Category: Chronically ill

Pain relief from Kratom Tea – and I how I prepare it

Kratom is a plant that grows wild in Southeast Asia. It’s been used for hundreds, if not thousands of years, for pain relief and boosting energy. It’s ingested in capsules full of the loose leaf or the powdered whole leaf is brewed in a tea and consumed. I’ve been helped greatly by using Kratom in both capsule and tea form to help manage my chronic pain in the last six months.

How I make my Kratom Tea

(You can watch my video on how I prepare my tea each morning)

I’ve been sick for over 30 years and have taken opioid medication pretty much non stop since I had my first surgery at the age of 12. I’ve had a bunch of abdominal surgeries due to Ulerative Colitis. My pain is gallbladder, adhesions and possibly Crohns. I’ve been told by my surgeon that I have a history belly – and this hostile belly is constantly at war with me.

This year I was cut off from getting pain meds from my primary care doctor and all I can say is, thank god I found Kratom.

Kratom not only helps to manage my pain but it also made getting off of pain pills a breeze. I’m not physically or psychological addicted to prescription opioids but my body was habituated to taking the narcotics. Normally when I’d stop taking pain pills I’d be absolutely miserable. It would be a week or two of misery. Being sick and in pain and going through withdrawal on top of that was pure torture.

(This is where I buy my Kratom from:

http://www.naturalorganix.com )

Thanks to Kratom, when I stopped talking my Tramadol I had none of the body aches, or horrible restlessness or sleepless nights. It was incredible.

I’ve been experimenting with using Kratom for over six months now. I take it two to four times a day as a tea. My current supplier is Natural Ice Organics. I picked them because of their testing. I’ve stepped up to buying it bulk to save money as well.

If you have only been taking capsules and are curious about drinking Kratom as a tea, I say go for it. But be warned the taste is extremely bitter. It took me weeks to get over the taste. Some people add sugar, honey, or lemon to make it taste better. Personally I’ve found adding peppermint flavored CBD oil (which has helped my inflammation issues) almost masks the taste 100%.

When I first started taking Kratom I took it in capsule form and I even began making my own. The downsides of taking capsules is that it costs more – a lot more than loose leaf – and it can be a mess if you choose to make your own.

To make Kratom Tea I alternate between Green or Red Thai (I find Red has better pain killing qualities for me) and I use a digital scale to weigh out anywhere from six to ten grams, depending on my pain level for that day. That’s what is great about being able to buy Kratom without someone’s “permission”, you can adjust your doseage to your current level of pain.

My pain level can fluctuate greatly in the course of day let alone a month. When I was on chronic pain medicine management it didn’t matter if one day I hurt more than another. I had the exact same number of pills to take. While on the pain management protocol (they force you to sign a contract and submit to drug testing) you’re strictly limited to how many pills you have for the month.

If your pain is bad and you take more on one day then have to cut back on another day, or go without for how ever many days are until you could refill your prescription. The whole system is insane. I’m so glad to be outside of the chronic pain management bureaucracy. It was very demeaning to be drug tested, harassed by pharmacies, and insurance companies over my pain medicine. It is an inhumane system.

Without Kratom I’d be forced back into it and it’s even worse now. If I have to go and get prescription pain meds I’ll have to go through the pain clinic system. What cost me $40 a month and the price of four doctor visits last year, would now cost me around $2500 for just the monthly doctor visits and drug testing. Chronic pain patients are treated like parolees who’ve been convicted of a crime. My only crime is that I have chronic pain and my life depends on me finding a way to manage it.

In the morning I weigh out my Kratom and pour boiling water over it. Then I let it steep for 15 minutes at least. After that I either add ice (I find it more palatable if it’s cold) or I’ll just sip on it for an hour as it cools. When it gets down to the powdered sludge at the bottom of my cup, I add more water and then drink it over the course of another 30min to an hour. I repeat the process until I’ve consumed all the powder sludge is gone.

Within minutes I’m feeling better after taking my first sip. In thirty minutes or so I start feeling some pain relief. I find Kratom helps me with mild to moderate pain. But I find it doesn’t touch the pain when it gets really bad. I wish that we lived in a free society in which people who are suffering could get the relief they needed without being treated like a criminal.

I find that the effects last four to six hours. And unlike with prescription pain killers, I don’t have the intense short spike of pain relief followed by a steep crash. Kratom delivers a much more pleasant subtle experience without the intense mood altering effects that can occur with pain pills.

Depending on my day I’ll drink two to four cups per day. Kratom tea has given me back some of a life that’s been destroyed by not having pain meds. But from that destruction I’ve found hope and freedom. The hope that I can live a life with less pain due to drinking Kratom tea each day and the freedom to treat my pain as I see fit without kowtowing to the increasingly regimented and callous medical system and without being a pawn in the politically driven opioid crisis hysteria.

If you use Kratom please share your experiences in the comments. The more we talk about it the harder it will be for the DEA to make Kratom a schedule One Drug along with LSD, Heroin and Cannabis.

The reason they want to ban it is because, like Cannabis, it is so effective at helping millions of people. It’s estimated up to five million Americans use it everyday. People have used Kratom for anxiety, pain relief, sleep, and for energy. It along with Cannabis has helped tremendously.

If you have been helped by Kratom you might want to check out The American Kratom Association. They are fighting the good fight and helped to get the DEA’s ban reversed back in 2016 and they are working hard to keep Kratom legal today.

American Kratom Association

Wishing you health and wellness,

Brad Miller

Help, I’m being tortured by the U.S. Federal Government- my perspective on how the war on chronic pain patients violates the U.S. Constitution

I’m being tortured by the U.S. Federal Government. I’ve been convicted of a crime without trial and with zero evidence presented. I’m being held in isolation against my will for the rest of my natural life.

What could I’ve done that was so horrible to garner the wrath of the most powerful government on the planet? What could possibly have been my crime that caused them to torture me and condemn me to a lifetime of isolation? I must have done something horrible for them to violate the 4th, 8th, 9th and 10th amendments of the document that The United States Federal Government was founded upon. I must be one of the worst most dangerous terrorists to ever live, right?

What was my crime that I’ve been treated so criminally by the government?

My crime simply that I am in chronic pain and I’ve sought relief for it.

Yep that’s it. Because I was on chronic pain narcotics I’ve been branded as a criminal, sentenced to a lifetime of torture and isolation for the rest of my life.

For those who aren’t in chronic pain or have never experienced severe physical pain this might appear to be overly dramatic. Trust me it’s not. I’ve been ill and in chronic pain for over thirty years. I’ve taken pain medicine up until five months ago for it. Nothing has changed as far as my pain goes, only my conviction by the FDA and DEA has.

Now, no one from the Federal Government has come out directly and said that I shouldn’t have pain medicine. Bureaucracies are too clever for that. They have later after layer of people that filter down their directives so that when I’m finally face with my doctor (for about 5 minutes) and he says he doesn’t care about my pain, I have absolutely no recourse.

No one in the enormous Federal Government who make the rules ever have to deal face to face with the people whose lives they affect.

