Do You Have Wrist Pain That Won't Go Away?
If you feel numbness, tingling, or weakness in your hand or wrist, or have wrist pain when putting any pressure on the hands, you may be developing symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome. It's caused by pressure on your median nerve, which runs the length of the arm, goes through a passage in the wrist called the carpal tunnel and ends in the hand. This post will address a little known cause of joint inflammation that causes wrist pain, carpal tunnel symptoms, hand pain, and even finger pain. You'll also learn how to treat it naturally at home.
Often, people don't know what brought on their wrist pain, but if a round of antibiotics preceded the symptoms, you can suspect an imbalance in the friendly microbiota covering the synovial lining in your wrists and hands to be involved. One thing your doctor should know is that carpal tunnel syndrome symptoms can happen due to conditions like hypothyroidism, obesity, rheumatoid arthritis, and diabetes, which also have their origin in the gut.
Could it be fungus?
According to research, few people ever discover what's really causing their wrist pain. Consider one risk factor your doctor may not have told you about. When your immune system is running low, you're more likely to develop a fungal form of arthritis, one that feeds on simple sugars and only gets worse with time. If you experience other symptoms of yeast or fungal infection inside or outside your body, this could be your answer. Fungal infection can happen from contaminated needles in a doctor's office, but what’s far more likely are the millions of prescription antibiotics dispensed and consumed in the US today. Broad spectrum antibiotics lay out a warm welcome for fungal overgrowth in all the mucous membranes of the body. Why? Because they destroy competing microflora in all their habitats... including the soft lining in all your moveable joints.Beware: Steroids May Be Hurting You
A 2017 study published in JAMA, showed that steroid injections are not helpful for joint pain and finally confirms what many researchers have been saying for years. When the researchers compared results of 140 osteoarthritis patients, those who received steroids AND those who received placebo (saline) saw no significant difference in joint pain at any time during the two-year period. Thanks to the placebo effect, pain did decrease a bit in all patients. But there were no changes in joint functioning, stiffness, or flexibility.
Loss of Cartilage
However, one thing DID change significantly between the groups: cartilage thickness. Cartilage helps to cushion the joints, and cartilage loss is the major cause of joint pain. The patients who received steroid injections lost significantly more cartilage than those who got saline. This is exactly the opposite outcome patients and their doctors hope for when steroid treatment is given.Ibuprofen May Not Be the Answer
So, scrap the steroids. What about NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory meds) like Ibuprofen, Naproxen, Relafen or Celebrex? Ask your pharmacist. These were never intended for long term use and they DO erode the cartilage in joints, just as anti-inflammatory steroids do in the study above.At the root
Fungal arthritis is inflammation of a joint by a fungus microorganism that has invaded the body and is growing in the soft synovial membrane of the joint. Fungal infection is a serious condition that can lead to permanent damage with loss of function. If your wrist pain was ever preceded by a course of broad spectrum antibiotics, listen up.
Increasing Rate of Fungal Arthritis
Fungal arthritis is caused by organisms like Candida, Aspergillus, or Exserohilum species traveling through the bloodstream to set up camp in the joint. Whether encouraged by infection through the blood or injection through a contaminated instrument or med, fungal arthritis can be the result. According to a medical studies review by the National Institutes of Health, Musculoskeletal Infection by fungi was once rare, but its incidence has increased in the past few years. (link to Review, NIH)
Risk factors you should know.
Some risk factors for elevating fungus levels in the body are the use of broad spectrum antibiotics, chronic emotional stress, repeated use of steroids OR nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory meds (Ibuprofen, Relifen, Naproxen) and a high sugar diet. To learn more about how these risk factors play out in your body see, What Causes Leaky Gut? 8 Risk Factors to Know.
Alleviating Chronic Wrist Pain By Healing the Bowel
Your immune system is only as healthy as your mucous membranes. They bear the tremendous task of keeping the outside world out of your bloodstream AND keeping your inner juices IN and running smoothly... including your moveable joints. They are your frontline of defense against invaders in the food, air and water you take into your body. In addition to lining all body cavities that make contact with the outside world, they line and cradle organs, holding them in place and creating lubrication to keep your innards moving comfortably as you move about your day.
How Healthy Mucous Membranes Keep You Well
Membrane Inflammation Equals Joint Pain
All your moveable joints have a soft tissue lining (mucosa) located between the joint capsule and the joint cavity called the synovial membrane. This same kind of membrane also lines moveable tendon sheaths and bursae, and it secretes a juicy synovial fluid which fills the joint cavity and lubricates the joint. But if this mucosa becomes inflamed, infected or impinged, we call it arthritis (inflammation of the joint) and now you have joint pain.
Out with the Mold, in with the new!
