Crackpot remedies anyone??

A couple of posts ago I mentioned my lovely Argentinian tai chi instructor, Eduardo, and the copper bracelet he kindly made me to 'cure' my arthritis. I have, in fact, been wearing it sometimes as it seems to keep turining up around the house. I generally put it on rather than trying to find an actual home for it.

I was wearing it tonight when I went to tai chi and obviously this spurred Eduardo on to provide me with his other home remedies which are as follows - please note that they do not relate to actual conditions or issues that I have - he was just sharing his wisdom:

1. When you walk past a rosemary bush, run your fingers through it and it will help prevent arthritis because of the oils (this one I am actually ok with)
2. If your hair is getting grey, put some of the covers/skins from the outside of walnuts in some warm water and comb it through. Just so we are clear, I am 29 and I am not going grey.
3. When you are putting on your undies in the morning, you should take your time and put one leg in at a time while balancing on one foot as this will improve your tai chi practice (not a pretty image).
4. If you have a cut or some dry skin, you should get a cow to lick it - I'm not even making this up. In Eduardo's village growing up, when the man brought the cow around to your house so you could get fresh milk, you would also get it to lick your knee if you had a graze.

So there you go. My arthritis is really good at the moment so maybe it is the magic of copper after all...

Giving the old lady legs a shake

It's been a big couple of weeks for the old lady legs. First they got taken to a zumba class for a hen's day. While I enjoyed it very much, my legs didn't think it suited them and were pretty sad and sorry for themselves the next day. That's the trouble with any group exercise classes, it can be hard to realise when your legs have had too much -it's hard enough to keep up with the moves.

So I stumbled over something that is way more suited to me. It's called "No lights, no lycra" and it just involves two hours of dancing in a pitch black hall in Brunswick (Melbourne). No one can really see you so it doesn't matter if you're a bit goofy or if your legs get tired, you just do what you want. I loved it! You can check it out here if it's your kind of thing too - http://nolightsnolycra.blogspot.com/

Copper Pipe vs Old Lady Legs

I had pretty much given up on crackpot solutions for my arthritis but I my tai chi teacher made me literally promise that I would try one more thing. He made me a copper bracelet out of some old pipe and swears that they work for him.

The only thing that bothers me is that he suggested, in his thick Argentinian accent, that I should scrub it with a scourer. I did this and hadn't thought too much about it until a friend said to me yesterday "Are you sure that it isn't an old sewerage pipe?" - ewwww!

I did a little bit of online research to check if there was any published evidence that copper helps with arthritis and all I found were studies that say there is no scientific basis to support this remedy. However, I gave my word that I'd give it a try.

Unfortunately I have already reneged on my promise. I had an important meeting at work today (not to mention a lovely outfit) and I couldn't bring myself to wear the bracelet but I am going to give it a go over the weekend...maybe...if it goes with my outfit.

Success! I'm back in the saddle

Who would have thought that riding my bike around Princes Park would be a cause for celebration? I'm like an eight year old who just got her training wheels off.

Gaz kindly adjusted my seat for me yesterday and it seems to have done the trick. I rode my bike for about half an hour this evening (admittedly a very slow six or seven kms ride) and I am at the moment pain free. Fingers crossed that it will last until tomorrow and I won't wake up too hobbly.

In other successes, I managed to wear some very glam patent leather high heel shoes to work today. Gaz can't understand why I'm keen to get back to wearing heels to work - admittedly they are a non-sensical fashion item - but there is something that makes you feel more professional strutting down the hallway with a pile of paperwork in your arms.

Definitely a case of absence makes the heart grow fonder. How I missed you glamourous shoes and bike rides round the park!

A minor setback

Last time I wrote, I was just about to embark on my project to get back on my bike. In reality I have been super slow kicking off due to the annoying combination of very hot days, followed by torrential, flooding Melbourne rains.

So today I decided to finally take my bike for a spin around the park. I optimistically set off but only made it a couple of blocks before I realised that my seat is a bit too low and it was making my knees quite hurty. Gaz has promised to raise it up tonight so I can have another attempt.

In the meantime, I've been back at tai chi hopefully maintaining my longer term, drug-free old lady legs. I've also been taking the little guy to the pool thanks to some swisho Seafolly bathers that have inspired me. I'm not sure that the sort of low-intensity paddling I've been doing has had any positive effect on my knees and ankles but it's been great on the hot days. Now if I can just get this bike thing sorted out...

A new adventure for the old lady legs

The purpose of this blog was to attempt to get off the anti-inflammatories and stay off them. At this stage, it looks like I have achieved that...at least for now. I figure that there is therefore no use in me continuing to try any more of the weird and wacky therapies (but I genuinely was looking forward to reiki).

So anyway, I've decided that I need a new challenge. I'm going to have a crack at getting back to riding my bike to work. The tyres have been pumped up, the rust cleaned off and the seat adjusted to the right height - now I just need to get back on the horse.

It may not sound that tricky but I had a little ride on the weekend and could hardly walk the next morning. It is, however, important to note that on this same weekend I went to a party where I wore high heels, wrestled in a huge padded sumo suit and even had a crack at jelly wrestling so it is hard to say which one had the impact on my knees and ankles. If it is just a matter of giving up all wrestling based competitions, I might have this problem licked!

Wish me luck for challenge number 2!

Is the experiment over?

So the whole point of this blog was to try all sorts of alternative therapies to see if any of them could fix my sore, old lady legs enough to get me off the drugs (voltaren) that I was taking.

So far I have only really tried fish oil and tai chi but somehow, miraculously I gave up the voltaren about three weeks ago and have been pretty much managing fine. There are still a few hobbly days and swollen ankles but nothing compared to the early days when I really had to drag myself up and down the stairs in the morning. I think this might be what my rheumatologist meant by arthritis being cyclical - sometimes just getting better on it's own. Although it is also possible that fish oil and tai chi are in fact miracle cures.

Sadly as the pill-popping is over for now I have no real impetus to try all the other things and I was quite looking forward to getting some reiki and foot reflexology. Maybe I still will or maybe it will all get worse again but for now I am just going to enjoy being drug-free for a while!