Doctors no longer work for the patient. They are effectively government employees who view insurance companies as their main customers.

In all fairness my doctor did refer me to a pain clinic. He followed the sentencing (I mean prescribing) guidelines. But that pain clinic couldn’t help me because they don’t take self pay patients or patients with GI related pain. I called nine others and only two would say they’d see me.

But they couldn’t guarantee me that they could help me even after I paid the exorbitant initial assessment fee. I don’t believe I should be coerced into this system of chronic pain contracts and mandatory drug testing and pill counting, which in reality is just a disturbing hybrid of the prison and the medical industrial complex.

I don’t need cortisol shots or more surgery. Nearly all pain clinics deal with back pain and bone related issues. My issues are caused by scar tissue and a gallstone that no surgeon wants to remove. The pain clinics aren’t set up to help someone like me.

By forcing me into a system designed to make sure parolees aren’t using illegal drugs violates, the government is violating at least four of the Constitutional amendments as well as the very fundamental principles it was based upon.

It’s ironic that I’m being treated like a criminal by those who are illegally violated the Constitution.

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. Eighth Amendment

I think that forcing me to pay for a service I don’t want that is based upon the prison system parolee model, clearly violates the 8th amendment of excessive fines. Even if it’s called a “fee” I’m being fined for being in chronic pain and being punished for trying to find relief from the state mandated supplier of the remedy.

I’ve been convicted of being a chronic pain patient and in order to receive the $40 pain medicine I need each month, I now have to go see a pain clinic doctor who charges $400-$600 for his initial visit, plus if he does deem me worthy of pain medicine, (which if he doesn’t I have zero recourse and I’ll be labeled as a drug seeker in the state database) then I’ll have to go back ever 28 days and pay another $125 for urine testing and blood testing. Only then can I pay for my $40 medication.

This is crony Capitalism at its worst. This is a perfect example of an industry (the pain clinic folks, addiction specialists, drug makers who are pushing their expensive alternatives to cheap and effective pain medicine along with the drug testing companies), using state power to enrich the few at the expense of the many who are suffering and without any power in Washington.

Denying me pain medicine which my doctors have done and forcing me into an arbitrary and expensive system which I don’t need is tantamount to cruel and unusual punishment. Since I’ve not had pain medicine I’ve been in excruciating pain. If you deny someone the ability to buy a proven and safe medicine which they’ve taken in the past, and which helps relieve or at least take the edge of their pain, it’s the same as inflicting the pain they are suffering yourself.

This is an example of why individual rights are so vital. Once economically interested parties can have regulations written that violate your rights this is what can occur. You can be stuck in horrible pain with no one to help you.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. Fourth Amendment

The Fourth Amendment is meant to keep the government out of your business. Just because I’m in pain and seek relief from it , I don’t forfeit my Right to Privacy.

As a Chronic Pain Patient I’m not secure in my own body because by law pain doctors are required to see me every 28 days (if I’m forced into their parolee pain clinic racket) and forced to give up my blood and urninr which they will analyze to see if I’m taking the medicine as prescribed and not taking anything else. Since the doctor is acting as an extension of government by doing this I believe that warrant should be necessary for this violation of privacy.

The information being gathered is being taken by a government licensed person acting according to law (mostly to regulations – this is a way for governments to steal your rights without anyone ever voting on them) and being recorded in a government database. A warrant should needed to do this and it should only be issued if there is probable cause.

If I don’t sign the contract I’ll be denied what I argue is life saving medication. What is the probable cause? Just because I have chronic pain I am a criminal? Am I not innocent before proven guilty? And what am I being accused of being anyway? I’ve done nothing wrong except be in excruciating pain and asking to purchase $40 worth of medicine so I don’t hurt so much. That’s it.

I’m not an addict or have I ever overdosed and I never would. There’s no reason a doctor should be piss testing me every 28 days because I’m taking a medication that is extremely safe and effective, and which I’ve been taking in one form or another for 30 years.

If I don’t sign the pain contract and submit to the monthly testing and give up my right to privacy I’ll be denied pain medicine. And if you are signing a contract under duress it’s not legally binding. A pain contract is a form of blackmail. If you don’t sign it you’ll suffer. The government is complicit along with doctors effectively torturing those who refuse to submit to their violations of the Constitution and basic human compassion.

Let’s say I do go to a pain clinic and by some miracle they do accept me as a chronic pain patient, and I submit to the monthly testing, what happens if my pain doesn’t stay on schedule? I’ll have to just suffer. That again is a form of torture. If you can cheaply and easily relieve someone’s pain and they are willing to pay for the product and you deny them, you are discriminating in the worst possibly way

It’s not the government’s fault if you suffer more pain than what they allotted to relieve. The whole system epitomizes what’s wrong with centralized bureaucracies that don’t respect individuals rights. When the government gets involved out goes compassion and common sense and they are replaced by rigid regimentation and diffused responsibility.

I’ve committed no crimes yet I’m treated like a criminal. My rights have been violated and they just don’t cause me to suffer more physical pain then I should but they also caused massive emotional pain as well. Do to my inability to get relief for my physical pain I’ve become more and more isolated – those who engineered and benefit from this criminal system have basically sentenced me to solitary confinement.

They’ve sentenced me to be alone. When you are sick and in pain you don’t want to be around other people and people don’t want to be around you. After a while people stop inviting you out for things because you cancel so much, they stop calling you because you have nothing to say, except how much you hurt and how miserable you are and then the texting stops, because they know your life has become your pain and you are effectively in solitary confinement.

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. Ninth Amendment

This is an amendment to be honest I had totally forgotten about. It doesn’t get brought up a lot but it does apply here. The entire spirit of the Bill of Rights is that the individual is sovereign over their own mind and body. This is demonstrated by the first and second amendment. The first amendment guarantees freedom of speech and religion – this is sovereignty over one’s mind. The second amendment guarantees the right to defend one’s person and property by guaranteeing that no laws are passed that restrict the ownership of firearms.

Just because the Constitution doesn’t say explicitly that I have the right to take what medicines I choose and to bear the responsibility for that choice doesn’t mean the government can brand me a chronic pain criminal and deny me the right to purchase a safe and effective medication. If you are sovereign over your thoughts and your body then you have the understood right to ingest what substances you choose.

The revolutionary idea that sparked the greatest increase of human flourishing that ever occurred in the history of mankind, the idea that the Constitution of The United States of America was founded upon is this:

Every individual’s rights comes from their humanity and not from the state. So it’s assumed individuals have a right to do what they want to with their body and mind without interference from the state, as long as it doesn’t interfere with the right of others to do the same.

If they real

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. Tenth Amendment

The tenth amendment has also been violated by the FDA’s guidelines and the entire DEA, prescription racket system. This further erosion of my rights is symptomatic of corrupt system that artificially raises the cost of healthcare while denying individuals the right to make their own choices about what do to live a better life.

Anything not specified by the Constitution should be handled at the state level which also has to be inline with the Bill of Rights. The Federal Government has no right according to the Constitution to regulate drugs of any kind. And the states do not either if the original intent of the Constitution is respected and the ninth amendment is adhered to.

