Vitamin D shows it value to cancer patients and cancer survivors/thrivers.
Aim for blood levels between 55-80 ng/dl. Ask your healthcare provider to order a 25-OH Vitamin D blood test. Supplement with Vitamin D Synergy (2000 iu per capsule) or Vitamin D Supreme (5000 iu per capsule) according to your need as determined by the blood test. Most people can safely take 2000 iu per day; always under the guidance of your healthcare provider.
Adding Turmeric and Curcumin
Turmeric is the golden spice traditionally used in curry dishes from India. You may find fresh turmeric roots in health food stores. Turmeric is in the ginger family and looks like an orange colored ginger root.
Use dried turmeric powder or grate fresh turmeric into your food. Add it to soups, sauces and salad dressings. Experiment by adding turmeric to fresh vegetable drinks and even to your shakes.
Turmeric is valuable due to the presence of the plant chemical curcumin which allows your body to better control inflammation and modulate immunity to enhance resistance to tumor growth by changing the environment of your cells.
In Traditional Ayurvedic Medicine from India, turmeric was also used to increase joint flexibility.
Some researchers also think that the high amounts of curcumin in the traditional Indian diet protect the brain and contribute to lower rates of brain aging, dementia and Alzheimer’s disease in India.
If you do not think you will use turmeric frequently in your daily diet, you can add 1000 mg of curcumin with just 2 capsules of C3 Curcumin, a particularly high quality and highly absorbable form of this powerful plant chemical that interacts with over 100 different genes!
Imagine if there was a drug that could do that? Nature provides us with such a powerful pharmacy!
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