I found a magic cure for joint inflammation

[ace]

I have posted a couple of time whining about an injury I got (slipped on water at the gym and fell REALLY hard on my knee). I was on crutches for a month, in bad pain. MRI/Xray revealed nothing, so it was just a bad bruise which caused lots of painful inflammation. I tried everything, was the model patient- ice, anti-inflammatory drugs, rest, pt, homeopathy, acupuncture. Finally my acupuncturist suggested these chinese medicine patches. They're not cheap, and you need three, they're something like 30$ each. Anyway, you put it on the affected area (knee in my case) for 48 hours, then take it off for 24 hours, then put on a new one for 48 hours, remove, etc. After using them, I finally could walk w/o pain after 3+ months! Like magic, they just sucked the inflammation out of the joint. Anyway, this is the company's website: http://www.weilab.com/ The patch I used was the large Whitee patch. Hope this info helps somebody :-)

[mimitabby]

hmmmmmmmmmmmm

I am naturally suspicious, but it would be great if they really work!

[ace]

Honestly, I'm as skeptical as the next person, Mimi, but they really did work where all else had failed. Lots of western medicine cures are derived from similar ingredients as are in chinese medicine, and poultices are used in western medicine, too, so it's not really magic :-)

I also get really, really bad poison oak, and the only thing I've found to get rid of it is an oral chinese medicine product (alright, steriods work too, but I avoid them because they make me crazier than I already am. And doctors don't really understand why steroids work, either!).

[mimitabby]

Ace, how did you find out about this stuff? Please tell me more about it.
(who recommended, where did you find it?)

[Pedal Wench]

Of course it works -- one of the listed ingredients is: Margherita! A good frozen margherita is known to eliminate all sorts of pains!

[ace]

Sure. My acupuncturist (who also is an herbalist) ordered it from the company I posted the link for, weilab. I think they're physically located near me, somewhere in the SF Bay area. My acupuncturist said after he'd torn his acl skiiing, and had lots of residual swelling, he used the patches and they were really effective at reducing the inflammation, so he's a believer. He also told me that if a round of treatment of 3 patches didn't work, in his experience weilab might throw in another set of 3, because they really stand behind their product.

Let me know if you have any other questions.


They were so effective that I think I'm going to order a set of 3 to take with me for my Italy bike trip in May, just in case my knee flares up.

[SadieKate]

I'm highly skeptical of any company which declares there are clinical case studies but does not actually cite the study or identify the medical professional or organization conducting the studies.

http://www.weilab.com/clinicalcasestudies

The company doesn't even provide background information on themselves. They say what they do, but not what makes them qualified.

http://www.weilab.com/About_Us

[ace]

All I can say is it worked for me, and I was trying to share the info with someone who might need it. I am not trying to convince anyone to use the product. I just wish someone had told ME about it sooner so I didn't have to hobble around for three months. It seems pretty low risk, given that it's not oral, you just wear a patch.

Take it or leave it as you will.

[SadieKate]

Ace, don't be offended. You state why you believe in it and I state why I'm skeptical. We're both allowed. Having an auto-immune disorder, I stay far away from anything herbal that doesn't have hard clinical evidence backing it up. For instance, I cannot take echinacea. My mother blithely doses herself and my father with everything under the sun, until her neurosurgeon and the oncologist said NO because they're seeing some problems. Many, many people are unaware of the contra-indications for herbal remedies because there are very few reputable case studies and sadly, due to the economics with the pharmaceutical industry and the FDA, unlikely to be.

My own neurologist promotes some homeopathic treatments, but only when he can find good clinical studies to back up his recommendation.

[ace]

Thanks for explaining, Sadiekate. I certainly understand why, given your situation, you would be very, very careful. I think it makes sense for anyone to be careful, although as I said below, this is an external remedy, so I'd think the risk is far less (although you're still absorbing it through your skin).

To each her own.....

[alpinerabbit]

My own neurologist promotes some homeopathic treatments, but only when he can find good clinical studies to back up his recommendation.

Right. Homeopathy. Good clinical studies. No comment.

These patches at least contain STUFF. Such as Myrrh which may have anti-inflammatory properties.

I am also dismayed at the lack of detailed clinical information, and I do hope among their staff are qualified M.D.s not only Biochemists. Or else I hope they have good liability insurance....