I have zero faith that anyone in power cares about the Constitution. The same type of people who allow millions of pain patients to suffer, like me, are the same ones who allow wars to be fought around the world without Congressional approval. They are the same ones who keep cannabis illegal, who want to ban Kratom and who make it almost impossible to bring back psychedelics as an adjunct to psychotherapy. The same people in the FDA are in the pockets of big pharma and the DEA is in bed the prison industrial system.

I’ve done absolutely nothing wrong except that I had an autoimmune disease when I was 12, that was so bad that it required a major surgery and that surgery didn’t go right. Since them I’ve been stuck with chronic unending pain. And now the very medical establishment who failed me in the past now doesn’t want to help me in the present with the one thing it can do to help me.

I’ve been effectively branded by the FDA and DEA as a chronic pain criminal. I have no advocate in the healthcare system, the doctors are so scared of these government agencies they’ve abandoned their oath to help the sick and suffering. The ones who might be able to help me charge an insane amount of money and require me to submit to be treated like a criminal.

I’m thankful that my jailers haven’t banned Kratom yet. I know they are working on that. If it wasn’t for Kratom I’d been forced into their pain parolee clinic system. To be honest if things don’t improve I’ll have to find a pain clinic, pay their exorbitant fines and be treated like a parolee, whose only crime is that I am in pain, and I live in a country that has lost its way and now views suffering patients as criminals, politicians and bureaucrats as doctors and doctors as law enforcement agents.

I can’t end my sentence of chronic pain. My pain will be with me until the day I die. The only question is how much unnecessary torture will I have to endure because I’ve been branded a chronic pain criminal by the suits in Washington – my only crime: Having chronic pain.

I you too have suffered because of the hysteria over the opioid crisis please leave a comment. The politicians and economically interested parties are exploited the most vulnerable members of society for money. Let’s join together and tell Washington DC we’ve had enough. Seeking to relieve your Pain isn’t a crime and just because someone is suffering doesn’t mean the Constitution no longer applies.

Brad Miller

Kratom saves lives – you don’t have to make hell your home

I am truly free for the first time in over thirty years. For the last three decades I’ve suffered from chronic pain due to GI issues and the surgeries meant to correct it. I had a big surgery last August that has helped but didn’t totally eliminate the chronic pain.

During this time I’ve been beholden to the medical community for the relief of my chronic pain. Now due to Kratom I no longer have to try and convince others how I feel or be treated like a parolee for desiring to hurt less.

My seven year old niece said something profound the other day. She said that other people cant feel your feelings. That is so true.

When you are in chronic pain and reliant on pain killers to live, you have to try and get doctors, pharmacists and insurance stooges to “feel” what you’re feeling. But with the hysteria surrounding opioid pain meds, no one seems to care or to be listening any more.

I was cut off by my GP recently and told to go see a pain clinic for my chronic pain meds – which his office had been prescribing me for the last three years. The pain clinic he referred me to wouldn’t treat me due to my pain being GI related and that they didn’t take my insurance.

As my stock of pain pills began to dwindle I called about ten pain clinics and only two said they would consider treating my GI related pain but couldn’t make any promises about writing a prescription for pain meds. They said I’d first have to get an assessment which would cost between $375-$600 – because they don’t accept my insurance. If the doctor deemed me worthy of a pain med script I’d have to come back every month and shell out about $200 per month forever, because I’d need to be tested monthly, like some kind of criminal.Instead of being a pawn in the larger Opioid hysteria money grab, I no longer have to fear running out of opioid pain meds – because for the first time in 30 years I’m not taking them. And I haven’t gone through the soul crushing hell inducing withdrawal symptoms I normally would have been sentenced to because of Kratom.

Kratom is a plant from Southeast Asia that has been used for thousands of years to alleviate pain and fatigue. It has truly saved my life. I thought I’d be beholden to the medical establishment forever because of pain med scripts. Now I’m free.

When you are in pain it feels like hell. When you are in pain and going through withdrawal symptoms it feels like you’ll never escape this hell. With Kratom I no longer have to fear making hell my home for any length of time.

I have had great success recently with using Maenga Da, Red vein Thai and Bali strains for pain, to overcome fatigue, alleviate anxiety and to virtually eliminate all withdrawal symptoms. It has been miraculous.

In the mornings I take .75 grams of Maenga Da with .5 to 1 gram of Red Vein Thai or Bali for additional pain relief. Before lunch or in the Afternoon I’ll take another Maenga Da. I’ve found Maenga Da excellent for physical and mental energy as well as pain relief. The Thai and Bali are better for relaxation and I tend to take larger doses of those up to 5-6grams before bedtime.Urban Ice Organics – Sampler Pack

The Kratom source I trust now is Urban Ice Organics. They do a five panel test on all the batches of Kratom they order which screens for heavy metals, pesticides and salmonella. I heard about their company from Chris Bell, the director of Bigger Faster Stronger and an upcoming Kratom documentary, on the Joe Rogan Experience. He shared his experience with using Kratom for pain relief and getting off pain pills with Joe Rogan.

JRE #876 Chris Bell discusses Kratom with Joe Rogan

He recommended the Urban Ice Organics company and gave Joe some to take during the podcast. That was enough of a recommendation for me to give them a try. I ordered their sampler pack and after some trial and error found a stack that has changed my life in tremendously positive ways.

I now can now live a fuller life because of Kratom. Pain is still with me but I now have a natural plant product I can buy without needing to convince a doctor to prescribe me it and I can change up the amount I take depending on my pain levels.

Kratom not only helps to ease my pain but it also has helped to just about eliminate the terrible fatigue I’ve suffered with all my life. I find that I am less anxious, don’t suffer from mental fog like I used to and I don’t have the huge emotional swings I had while I was on opioid pain meds. The effects of Kratom come on very subtly and taper off the same way.

It has been a truly life changing experience taking Kratom instead of opioid pain meds. I’m free from the tyranny of the prescription pad, I’m free from the hell of withdrawal symptoms and I’m free from suffering needlessly. Instead of being unproductive I’m now working, I started a T-shirt Company ( @Libertee4u on Instagram), I walk 3 plus miles per day, I’ve joined the Mushroom Club of GA, I went to Easter Dinner at someone else’s house (that’s huge for me), I cook three times a week and I washed my car for the first time in about ten years last weekend.

Kratom has saved my life or more precisely it has granted me the ability to live a life worth living. I now can make plans in the short term as well as long term without fear of pain or fatigue. I can socialize after work, I can keep my room and my car clean, I can think about dating, I can make music playlists, and most importantly, I’m able to look forward to a tomorrow in which I’m not miserable. That is truly miraculous.

I feel like I’m Lazarus and have been raised from the dead by Kratom.

Brad Miller

Death panels, opioid crisis and chronic pain

“The Law”

The law perverted! And the police powers of the state perverted along with it! The law, I say, not only turned from its proper purpose but made to follow an entirely contrary purpose! The law become the weapon of every kind of greed! Instead of checking crime, the law itself guilty of the evils it is supposed to punish!

