Inflammation

[Spryte]

If you have issues with inflammation, and find yourself stuck in an inflammatory response, do you have any tips on how to bring things down?

My flu shot last week seems to have triggered quite the cascade. I will call my doc on Monday, and am trying to remember what we’ve done in the past — but it’s all escaping me at the moment.

I have a pantry full of supplements, and access to lots of stores, etc tomorrow. Any recs would be helpful!

[Faith-manor]

I am not an expert. Not by any stretch. But if memory serves, my sister takes aspirin or turmeric but not both together. She also takes a fish oil supplement and is pretty fastidious with her Mediterranean diet. I have no idea if any of that works quickly at all.

I hope someone else here knows more.

[prairiewindmomma]

Vaccinations stimulate the immune system. If your body is wonky, tamping down the inflammation may also tamp down the efficacy of the vaccine for you. 
 

If things are bad, and you are traveling soon, I’d be asking for a 3-5 day prednisone boost. 

Beyond that:

Histamine response: all of the h1 and h2 inhibitors

NAC—if you are safe to take it (lots of cross reactions possible here)

fish oil (the high quality stuff)

tumeric: you want something with the standardized oil compound and a bioactivator

ibuprofen

kitchen sink stuff: green tea, cherry juice, D3, magnesium, bromelain, glucosamine chondroitin

[popmom]

9 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said:

Vaccinations stimulate the immune system. If your body is wonky, tamping down the inflammation may also tamp down the efficacy of the vaccine for you. 
 

If things are bad, and you are traveling soon, I’d be asking for a 3-5 day prednisone boost. 

Beyond that:

Histamine response: all of the h1 and h2 inhibitors

NAC—if you are safe to take it (lots of cross reactions possible here)

fish oil (the high quality stuff)

tumeric: you want something with the standardized oil compound and a bioactivator

ibuprofen

kitchen sink stuff: green tea, cherry juice, D3, magnesium, bromelain, glucosamine chondroitin

Do you know anything about Rosita Raw Cod Liver Oil? A friend recently recommended it to me. Sorry @Spryte for the hijack. 

[prairiewindmomma]

 The idea behind the product is that the oil cold extracted so that all of the vitamins are there naturally as opposed to some synthetics being added due to loss from the processing process. If you read the packaging, though, it appears they add vitamin E (and rosemary). 
 

I am hesitant to pay premium prices $60+ on supplements. I have done so over the years and just haven’t seen a good return benefit. 

[prairiewindmomma]

Fwiw, my rheumy recommends krill oil > cod oil. I have tried most of the major brands of krill, cod, and general fish oil including Nordic Naturals, etc. and it’s not something my body responds to. My labs measuring inflammation stay the same and I feel the same. 
 

ETA: but, some people do, so I mentioned it…

Edited November 27, 2022 by prairiewindmomma

[popmom]

1 minute ago, prairiewindmomma said:

Fwiw, my rheumy recommends krill oil > cod oil. I have tried most of the major brands of krill, cod, and general fish oil including Nordic Naturals, etc. and it’s not something my body responds to. My labs measuring inflammation stay the same and I feel the same. 

Good to know. Thank you. I was actually reading something earlier about krill oil. It wasn't on my radar before, so I should look into it.

[Spryte]

41 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said:

Vaccinations stimulate the immune system. If your body is wonky, tamping down the inflammation may also tamp down the efficacy of the vaccine for you. 
 

If things are bad, and you are traveling soon, I’d be asking for a 3-5 day prednisone boost. 

Beyond that:

Histamine response: all of the h1 and h2 inhibitors

NAC—if you are safe to take it (lots of cross reactions possible here)

fish oil (the high quality stuff)

tumeric: you want something with the standardized oil compound and a bioactivator

ibuprofen

kitchen sink stuff: green tea, cherry juice, D3, magnesium, bromelain, glucosamine chondroitin

Thanks, this gives me some ideas. I needed a refresher, it’s been a while.

My (insert irritated words) embedded UTI symptoms have flared terribly post-vaccine, though the initial flu-like stuff has stopped. I am confined to the heating pad, ugh, so ready to try anything. I’m on abx for the infection itself, and it’s been pretty quiet lately, till the shot stirred things up.

Will start with a three day “stress dose” of steroids. I can do that at any time, snd should have thought of it.

I used to take NAC, but not sure now. Will look at more in the morning.

When we return mid Dec, starting a new protocol, (something about TH1 and TH2), but wow, I need to try to calm things down for the next few weeks. 

[*****]

1 hour ago, prairiewindmomma said:

NAC—if you are safe to take it (lots of cross reactions possible here)

Can you elaborate on what you mean by lots of cross reactions possible?  I'm just curious, I have taken NAC often since the pandemic and I wonder what I should be on the lookout for, thanks. 

[popmom]

1 hour ago, ***** said:

Can you elaborate on what you mean by lots of cross reactions possible?  I'm just curious, I have taken NAC often since the pandemic and I wonder what I should be on the lookout for, thanks. 

I’m also interested as I just started PharmaNAC. Also two of my dds as we all deal with body focused repetitive behaviors. 

[Katy]

What @prairiewindmomma said, plus ginger and cinnamon and garlic (though I find garlic in food to be better than a supplement).

You can also go a green smoothie with a pound of baby greens, 2 cups of blueberries, and some flax or chia seed or flax oil, and enough water to blend. 

[prairiewindmomma]

NAC is counterindicated if you have any sort of clotting disorder, food allergies to onion, garlic, or anything else that NAC is naturally present in, if you are on blood pressure meds, if you have asthma (bronchospasm risk), if you’re on chloroquine, and a few other things. 

Dosing higher than 1200mg increases your risk of hives and other issues. 
 

IMO, supplements are medicine. You should always do thorough research before starting something. This is especially true if your body is wonky. A lot of the anti-inflammatories can have blood thinning effects and when you take a lot together you can end up easily bruising or taking forever to stop bleeding with regular blood work (I did this one recently and ruined a shirt.) 

What is good medicine for one body isn’t necessarily good for another. I used to have the spinach smoothie Katie mentioned above for breakfast most days in the summer. But, spinach contains a lot of oxalates and that caused other problems for me. I can handle a few leaves here or there, but not every day. 

[*****]

2 hours ago, prairiewindmomma said:

But, spinach contains a lot of oxalates and that caused other problems for me.

Thank you for the explanation. That is helpful because really, I hadn't read much about who should not take NAC, but that it was good to take to support the immune system.

I have heard about oxalates contained in kale. Some suggest quickly steaming or blanching kale to reduce the oxalates before consuming them in shakes or eating raw otherwise. 

[Spryte]

Thanks again for the refresher. I did my first day of stress dosing (tripling my daily steroids), added 600 mg of ibuprofen twice a day (a technique that has worked in the past, from the GI doc), did my usual supplements and some of the kitchen stuff. I skipped the NAC, though we have it, as I vaguely recall doc saying for DS to take it but not me.

All this, and I managed to get out the door and hit REI for some items we needed — huge victory. I’m home now with my BFF, the heating pad, but more hopeful that I’ll be able to manage a flight in two days.