Turmeric - does it work for me? Tasty & medicinal versions. [@NLi10]

A new(ish) café has opened on our high-street (one of two highstreets we are in the middle of!)  called Hello Café (Bearwood) and my partner noticed that on the menu they had a turmeric Late.  

I have rheumatoid arthritis and turmeric is one of the many (many) things that has been recommended over the years to help - and the amounts I'd taken in teas etc really didn't make a difference.  Chatting to the lady at the counter she said this is made with powdered turmeric so I thought I'd give it a go.

It looks very pretty in it's drink form - very yellow.  Naturally I had it with a lovely pastry which I think helped with the digestion.  Within 30 mins I had a lovely fuzzy glow which I'd not expected - kind of like I'd taken a lot of ibuprofen but without all the horrible side-effects. This was worth investigating!

In the Holland & Barrett a few doors down they had the Better You spray for Turmeric - half price at £12 as they are discontinuing it!  Probably because it has a tendency to go everywhere when you spray it - which is why there are yellow fingerprints all over this.

Spray in mouth - wait for effects!  Compared to the heap of powdered turmeric in the late this contains very little.  I suspect that the powder is a lot better value for money.

And while it is very convenient, it doesn't really have that massive effect that the first late did.  Useful though as it does make me feel a lot less fragile than I usually do which is a big bonus when you have a day that you want to be more active.

A week later I returned to Hello Café and had another Late (and one of the soft strawberry ice-creams). The effect wasn't quite as profound this time (no pastry to absorb it maybe) but it was still quite pleasing and took the edge off the day.

Naturally - if you are like me and on medications this doesn't replace them (in fact its always worth discussing with your consultant if you plan on doing this long term).  It also doesn't actually prevent the RA from doing the nasty damage that it tends to do - but it does help a lot with the inflammation.  As this is (in the right amounts) proven to be similar in effect to Ibuprofen (but without the IBS style symptoms that causes over time) I think I'll look into other ways of drinking it at home.

Jacob Hooy CBD Oil Food Supplement (Holland & Barrett) @NLi10

A friend shared a well researched and thought out blog post about CBD oil and it's been continually linked to the health conditions that I have so I decided to hunt some down.  It was easier than I expected as Holland & Barrett stock it in the UK, but they are usually out of stock so I had to order it from them online (and picked up in store to save money).

It comes in a tiny little dropper bottle.

The instructions on when to use it and what to use it for are deliberately vague.  There are lots of discussions about what it is supposed to do - but even Holland & Barrett aren't willing to pass that on - instead they direct you to the CBD UK Facebook group where you hear success and failure stories.  And a lot of discussion about the foul taste.

The specific brand they sell is Jacob Hooy, which is apparently an old and well established brand from the Netherlands.  That said - this is manufactured from hemp not cannabis so isn't illegal in the UK to buy and use.  It doens't contain anywhere near enough of the THC chemicals that cause the highs, but apparently does contain enough of the CDB compounds that may cause lowered anxiety, reduced inflammation and reduction in pain.

The evil looking dropper is used to put a drop under the tongue at specified intervals.  I've chosen to go with the wisdom of the group and start off low and slow - one drop twice a day for the first week.

And the taste?  It's basically like Sunny Delight made with grass cuttings.  If you eat things like Kale and other strong green things then you'll probably already be a bit used to it.  It should be noted that I've been very intentionally keeping it away from my taste-buds so maybe i'm missing out on the pure evil.

Like our other health investigations I'll link all these articles together and track my progress with this new fad oil and see if it helps my Rheumatoid Arthritis and changes my sleep patterns at all!