If this is true, it is a serious fact, and moral duty requires me to call the attention of my fellow-citizens to it. Frederic Bastiat French Economist 1850

One hundred and sixth eight years since this was written about the French government we are seeing the exact same thing occur here in America. The opioid hysteria has created a barbaric, evil, and insidious regulation and severe restriction of pain medication while at the same time enriching a few who use the force of law to profit from the misery and pain of others.

I’ve been in chronic pain for over thirty years now. It all started with a severe case of Ulcerative Colitis that required a major surgery to save my life. It didn’t go well. That began my horrible and terrifying relationship with physical pain.

My main relationship in my life since I can remember has been pain. It is always with me, demands my attention, and requires me to attend to it day and night. It is persistent and unrelenting.

I’ve been fortunate to have doctors who’ve in the past believed that I shouldn’t suffer needlessly and provided me with pain medicine. This helped me to eke out, somewhat of a life, in between the hospital stays and surgeries. Even with pain meds I still hurt but as long as I know I can take one or two at night to rest and sleep I can endure the pain throughout the day.

That has all changed since the hysteria machine around opioids has been unleashed upon us. My GP was providing chronic pain management with opioids for the last three years. He stopped this year in large part, I believe, because of the fear of attracting unwanted attention from regulators.

What makes this so insidious is that he isn’t even in trouble for anything yet, and he chose to stop for fear of something that may or may not happen in the future. My pain is a certainty. It’s easier for doctors to say no then it is for them to take a risk. You’ll here some say they are afraid of losing their licenses but that to me is an excuse for not wanting to stand up for their patients and their supposed principles.

When good people don’t stand up, tyranny and injustice multiplies. I’m experiencing that myself with my recent attempts to obtain pain medicine. My GP referred me to a pain clinic. I called them and after a week of back and forth phone calls they finally decided they didn’t accept my “limited benefit plan”, didn’t accept new self-pay patients and didn’t treat GI patients.

I did ask them if they knew of any pain clinics that did treat people with GI related pain and they said no. So long story short I called all the doctors I’ve known for about thirty years and they were no help, I called about ten pain clinics and none accepted my insurance, and almost none treated GI related pain and they didn’t have anyone they could recommend me to. One did wish me the best of luck though.

I did find a couple on my own that would consider treating me but they couldn’t guarantee that the doctor would deem me worthy of a prescription for pain killers until he saw me. I’d have to come in for an initial assessment. In order to see the holy doctor I’ll have to shill out $375 – $600 for the first visit depending on which pain clinic I decide to go to. This is insanity.

On top of the initial charge for the “assessment” if they are so “merciful” to grant me one of their precious prescriptions for pain killers, I’ll have to come back for monthly visits like I’m some kind of goddamn parolee. And each monthly visit will run around $200.

I’ve seen this process of demonizing people in pain slowly developing over the course of my thirty plus year odyssey of pain. I remember when doctors were told they could no longer call in pain pill prescriptions, I remember the first time I heard a doctor express concern about the DEA when I asked for pain medicine, and I remember when I was forced to sign a pain contracts and get urine tested every 90 days like I was a convicted criminal. All of these incremental policies did nothing to ease my pain or make me “safer” from myself. Instead they are what has led us to where we are today.

The Law has been perverted to reap profits for the pharmaceutical industries, the doctors and the addiction industry. Their profits are paid for by the misery and pain of millions of Americans who have no lobbyists and have been abandoned by the medical community.

Besides the profits that those who benefit from this type of hysteria are raking in, I belief there is a dark undercurrent at work as well. We are rapidly approaching more and more regimented healthcare. Chronically ill folks like me are a drain on the system in the eyes of central planners. I do firmly believe there are those who believe in the tenets of centralized medicine who would prefer I was not around soaking up “healthcare resources”.

Pain pills are extremely cheap though. Last year including doctors visits for chronic pain management plus the cost of my pain medicine added up to around $600. Now I’m stuck with a tab, if I’m able to obtain a prescription, of around $3800. That is insane. But my surgeries and hospital stays have cost insurance companies millions. If I stick around I’ll more than likely need more surgeries and hospital stays.

When did it become okay to bully people in pain? When did it become okay to treat people in physical pain like criminals? When did it become okay to rape them with insane costs for doctor visits? When did it become okay to make people in pain ashamed or afraid to ask their doctor for pain medicine? When did it become okay for doctors to refuse to treat people in pain? When did it become okay to deny one of the only truly effective treatments medical doctors have at their disposal?

The options for people in pain today are worse then they’ve been since before the discovery of the effectiveness of the poppy plant to alleviate physical suffering thousands of years ago. Those who are in pain and denied or restricted pain medication are effectively being forced to live in the Stone Age.

I believe that those in chronic pain are being pushed into making some extremely difficult decisions. The choices are to find alternatives on the black market, try to continue in agony or end their life. All three are a death sentence handed down by the uncaring, ignorant and greedy individuals in the government and the medical industry.

Living in pain is like being in hell. The one description of hell I liken it to is not the fire and pitchfork type but the cold and desolate hell, where God is totally absent. If you believe that God represents all that is good in the world then living in physical pain is the absence of all of that.

Being in pain makes life unbearable. The equation that everyone makes each day is, “is the pain of life worth the results of your actions?” For me the answer is many times no.

A few years ago Sarah Palin (I’m not a fan) was lambasted for daring to suggest that Obamacare had provisions for a death panel in order to ration healthcare. Today we are seeing this concept put into action. Chronic pain patients are being denied the very treatment that would save their lives. The new opioid regulations are effectively a form of a “Death Panel” but it’s so diffused throughout the system no one takes responsibility for denying people in pain the relief they need to continue living.

