Wow, it has been over a year since I last wrote in here. Some health issues with a family member as well as life in general has kept me busy. I wanted to just once again bring to the fore front this great product NOPALEA. I have copied part of my original post for those who do not want to scroll to the beginning of my blog to see just why I love this product. To see the post in its entirity you can find it HERE.

In my earlier posts I mentioned a new product called Nopalea that TriVita has recently released in April 2009. Michael Ellison, TriVita's CEO expects it to be a billion dollar product. When this product came out I was anxious to try it. I had heard some pretty fantastic things about it and the results people were getting from it. The results I was specifically interested in were it's effects on inflammation. I suffer from Systemic Lupus which is an Autoimmune disease. This disease has taken me on a precarious journey over the coarse of 25 years, forcing me into an early retirement from my job of 22+ years as a Critical Care Nurse which I loved dearly. I was skeptical but eager to try it non the less. Here is the testimonial I submitted to TriVita not too long after starting Nopalea:

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I am an RN who worked in the Critical Care setting for 22+ years until 8 years ago when I had to go out on full time disability due to Systemic Lupus. Having been diagnosed over 25 years ago, this has been a long term battle. I currently am on chemotherapy and long term steroids and approx 8 other daily medications including pain medications for joint and muscle pain and spasms. I also have Hemiplegic Migraines that render me paralyzed on one side of my body with the inability to speak or communicate along with a fully dilated pupil. These require 25-36 ER admissions a year. My medical history is so extensive is is almost embarrassing to write about.

I started taking Nopalea last month. I had heard remarkable reports, but was not prepared for the results I have received! I love to wood carve.It is my great love. I have not been able to do it in quite a while. The last time I did do it wasn't very enjoyable because of the pain I experienced. It just so happened I had to start teaching my son to carve for his Senior Project the week before I started the Nopalea. Just showing him the techniques caused my hands such discomfort. But it also got the carving bug into me. Only 3 days after starting the Nopalea I started carving again myself. ALL DAY. The next day I had minimal discomfort which is unheard of for me, especially when I begin carving after a long downtime. My arms, hands, neck and back did not hurt. And I was not fatigued. I have been carving for a straight month now virtually pain free! No spasms. Minimal redness, Minimal swelling. I have not taken any of my pain meds for over 3 weeks!!

I also started walking my dog again for the first time in about 8 years. Albeit short walks, but walks non the less. My teenage son rides ATV's and dirt bikes with my husband, I actually took up dirt bike riding about 6 years ago so that I could do something with my son that didn't require walking. Granted I don't do the fancy jumps he does but we enjoy riding mountain trails together. I had to stop even doing that 2 years ago because of pain. I am going to give it a whirl again now, all because of the Nopalea.

Before being able to turn this testimonial in, I had a flare up of my Lupus. This flare up was a lot different than previous flares. Usually during a flare, I suffer tremendous pain, requiring an increase in my pain meds. I took no pain meds. Also I always either require an increase of either my oral steroid dose but usually an steroid injection. Neither was necessary! But what was more amazing for me was that my flares always trigger an increase in my Hemiplegic Migraines, requiring at least 3-4 visits in a week minimal. I did not go once for this. Believe me that has never happened before.

Nopalea thus far has made a significant difference in my life.

Lisa

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Since writing this testimonial I continue to experience the benefits I achieved when I first wrote this, which was several months ago. To say that this product has made a significant difference in "MY" life is an understatement to say the least. Check out NOPALEA WORKS for many more testimonials.

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It has been over 1 year since the update above and I continue to do well. I have my ups and downs, but by far more ups than downs. If someone had told me 3 years ago that I would be doing this well I would of said noway!.....Do I still have flares? Yes...but milder than ever before. Do I still have pain? Well I rarely take pain meds now where as before it was a constant thing. Do I still take my Lupus meds? Well Yes, I take them no matter how I feel, you do not cure Lupus, but taking Nopalea has greatly reduced the pain I suffered from the inflammation and I have not had to go up on my maintaince meds in a very long long time. Which before taking Nopalea I steadily was going up on the dosages.

Giving it a try is well worth it trust me!

Nopalea can be purchased on the regular TriVita Products site or the new Sonoran Bloom site. Read below for just a bit of the information Nopalea:

"I Wish I Could Bottle That Stuff!!!" Oops THEY DID!!!

We all have times in our lives when the going gets rough. It seems we use every drop of emotional and physical energy just to get out of bed in the morning because we know what lies ahead. We know we can't escape it.

It is hard to watch loved ones go through these times and going through the ride with them can be taxing. Love and faith sustain us through so much. It can be frustrating when you have Lupus or any physical condition that interferes with your ability to respond as effectively as you would like to the situation you are facing.

This has been a difficult year for my family. The past 2 months particularly so. I thought we had a reprieve this past week only to be blind sided again yet today. No I am not having a pity party here.... I am going somewhere with this. Tonight I was sitting here at 11:30 pm and realized Geez about 5 months ago I would not be able to sit here at this hour and write after having the type of day I just had. HECK I doubt that I would be functioning. As I had said in a earlier post, since starting Sublingual B-12 I have better concentration, memory and energy than I have experienced in years due to my lupus. I am thankful that I am able to fully participate and contribute to the things necessary during this time.

