Bone, Heal Thyself

Wow, I just realized it's been a long time since I've posted anything. Life has been busy with getting a late start on our garden and random things that come up. I haven't tried any new recipes or cooked anything fabulous in a long time! Plus, I have a tendency to get sidetracked easily. I have been doing a lot of reading and researching on some things the last couple of weeks also. Then, my son decided life was boring and we needed some excitement so he broke his wrist. Ouch. Between his two previous head wounds, my middle son's dog bite incident, and now this I'm thinking we should be racking up frequent flyer miles at the local ER. One friend suggested a punch card, so the 11th visit is free - I need to look into that. ;)

Having kids, particularly our boys, continually brings new challenges into life. They must be in an agreement with the Lord that I need to be gray by the time I'm 35. ;) One thing I am learning, though, is that each new challenge is an opportunity to learn something new. And give me something to satisfy the research junkie in me. This is our first experience with a broken bone of any sort. So, of course, I ran through my mental catalog of herbs that would help heal broken bones. I knew arnica was at the top of the list, along with comfrey. These two herbs, especially in combination, work wonderfully when applied externally to bruised areas or to heal broken bones and torn tissues. Only thing is, that's difficult to do when one is wearing plaster. :) Homeopathic arnica can be taken internally, but our HFS didn't have any. I remember briefly looking into MSM at one point, and was excited to recall it's amazing ability to help with bones and connective tissue. So that's what I went with.

MSM (methylsulfonylmethane) is a naturally occurring sulfur. Small amounts of it are found in foods such as fruits, vegetables, eggs, meat, milk and grains. But processing these foods or heating them can lessen the amount of MSM in them, or cause it to disappear completely. MSM is important for joints, connective tissues, hair, skin, nails and cartilage bc it helps the body build and repair. This is why it is often taken in combination with glucosamine and chondroitin. It also aids in biochemical processes in the body like energy production. This list goes on! It has been shown to help with inflammation, arthritic pain, parasites and microbial issues in the gut, mental alertness, muscle cramps, symptoms associated with allergies, and increases the body's ability to heal wounds. And those are just some of the benefits from using MSM. So, you can see why I am so excited to use it. Not only will it help heal the broken wrist, it will help alleviate the pain and swelling. So much better than OTC drugs!

It is available in several different creams and soaps for external use, and can be applied directly onto the skin. You can also find MSM tablets or powder for internal use. If you do decide to try MSM internally, start out slow and use a small amount, then work your way up to avoid gastrointestinal discomfort. MSM is a natural detoxifier, so you may experience slight detox symptoms when you start it.

So, we now have another "lesson learned" under our belt. And if Bean was wondering just how far he could go jumping off that swing, now he knows. ;)