I believe that a part of the medical community, some in the insurance industry and many in the government are all too happy to get rid of the chronic pain patient because they are easy targets, they soak up resources and remind them and others of the failures of modern medicine. Most chronic pain patients have had multiple surgeries or have an intractable disease that modern medicine can’t treat effectively. This is another driver of the propaganda pushing the opioid crisis narrative. The opioid hysteria is focusing on the wrong target. Pain patients aren’t the problem. Only about 1% or less become addicted. The opioid overdoses we hear so much about are really caused black market drugs laced with illicit fentanyl. Many pain patients are being pushed into this market by the increasing cost, time demands and humiliation required to obtain life saving pain medication. The very law meant to save lives is killing people while others make a tidy profit. (I’m not against profit. I’m against individuals and industries using the force of government to obtain it.)I’m not an addict. I’m just in pain. My abdomen hurts all the time. From adhesions pulling and stretching my insides to a pancreas/gall bladder/bile duct issue that hasn’t been properly diagnosed or treated, I suffer everyday of my life from the time I get up to the time I finally fall asleep.I wish I was stronger but the pain wins everyday. If I keep busy enough I can keep its shouting down to tolerable levels. But once I stop moving it returns like a bullhorn from hell. Pain medicine simply helps dial down the volume. The Law is meant to protect individual rights. It has been perverted today, as Bastiat wrote, to enrich a small group of people who use the force of the government to satisfy their greed while violating the rights of individuals. They are using the Law to violate my natural right to consume what I choose and to bear the responsibility of my choices. Pain medicine isn’t an evil that should be locked away behind armed government agents and doctors who are either scared or greedy, but should be available at the low cost the market puts on them for those who choose to take them. Physical pain creates a living hell for millions of Americans. It destroys hope, severs relationships, and poisons the mind. Pain medicine can help ease their physical and emotional suffering. I do have an appointment to see a pain doctor on April 4th. It will be at his discretion if he prescribes pain pills or not. That’s after I fork over $400 for the initial assessment. Where else do you give someone $400 for a service and don’t have a right or ability to know if the service you are seeking will be provided or not? It is insane how far this opioid hysteria has gone. On the surface the purpose of all these punitive and restrictive laws are to protect people from themselves.They are said to save lives but all they are doing is ruining the lives of millions of peaceful, productive and suffering fellow Americans whose bodies have already betrayed them. This further betrayal by the medical system has too many pain patients making the awful but understandable decision to end their suffering the only way they know how. They are being forced into taking their own lives due to the barbaric and unfeeling bureaucratic machine that cut them off from the one thing that allowed them to stay alive on this planet.Death is the only way out for those suffering from intractable pain if they are denied pain medicine. I’ve contemplated it in the past myself and have struggled with those type of thoughts during this stressful stretch of time while trying to find a doctor who will help me. I won’t go to the black market. I don’t trust it. So I can either suffer another ten days or so and hope that the doctor will find my suffering worthy or I can end my time here on planet Earth. I’ve tried alternative therapies like Kratom and Cannabis, both of which for me help with withdrawal symptoms, but not so much with the pain. I’m miserable tonight. I know I’ll wake up in pain and I’ll go to bed in pain tomorrow. It’s 4:00am and I have to get up at 6:30am to get ready for work. I’m so tired of hurting. I know if I kill myself those closest to me will be devastated. They like me for some reason even though I feel worthless, unreliable and unsociable most of the time. I known if I do end my life the little ones in my life would be most hurt. I read one time that if you have children in your life who love you and you commit suicide, it’s like hitting them in the head with a hammer. I won’t do that tonight. That’s why I’ll get up in a couple hours. That’s why I’ll continue on another day. Brad

Mom’s Simple Shiitake Mushroom Soup

Shiitake mushrooms are amazing. They are not only vastly superior to portobellos in taste but they have more health benefits as well.

My mom had breast cancer last year and I help out preparing healthy meals for her as much as I can. One meal that she has really enjoyed lately and which packs a ton of healthy cancer fighting goodness is a simple Japanese inspired Shiitake Mushroom soup.

Shiitake mushrooms have many beneficial compounds that have been shown to lower cholesterol, lower blood pressure and reduce the size of cancer tumors. It also has anti-viral and anti-bacterial compounds as well.

The soup takes less than an hour from start to finish and served about six.

Mom’s Shiitake Soup

  1. One medium cleaned unpeeled sweet potato – diced in half inch pieces
  2. 1/2 box organic chicken stock
  3. 1/4 small red onion – finely diced
  4. 4 cloves of garlic finely diced
  5. 4-6 ounces Shiitake Mushrooms sliced in 1/4 inch slices
  6. 1 bunch of organic green onions cut up in small rounds
  7. 1 bunch of organic cilantro chopped
  8. 1 lemon – cut in wedges
  9. 1 tablespoon of Ghee, olive oil, avocado oil
  10. Two cups water

Sauté mushrooms on medium heat in fat of your choice (no veggie oil) in a medium sauce pain for 6-7 minutes. Add onions and sauté till they are translucent. Then add garlic and sauté for another 2 minutes.

Next add the chicken stock, diced sweet potatoes, and water. Bring to a boil and let simmer for at least thirty minutes to up to two hours.

To serve simply ladle the soup into a bowl and add a big handful of green onion and cilantro. Then squeeze a wedge of lemon into it and enjoy!

**I was cooking a lot of button mushrooms for my mom but I recently stopped after Paul Stamets on the Joe Rogan Podcast, warmed against eating them.

I highly recommend it. Paul Stamets is the most knowledgeable guy on the planet when it comes to mushrooms.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mPqWstVnRjQ

Button mushrooms, crimini and portobellos are all the same mushroom, Agaricus bisporus. He hesitated during the Podcast to reveal why to avoid them but I did a little digging and it turns out that Agaricus bisporus contain chemicals called agarotines that when digested can be carcinogenic.

I found a video of him explaining this in more detail. He said it’s analogous to smoking a cigarette when you eat one, except instead of just causing tumors in the lungs like cigarettes these compounds can create tumors all over your body.

So needless to say we avoid all button, portobello, and crimins until further scientific testing is done. Thankfully delicious Shiitake mushrooms don’t contain these carcinogenic chemicals.

In this video he explains to Daryl Hannah (yes the actress) starting at 6:30 why he thinks people shouldn’t eat button mushrooms and portobellos.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2C-QlPb3J74

I hope you will consider trying the soup. It’s something we have really enjoyed.

Brad Miller

Fellow Human

FDA is wrong about Kratom

Last month the Commissioner of the FDA Dr. Scot Gotlieb issued a press release concerning Kratom. Who would have thought a piece of government propaganda would be full of lies, misrepresentations and authoritarian arrogance.

https://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm584970.htm

Kratom must be something really horrible and dangerous if the FDA and DEA want to ban it, right?

Kratom is a plant that grows in Southeast Asia. There are many different strains that have helped people relieve pain, fatigue, depression and manage the symptoms of opioid withdrawal for centuries.

I personally have used Kratom as a adjunct pain reliever and to help with opioid withdrawal symptoms. I have found it very effective with no side effects.

What’s ironic is that I started taking Kratom because of the DEA and the FDAs actions last year. If the DEA hadn’t attempted to classify Kratom as a Schedule I drug I wouldn’t have found the hundreds of compelling and passionate videos of folks telling their story about how it’s changed their lives for the better.

The entire recent press release from the head of the FDA has no specifics about why Kratom should be illegal. He stresses it should be illegal because of a smattering of calls to Poison Control, 36 deaths which weren’t caused by Kratom and the fact that there is no scientific evidence for its efficacy and safety.

There is in fact evidence that it is safe and effective. In fact you can go online right now and do what I did before deciding to take Kratom and see the thousands of videos online in which individuals detail how they’ve greatly helped by it. I don’t think the commissioner did this. For thousands of years this plant has been used safely.

Dr. Gotlieb doesn’t want individuals to take Kratom because it’s unapproved. Well Cannabis is also unapproved but it’s used by millions of people everyday and has been used by humans for at least 5000 years. How long has the FDA been around?

Kratom is no different. In fact every adult has a natural right to choose what he or she consumes. We don’t need his permission to do so.

