alternative
medicine
medicine
Norman
Allan
www.normanallan.com
www.normanallan.com
| alternative medicine | Norman
Allan www.normanallan.com | ||
MSM
We were walking the dogs down by the lake the other night along with Marian and Sasquatch (Marian’s Newfoundland Retriever). Marian told us that she had just started running again after a break of more than two years - her plantar fascitis (a type of painful foot) had stopped her jogging. Last winter she ran across mention of MSM. Being a "skeptic" she researched it on the net and then decided to try it. That was February ’99. It’s now September ’99. She just started running again and then, she exclaimed, her left shoulder - which she has been virtually unable to use at all, for years now - had mended too! She started her mother, crippled with arthritis, on the MSM and they have seen some marked improvement, but they think they’ll try adding glucosamine sulphate to her mother’s regime as there is still a long way to go.
MSM. Methylsulphonylmethane.
Earl Mindell’s "The MSM Miracle" (1997, Keats Publishing) is a mine of information on MSM and sulphur.
Sulphur is an essential link in proteins. There are two sulphur containing amino acids, methionine and cysteine, and they can use their sulphur to link to another like amino acid (methionine to methionine, cysteine to cysteine). This is a way in which proteins fix their shape. Sulphur is involved in many other biochemical situations. Glucosamine sulphate (one of the building blocks of the connective tissues "matrix") is, as the name tell us, sulphated and, Mindell tells us, "sulphur bonds are required as essential structural components of all connective tissue". These are two among the examples of sulphur in our metabolism that Mindell speaks of. (Note, though, that Methionine and Cysteine are essential amino acids - we need to get them from our foods - and vegetables will do just fine. We can not manufacture them, even from MSM.)
It does appear, however, that MSM is far and away the best source of biologically available sulphur for its many other uses, though MSM is not biological in itself in its origin! It is created in the atmosphere’s ozone layer when sulphide is oxidized by UV light to form MSM (methylsulphonylmethane) and DMSO (dimethyl sulphoxide) which itself then transforms into MSM. (Commercially MSM is made by burning DMSO.) The MSM created in the upper atmosphere, falls to the ground in the rain and is absorbed by plants through their roots.
Alex Lauder tells me that when you see dogs browsing on grass they are looking for, sniffing for, the blades with high MSM content. Cattle to, he says, when they are browsing, rather than grazing - when they are grazing they are just massing the grass, but when they are browsing they are looking for MSM. If you want to browse, Mindell says that red peppers, cabbage family, and onion/garlic are good sources of bio-available sulphur.
Mindell reports that reduced levels of MSM correlate with increased levels of disease in general, and that MSM is particularly useful in:-
· arthritic and rheumatic conditions
· allergies
· for enhancing healing and…
· for the skin’s health in general, as for instance…
· it might help with acne
· gastrointestinal problems (see below)
· diabetes
· eye health
(along with glucosamine it will reduce
cataracts)
· stress, in general
· mental health
(reduces mood swings and depression)
· lung problems (even emphysema!)
· dental health
· insects bites , sunburn, and poison ivy
· and last, and probably least, snoring.Mindell says MSM promotes flexibility in cells, and, as we see in his list above, he sees it as somewhat of a panacea. It aids stomach and intestinal function and is valuable in acid dyspepsia, in food sensitivities, and in constipation. It is invaluable in many arthritic conditions as well as reducing muscle stiffness and cramping.
He recommends 2000 mg to 6000 mg (2 to 6 gm) per day. (Marian said that she took two grams: one gram twice a day.) Mindell says that the older you are the more MSM you need. And he says that is it best taken with vitamin C.
Alex says that you can use MSM like DMSO to carry substances across the skin (without the smell of garlic that people often report with DMSO). For instance, if you are positive that you need an anti-inflammatory drug then, rather then take it "systemically", internally (risking damage to your stomach and dosing your whole body), you might try powdering it into MSM gel or ointment and applying it locally, "topically", and the MSM may carry the molecules with it across the skin to the area where it is needed. You might also try this with anti-inflammatory herbs such as devil’s claw root. This is something I am just beginning to experiment with, so please let me know if it works (or if it causes any sort of problem).
My bottom line is Marian’s anecdote. MSM worked for her, but it worked over a period of six months or more. No, my bottom line is, as always, to decide whether you should try MSM use your intuition tempered with some cautious rationality and, when in doubt, consult with a health care practitioner.
| Norman
Allan www.normanallan.com |