If you’ve done a dance with chronic back pain, hip pain or wrist pain and have not found satisfactory relief yet, consider a 30 day challenge to the potentially overgrown fungus and other invasive species of microbiota residing in your mucous membranes. If the thought of fungus growing inside your body grosses you out, step back a minute and consider that everyone on the planet, including the robustly healthy among us has a limited number of yeast/fungi living in the mucous membranes of their body. Friendly bacteria, an alkaline diet and a peaceful existence all serve to keep the friendly organisms in control. But, any one of 8 different risk factors can upset the balance and tip your chemistry in favor of fungus.
Other Symptoms of Fungal Arthritis
The infection sometimes occurs as a result Recipes that cut inflammationof fungal infection in another organ such as the lungs, the digestive tract, skin or nails and tends to get worse very slowly. The large joints like knees and hips are most often affected, but wrist pain and hand pain aren't far behind. And people with weakened immune systems who travel or live in areas where lots of people suffer from similar symptoms (an ‘endemic area’) are more susceptible to most causes of fungal arthritis. Fungal infection elsewhere in the body can affect digestive, respiration, skin conditions, allergies and fatigue… all in addition to the joint pain you've been feeling. And now, a few surprising things you can do to relieve ongoing lower back pain at it's root.
First Aid for Wrist Pain or Hand Pain from Tumtree
Over the last decade in my work coaching clients one on one, I've honed the following system for relieving both acute cases of joint pain (a disk slips that puts you down for the count), and the chronic kind where inflammation causes wrist pain or hand pain that just doesn't stop.
1. Keep the Bowel Moving
For all cases of joint pain, do whatever it takes clear the biggest channel of elimination every day. With back pain, you'll feel right away the difference increasing your output of stool makes. Take 1-2 teaspoons Exodus GI Sponge mixed in juice or water. If you haven't had a bowel movement in the last 24 hrs, you might take a capsule of vegetable laxative like cascara sagrada or senna leaf as well. If you’re uncomfortable enough, doing an overnight GI cleanse with Exodus is recommended. Each bowel movement will bring another leap forward in relief to your back and achy joints.
2. Cut the Carbs
Avoid all sweets, dairy and baked goods from refined grains (anything that spikes insulin) until the area heals. Focus on lots of veggies, clean animal protein and healthy fat (nuts, seeds, avos, coconut products). Elevated insulin means elevated inflammation, and sweet also feeds fungus.
3. Kill the fungus
If this isn’t your first go round with inflamed joints, and especially if antibiotic use preceded your wrist pain, consider stepping up to a 30 day Reboot to alkalize and restore balance to all your mucous membranes, especially those that line your moveable joints. Your satisfaction is always guaranteed, or your money back. (A guarantee you won't get from your doctor or pharmacy.)
4. Megadose Glutamine
Glutamine cuts recovery time for muscle repair whether the muscle is being regenerated due to strenuous exercise or because there’s been a formal injury to the wrist. Torn, pulled or sprained muscles and ligaments respond noticeably to leveling up your glutamine stores. For more on the benefits of supplemental Glutamine, Click Here.
5. Supplemental calcium
Calcium not only aids in the repair of injured joint components but is an acid buffering mineral that has an alkalizing effect on the body. It’s also known as ‘nature's anesthetic’. Take double the daily RDA for the first 2 weeks of your Reboot to feed the need for this alkalizing mineral. I recommend calcium citrate as it's easily absorbable in the body.
6. Deep tissue massage/heat
Working on a muscle in spasm and applying heat may also bring relief. For a sprained wrist, elevate the injury for the first few hours and send loving thoughts to the site. Icing the injury has not been a beneficial part of this system. If your doctor has other suggestions like splinting and slinging, certainly take them into consideration. Within the first 7-10 days of cleaning out your fungal overgrowth you'll know you're on the right path and the pain and pressure will lift significantly.
The Buzz on Wrist Pain:
Getting rid of yeast has helped so many issues in my family from allergies to eczema and asthma. However, the most dramatic result was from some chronic joint pain. I had horrible wrist pain in both wrists for four years. I couldn't even push myself out of bed in the morning or bend my wrists at all. I had an MRI on the wrists and the doctor found cysts in between the joints.
When I asked what the cysts were, he really couldn't give me an answer. I firmly believed that the cysts were pockets of yeast. I started on the Reboot protocol from Tumtree and within a month, four years of pain was gone! I no longer have any pain in my joints. A few month Tumtree products and the hip pain went away. Too many people live with joint pain and just blame it on old age or arthritis. You don't have to live with pain! -- Shari Goodman, Mesa AZ
To learn how 30 Day Reboot works to mend your wrist and hand problems, browse Frequently Asked Questions. Get to the root of your wrist pain… and back on track. (Get the kit.)