I trust thousands of years of indigenous use and the thousands of testimonials online that Kratom can help with serious conditions like pain and depression. The internet has destroyed the monopoly on medical information once held by those in power. He does however fail to talk about the thousands and thousands that have died from approved drugs since the FDA was created.

Thirty six deaths have been blamed on Kratom. Of these the autopsies are problematic and others will not be released to the public. Millions of people in this country and around the world take this plant medicine without dying. If were as unsafe as he claims hundreds or thousands would be dead. That’s just not the reality.

He further implies that only the FDA can keep Americans safe and ensure they are taken care of by the medical system. He fails to talk about the 250,000 deaths caused by medical errors each year by government licensed healthcare providers. He might want to spend some time on that.

This entire press release besides attacking Kratom is also an attack on anyone who desires to exercise medicinal freedom. This press release and the actions it describes are meant to keep people within government controlled healthcare and the pharmaceutical pipeline so they become dependent on the power of the prescription pad.

The hysteria around the risks of Kratom and the so called opioid crisis is being spread as a way to rebrand the immensely unpopular War on Drugs.

The compounds that make Kratom effective are in fact being being studied because they don’t have the same abuse and addiction potential as prescription opioids. That being said the rate of actual addiction with opioids is less than 3% of users.

If Dr. Gotlieb wanted to help those with addiction and with managing opioid withdrawal he would be encouraging the use of Kratom. There is nothing I’ve found and thousands and maybe millions of others have as well, a more effective means of alleviating the misery of opioid withdrawal symptoms.

All Dr. Gotlieb needs to do is spend an hour watching the videos of people crying when they explain how Kratom helped them kick heroin. There is a quote that I heard Dan Carlin say and that is “quantity has a quality all its own”. Even though those people and myself weren’t part of a double blind placebo study we know it has helped eliminate opioid withdrawal symptoms.

He believes along with the upper echelons of the FDA and DEA to determine what I should ingest and that I am too stupid to figure out what dosages to take. I figured out the right dosage of Kratom through personal experimentation, from the advice from the local health food shop and from those sharing their experiences in online videos. People aren’t as helpless, stupid or incompetent as the FDA Commissioner fears

Throughout the press release he admonished we the public that we should only go to government licensed health care providers and only use approved drugs. I myself have been chronically ill for 30 years. In that time I’ve spent a lot of time in hospitals and going to doctors. Today I’m still sick and in chronic pain everyday. I like millions of other Americans are tired of the traditional paternal Medical system and know that we can make our own health choices without government interference.

In the press release he misleads with statistics. He cites the tenfold increase in calls to poison control. In reality there were 26 calls in 2005 and a whopping 660 calls in 2015 representing about .003 percent of the 3 million total calls to poison control per year. And 93% of those calls were concerning minor side effects.

To further put these 660 calls concerning Kratom to Poison Control in perspective, they received this year alone 9996 calls for kids being exposed to laundry detergent and 17,000 calls about kids and hand sanitizer. He deliberately mislead the American people to gin up support for this immoral and criminal attack on Kratom.

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/65/wr/mm6529a4.

http://www.aapcc.org/alerts/laundry-detergent-packets

He also mentions the 32 deaths associated with Kratom. What he doesn’t mention is that zero deaths have been linked to Kratom being used by itself. All of these deaths occurred when a individual ingested multiple substances.

Next he laments the lack of research and urges those who support the uses of Kratom to submit drugs containing Kratom through the FDA approval system. This was before he bragged about how his agency has overseen the voluntary destruction of hundreds of shipments of Kratom and vowed to stop them all.

It’s a catch-22 for researchers. Do the research but without the plant. It’s the same issue researchers have dealt with since Cannabis Prohibition was passed. The FDA would also love to have supporters of Kratom abandon their position that its a safe and natural supplement and not a drug. If those who support Kratom they need to keep it out of the FDA Machine.

How can anyone trust the FDA or the DEA? They have constantly lied to the public about Cannabis, MDMA, and psilocybin Mushrooms.These same institutions are using their tried and true playbook to stop individuals from taking safe and effective natural medicines and driving them by force to doctors who have the power of the prescription pad.

The evidence is mostly anecdotal now but more and more research is showing it is effective at pain relief, helping ease anxiety and depression as well as treat opioid withdrawal symptoms. If the DEA and FDA bam Kratom it will be almost impossible for researchers to study its effects.

Here is a scientific analysis using the DEA’s own 8 Factor criteria from The American Kratom Association. In it Kratom clears all 8 categories and proves using their own criteria that it should be legal and left alone.

https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/americankratomassociation/pages/21/attachments/original/1485630505/Henningfield_Eight_Factor_Analysis.pdf?1485630505

The FDA urges supporters p Kratom to use their botanical drug products approval process which in reality is designed to allow big pharma to patent compounds found in plants. This is a clear attempt to stop individuals from buying Kratom and forcing people to buy instead pharmaceuticals based on the plant.

The same process is going on with Cannabis. Just like with Cannabis I believe that taking the whole Kratom leaf is the best way to go instead of using extracts. Kratom has many different compounds that work in my opinion synergistically just like the cannabinoids do in Cannabis. Kratom is a plant medicine that people have been using for thousands of years. Millions of people have taken it and the safety profile far exceeds the majority of drugs approved by the FDA.

The real point to his entire speech is that the American people are too stupid to make their own healthcare decisions. Only government licensed doctors dispensing government approved drugs can be used by those who are sick and suffering. There is no public. There are only individuals. And thousands of individuals have found Kratom to be effective at easing their suffering and making life more tolerable.

Do you think politicians have your best interest at heart? Do you think the FDA is not in league with pharmaceutical companies?

Do you think that the FDA’s arrival process is meant to protect individuals or protect the profits of pharmaceutical companies?

What if I don’t want the FDA to have the authority to protect me? What if I want to live in a country where my natural right to consume what I choose is respected and I can buy any man made compound or natural medicine to ease my suffering or assuage my symptoms as I see fit? He doesn’t address this question.

I don’t want him or any other bureaucrat helping to prevent a substance I know to be safe and effective from getting a grip on me. What he is definitely not concerned about is what does have a grip on me which is chronic pain and a medical system that treats me like a child and a criminal at the same time.

As an adult in the so called land of the free, a nation built on the bedrock of natural rights which includes along with the Freedom of Speech the Freedom of consumption, I like every other adult own myself and I can choose to ingest a substance and bear the consequences.

The oxygen you’re breathing right now and the food you ate today will eventually kill you. The oxidative stress metabolism causes creates free radical molecules that reek havoc on your body. They destroy enzymes that protect your DNA and cause lipid peroxidation which is linked to causing over 200 hundred diseases including Heart Disease and Cancer, the two biggest killers in this country.

No one gets out of this world alive. While we are here we shouldn’t be restricted in what substance we use to make our stay here on Earth more enjoyable. When you are sick and suffering the last thing you need is Dr. Scott Gotlieb or any other bureaucrat of the FDA or DEA or any other agency standing between you and relief. Keep Kratom legal and legalize all drugs!