As for the Nopalea, it continues to give me mobility I have not had in years. I continue with the carving and doing things I haven't done in a long time. I continue off of the 800mg 3 x's a day of Ibuprofen and have even started lowering my Prednisone dose, which has been years since we have done that. I rarely need my pain med, unless I do something silly like run out of Nopalea. Yeap, in the not too distant past I ran short of Nopalea which has not happened to me before. I thought no big deal, I'll wait till my next scheduled shipment to come. BIG MISTAKE!!!! By the end of the week I was miserable. I was already a believer..NOW it is sealed.

If you have any issues with inflammation like: Arthritis, Lupus, sports injuries, Bursitis. Check out the information at the Sonoran Bloom site on Nopalea. Besides the intrinsic immune issues that go hand in hand with many conditions that involve inflammation. Many of the treatments involve immunosuppresant therapy. So the added benefit of this product's boost to the immune system makes it even more appealing.

As for me, I only wish I had found these 2 products earlier.

Cheers,
Lisa

Reduce Pain from the Inside Out

“Where does it hurt?” This is often the first question caregivers ask. (A caregiver may be a doctor or nurse, a friend or mommy!) We ask because we care; people often – though not always – tell us where it hurts because they are searching for a solution to their pain.

Why we hurt
Pain is a messenger system designed to tell us that something is wrong. As my grandfather used to say, “If your hand hurts, take it off the hot stove!” Pain is often designed to trigger a “withdrawal” response. We withdraw from pain because the pain tells us that we are being injured. This interpretation of pain may seem overly simplistic, especially in our world, where it is not always easy to take your hand off the hot stove, so to speak.

There are a number of different pain sensations. The feeling may seem sharp (superficial pain receptors) or dull (deeper pain receptors). It may seem to throb with your heartbeat or be constant. It may be fixed in one location or migratory – moving around from place to place. The main distinction of pain basically boils down to acute pain versus chronic pain.

• Acute pain begins to go away as soon as you remove the trigger. Take your hand off the hot stove, repair the broken tooth or drink pure water to rehydrate the dehydrated brain and acute pain goes away. The message of pain has been received, interpreted and the corrective action taken.
  
  
• Chronic pain persists after the cause has been removed or because the cause is itself a chronic condition. It is often related to inflammation – inflammation in the tissues of your body, or inflammation in the nervous system, or both. We used to have a saying to help us define inflammation: rubor, tumor, calor and dolor. These four Latin words mean redness, swelling, heat and pain.

Your brain eventually interprets the signals in a way that motivates you to confront the cause of pain. Interestingly, the brain doesn’t feel pain; it merely interprets the nerve and chemical signals as painful.

Understanding the signals
It is important for us to understand why we hurt so that we can take the proper action. The four basic pain triggers are:

1. Trauma or injury
2. Toxins or poisons
3. Emotional distress
4. Deficiency

As mentioned above, an example of a deficiency that causes pain may be a water deficiency (dehydration) causing a headache. Another extremely common form of painful dehydration is osteoarthritis (OA). In OA the soft tissue of the joint capsule loses water and withers. This may be due to a number of causes, including simply not drinking enough water. More often, joint dehydration associated with OA occurs because there are not enough minerals to hold the water in its proper place and quantity. This is why TriVita’s OptimaFlex® contains both pain/inflammation reducing ingredients and minerals associated with healthy, moist joints.

An example of toxins creating pain may be the way toxins from inside your intestines trigger rheumatoid arthritis and many other “autoimmune” disorders. Typically, a toxin from inside your system escapes into the bloodstream and relocates to the soft tissue of your organs or around your joints. Your immune system attacks both the toxins and the soft tissues. In an attempt to remove the toxin or poison, your system may destroy the tissue in which the toxin resides.

Pain caused by toxins frequently responds to Nopalea™, as the Betalains in Nopalea are both anti-inflammatory and anti-toxin. These two actions help your immune system work smarter, not harder and, ultimately, help you do what you do best: heal. This often results in reduced levels of chronic pain.

The lesson of pain
Dedicated physicians spend decades learning the antecedents, triggers and inflammatory pathways associated with acute and chronic pain. There is simply no way to address all of the particulars of pain in our Wellness Reports; however it is my sincere wish that this report gives you a little more insight into the possible causes – and solutions – for acute and chronic pain.

Take Control of Your Health

• Practice deep breathing 20 minutes or more daily
• Drink pure water – ½ ounce per pound of body weight
• Sleep peacefully to reduce pain signals and heal
• Eat nutritiously, including appropriate supplements
• Exercise daily according to your abilities – get professional help with an exercise program tailored to your needs and abilities
• Select a support team

Learn More...

• Low Back Pain
• Do-it-Yourself Pain Relief

These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA, and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
© 2009 TriVita, Inc.