Brad Miller

Advocate of Medicinal Freedom

My take not the Opioid Crisis as a chronic pain sufferer

 

The current hysteria over the so called Opioid Crisis is not meant to help anyone except politicians, rehab centers and pharmaceutical companies.

I’ve been suffering from chronic pain for over thirty years now. In the last three decades the only way for me to function was and still is by taking pain killers. My main relationship since I have been 11 has been with pain. Believe me that’s not a great way to live.

Government is always looking to grow. Politicians are always looking for ways to use the righteous idigination and ignorance of the masses to further their career while at the same time gaining brownie points with big business. This is exactly what is going on with the Opioid Crisis.

The 55,000 number of deaths linked to opioids is extremely misleading. The majority of those deaths have been the result of a combination of substances ingested which include alcohol and barbiturates along with the demonized opioids. Other deaths are linked to adulterated black market drugs, many pain patients are driven to this horrible alternative because they have been denied treatment. The opioid crisis is not caused by doctors prescribing pain pills to people who are in chronic pain.

This type of misinformation is always used to take away our rights and to enrich the few at our expense. A new wave of opioids that targets the Kappa opioid receptors will hit the market soon. I think that is another reason why the media attention on this is being ginned up as well.

There is no one speaking for the people who are in chronic pain. I’ve lost days, weeks months and years to pain. I’ve missed out on most of life because of pain. The more my access to pain killers is reduced the more pain I suffer and the less life I live. I believe that every individual has a god given, natural or innate right if you will to ingest whatever substance they see fit to consume.

That is why I advocate for government to get out of my healthcare all together. I don’t need a politician or my neighbor determining what I should or shouldn’t ingest. I propose what I hope will become the 28th Amendment to the United States Constitution that would simply read:

Every individual has the innate and natural right to ingest, grow, consume, trade, sale or gift whatever substance they see fit. 

Just because someone consumes a substance doesn’t mean they are not responsible for their actions. It doesn’t matter if I kill someone whether I’ve just smoked a joint, taken a shot of Jack Daniels or drank a strong cup of coffee, I’m still responsible for what I’ve done.

When all substances can be bought “over the counter” Pfizer and Merk and other drug companies will be just like Apple or Microsoft. I can envision them opening their own stores and even having doctors on staff that will provide medical consultations and blood work for free. That way they will attempt to keep you in their ecosystem just like Apple and Google do.

Other businesses will open up and will be the Best Buy or the Walmart of medicines. Amazon could be, if they are forward looking enough, to become the number one seller of medicine in the world. Health care costs will plummet and the first time in a long time individuals will not only be able to buy what they want to treat their specific health issues but will also be able to grow their own pharmacies in their back yard. That is real freedom.

Think about growing just about all the medicine you need in your backyard for pennies per dose? A medicinal garden could include poppies, cannabis, and medicinal mushroom. It is a miracle that our bodies have the architecture to be positively and powerfully influenced by compounds made by plants and fungi. By combining the best of synthetic and natural medicines we can all live a happier, healthier and longer life.

The behavior of Pharmaceutical companies  will have to adapt to this new era of medical freedom by providing a better product at a much lower price. Without the FDA and government sanction the drug companies will have to start dealing directly with consumers. They will be on the hunt for lower side effect drugs and price them competitively due to the huge explosion of natural medicines that would be available. Research money would more and more go into natural solutions because of their safety profile and lack of side effects. Overall medicine will become cheaper, more effective and cause less deaths and injuries.

Having ready access to pain medicine would change my life for the better. I’m tired of going to the doctor with hat in hand hoping that I’ll get a prescription, which is merely a government sanctioned permission slip. I’m tired of going to the pharmacy and getting hassled because they aren’t able to read a calendar correctly. I’m tired of having to go to multiple pharmacies to get a prescription filled because their out of the pain medicine and their pharmacist is the only one who can order narcotics and he’s on vacation for the week. When you are sick and in pain these type of hassles add to your already mounting misery.

Those harping on the Opioid Crisis may care about those that are dying. But if they really wanted to use their time to the best effect they should be talking about Cigarettes which kill around 400,000 people a year, or alcohol which causes the death of  around 90,000 people  or so per year, or sugar and grain which can cause cardio vascular disease which kills millions per year. It’s clearly not about the numbers of dead that the opioid crisis do gooders are concerned about or they would be going after the big killers in this country.

Sick people are easy targets. Doctors are easy to manipulate because of the state licensing they are subject to. With the new era of Medical Freedom I’m proposing doctors could become health consultants and no longer be beholden to the current state monopoly on certifying health professionals. If doctors want to continue with the current model they could. They could be paid directly by the pharmaceutical companies and become doctors at the Pfizer store. Once doctors and patients are no longer tethered to the prescription pad or state licensing boards, politicians will lose the power to interfere with our health choices and people in pain will not have to suffer needlessly.

Its time we get government out of health care. Its time for adults to take control over their health, to exercise our innate right of self-ownership and buy whatever medicine or substance we choose to. Individuals suffer. And individuals pay the consequence of their actions. We all have the right to ingest what we choose. If the First Amendment of the Constitution protects our right to eject words out of our mouths, shouldn’t  the Constitution protect our right to put into our mouth whatever we choose?

Suffering is part of the human condition. We all suffer emotionally and physically. On this space ship Earth we have synthetic and natural compounds that can help ease the suffering. Psilocybin has proven to help with anxiety and can help end addiction, MDMA can help with PTSD, LSD can help end alcoholism, Ketamine can in less than twenty minutes end suicidal thoughts, Cannabis that miracle plant, is full of beneficial compounds that work together to help lower inflammation, reduce anxiety, increase well being, end seizures, reduce tumor size and help with sleep, and new and old opioids can help end the physical suffering of millions. Why can’t I go buy these chemicals off the shelf or order them off of Amazon? It’s not because they are expensive. Why can’t I grow medicinal mushrooms, poppy plants and Cannabis in my backyard? It’s not because they are difficult to grow.

The real reason we don’t have Medical Freedom is because we’ve forgotten that every individual owns themselves and that we have a natural right to treat our pain or our diseases as we see fit and so we must demand our innate right to ingest what we choose and bear the consequences of those choices.

 

Brad Miller

Fellow Human

 

Taking a short walk today is better than no walk at all 

I’ve learned over the last 30 years of dealing with multiple complicated chronic health issues is that – 

A small effort taken to improve my health today is infinitely better than taking no action at all. 

One of the small ways I seek to improve my health is by taking a walk at least 5x per week. Walking is something that helps the body in a lot of positive ways and it’s a great inexpensive, zero side, effect way to improve mood as well.

Today I only took a ten minute walk. That’s a lot shorter than I like to go but it’s better than not walking at all. I didn’t go as far as usual because of the time of day I went and because of how I was feeling. 

Before I went on the walk I thought for a moment that I shouldn’t go because it’s too hot and that I was too tired.  And that I won’t be able to go as far as I normally do and if I do go I’ll feel terrible and I’ll only be able to go for a short walk. I asked myself “What would be the use of that?”.

I’m glad I answered that a short walk is better than no walk at all.  I overcame that resistance and went. 

Too often it can be overwhelming dealing with chronic health issues to justify doing the small things that seem trivial in light of the amount of pain or the fatigue that one feels. 

But it’s these small choices each day that I make over time have a big positive impact on improving the quality of my life. Today I only walked ten minutes but that is still a small win in the pursuit of healthier me. 

Don’t discount the small wins. They can add up over time to produce amazing results. 

Brad 

Yerba Mate, Inflammation Brain and Flow State     

  
I’ve taken a ton of supplements, vitamins and nootropics in my life to help me develop a cleaer, more calm, and focused mind. Almost all of the stuff I’ve taken hasn’t had any discernible effects. One of the substances that has bucked the trend and has actually helped my mental state greatly is Yerba Mate tea. This powerful elixir from South America has positive noticeable effects on my brain and body almost as soon as the warm earthy green liquid crosses my lips. 

What is Yerba Mate?
The first time I drank Yerba Mate I couldn’t believe how it effected me. It provided mental and physical energy without the jitteriness of just caffeine, plus a level of focus and mental clarity which most of the time escapes me. For the last 30 years I’ve been dealing with autoimmune conditions, chronic pain and chronic inflammation. And these issues create what I call inflammation brain and when I’m under its spell entering into a flow state or simply getting through the day is extremely difficult. 

I’m obsessed currently with getting into, maintaining and living within a flow state as much as I can. Along with helping with forgetting oneself, time dialation and just feeling good, the flow-state produces positive physiological changes which are thought to help with autoimmune conditions and chronic pain. 

Yerba Mate’s unique composition of chemicals produces a similar feeling in me comparable to a low level or micro-flow state. And it also produces the mental jumping off point in which I can enter into a deeper flow state more easily.  When I’m tired and don’t feel well my brain is filled with a sludge or a fog . My mental processes are slowed, motivation evaporates, solution and novelty seeking are dramatically reduced and I just feel stuck.  I chalk this up to my autoimmune and inflammatory issues. This inflamed brain state  makes thinking difficult and making decisions even harder. When I drink Yerba Mate all of these symptoms are greatly reduced or even totally eliminated for up to four hours. 

After downing a cup of the Yerba Mate tea my mind clears and my thoughts are light and move without much effort, instead of being stuck in the mental sludge as usual.  The powerful chemical mix contained within the Mate include caffeine, theophylline, and theobromine along with tons of vitamins and minerals.

Caffeine is familiar to us all and most are familiar with its effects. Theophylline and theobromine are not as well known. Theophylline has anti-inflammatory effects and it is a vasodiallator which helps lower blood pressure and can help improve breathing. Theobromine effects the vagus nerve, the heart  and also is a vasodiallator. These compounds work synergistically to create positive changes to the body and brain. 

This means that when I drink Yerba Mate my fatigue is less noticeable, I can focus on one thing at a time, I can switch to another task or idea seemlessly, my body and mind are more relaxed and energized, and the perceived resistance to starting a task, which I am normally paralyzed by,  is greatly reduced. Also I’m less bothered by interruptions or issues that crop up during the day which, without the Mate, would easily trigger disappointment or feelings of anxiety. 

I’ve wasted hundreds of dollars on supplements, vitamins and nootropics in order to relieve my inflammatory induced brain state. Now for less than two cents a day I can banish the brain fog, gain mental clarity, ignore distractions, more easily, and clear away mental and physical fatigue. By reducing or eliminating these symptoms of inflamed brain I’m able to to enter into, achieve, and  maintain  mental flow states more easily throughout the day. And this makes living a hell of a lot more enjoyable. 

One of my favorite sayings is “Enjoy what you can and endure what you must”. I’m on a perpetual quest for ideas, substances and practices that help me to be able to do this more in life.  A warm mug of Yerba Mate in the morning is a good way for me to ensure that I’m able to enjoy and endure a little more each day. 

Brad 

FYI:

Even though Yerba Mate is stimulating ai don’t just drink it in the morning , I also drink in the evening if I’m finding it hard to relax my inflamed mind and body. It calms and clears my mind and relaxes my body. Instead of keeping me up it actually and helps me to fall asleep. 

Bone broth, hospitals and bad memories 

  
When I’m in the hospital one of the things I hate the most (besides the dehumanization, pain, misery and zero sleep) is the food. And the one food that has turned my stomach more by its mere presence than any other food, was beef broth. The smell always produced the physical preparations for vomiting as soon as the smell hit my nose. That is why I was shocked today when I drank a full cup of bone beef broth and I thoroughly enjoyed it. 

I was very anxious as I cut open the package of Kettle and Fire’s grassfed beef bone broth today  and waited to have my nose assaulted by the noxious nauseating  odor of beef broth but that never happened. In fact as I took the initial first whiff of the golden elixir it was not offensive in the least. Feeling a little more confident,  I poured the contents into a sauce pan and began to simmer it. I thought surely as it heated the unpleasant aroma would be released and assault my nostrils just as the disgusting beef broth had always done when I was in hospital.

Again my nose was spared. The aroma was mild but very pleasant. I poured a mug of the clear golden  brown liquid, girded my loins and tentaviley took a sip. I waited for my tongue and stomach to immediately revolt but they did not. I took another sip and another. It took my brain a few seconds to catch up and realize,  that it was not in the least revolting, and yes it was truly delicious.

No off flavors, no tinny taste and most surprisingly I found hints of maple syrup notes in the broth. The more I drank it the more I enjoyed it. Not only was it extremely tasty and satisfying it left my cracked lips moisturized. With each sip a pleasant and tasty glossy residue was left on my lips as a reminder of the reported healing properties it contains.  

I’ve had bone broth sitting in my pantry for six months now. Every time I would see it on the shelf I would say to myself “I’ll try it tomorrow” because I dreaded taking a sip. But the fear was unfounded. Kettle and Fire has produced an amazing product that is something I am going to incorporate into my morning and evening routine. 

Bone broth’s reported health benefits are legion. I am most interested in its reported ability to help heal the GI tract and also help with skin issues such as psoriasis. And on top of all the health benefits it’s also delicious. I plan on having a cup tonight before dinner. 

If you are interested in more of the health benefits visit Kettle and Fire’s website: https://www.kettleandfire.com

Their ingredient list is impressive which includes grassfed beef bones along with veggies and herbs. For me drinking the bone broth not only nourished my body but also helped me to mentally overcome a past negative memory and by doing so enjoy a new positive experience that will hopefully lead to improved health over the long haul. 

How many other things do I avoid today that could be potentially good for me because of the negative memories that I still hold on to from the past? That is a question I will ponder tonight as I enjoy a steaming mug of Kettle and Fire’s grassfed beef bone broth. 

Brad 

FYI: In 2013 there was a study done showing high lead levels in chicken bone broth. The study was severely flawed. You can read a full write up about it here: http://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/soy-alert/bone-broth-and-lead-contamination-a-very-flawed-study-in-medical-hypotheses/