Jim
Hi, my name is Jim Fisk and this is my story of triumph over ARTHRITIS. Welcome to my Blog.
I am 61 years old and I am finally, after a 30 year struggle, rid of the painful swollen joints that I suffered from for so many years. Starting in my late 20's and even earlier, as I think back, I started noticing joint pain and swelling in nearly every joint in my body from my hands and back to my knees and hips. I was more than a little concerned as I had watched my mother (seen in her studio at right) waste away from this horrible disease and "nothing could be done about it." So said the doctors, after they had put her through all the usual and very expensive "conventional" treatments which seemed to help only for a very short time. Eventually she was restricted to a wheel chair and in the end had to be spoon fed by my father. A horrible way to go for someone who was always athletic and a world class painter, photographer and US Presidential Series of 1938 stamp designer. (Elaine Rawlinson) I was in such pain and my back and knees were always "going out" that I practically lived in the Chiropractor's office. My joints were so shot that my back would often as not "pop out" as I painfully climbed back in my car to leave his office.
So here I was living on Cape Cod, growing lots of my own food, living the healthy lifestyle and getting worse. My knees would go out so badly that I could neither put weight on them or even pick them up without excruciating pain. Since I knew that traditional medicine could do nothing more than pump the pain killers to me, I started reading everything I could get my hands on with respect to arthritis, tried every old time cure from goats milk to green beans and nothing seemed to help and very often made it worse until one day I finally started getting lucky and putting the pieces of the puzzle together. Meanwhile my arthritis got so bad that it was effecting my work as woodcarver and sign maker. I could no longer hold the router or the Wagner sprayer due to the awful pain I experienced in my hands, so I eventually had to sell the business and look for a new line of work.
Right about that time I was fortunate enough to read an article in Prevention Magazine (around 1977) written by a young athlete. I will never forget that article, although I cannot remember his name (and Prevention claim they cannot help me find the original article, a crying shame on their part) as it was the start of what turned out to be a 20 year quest for the (or at least my) truth. In his article the young man described how he, a triathlete and weight lifter, had destroyed the cartilage in all his major joints. The MDs finally told him that there was no other answer for him other than the systematic replacement of all his joints and that he could never run or lift weights again. So he proceeded out to California and there at a large clinic scheduled for his unavoidable and extremely costly, not to mention painful, series of joint replacement surgeries. This method was in it's infancy back then.
Accepting his fate, he boarded his plane back home. Well that was his lucky day. It so happened that a professor from I believe it was Yale, sat right beside him and as they began to chat and the young man told him about his plight, the astonished Professor announced that he had been studying arthritis for the previous 10 years. He proceeded to tell him that above all else he had noticed one very important link between arthritis and lifestyle. He had nicknamed arthritis "The Cooked Food Disease." He then proceeded to give the young man a regimen of what to eat and how to prepare his food with as little cooking as possible.
To make a long story short, the young fellow proceeded to get better, so much better in fact that eventually all his joints recovered and he was able to go back to doing what he lived for, triathlons and Olympic weight lifting. Well it didn't take me long to follow suit, relearn how to prepare my food and for many years I improved as well. At this point I would like to tell you that that was all there was to it and that my joints lived happily ever after, but that was not to be.
My thirties weren't too bad, but as I grew into my forties, although I was certainly doing better and learning about vitamins and minerals, my symptoms started coming back. I moved to Tennessee and started a folk art business around carving of detailed figurines. Much less stress on hands and sole than the sign business with all the schedules and other pressures. That seemed to help. Eventually after 4 years, with wife and new daughter in tow, I moved back to what was still my favorite place, Cape Cod. I started another business, went to school and got my Master Electrician's license, worked long hours, often all night for years, and the arthritis started coming back with a vengeance.
Now I was in so much pain that I literally could not sleep at night. If I so much as moved in my sleep I would jerk awake from the pain in my shoulders and back. Something had to be done. I quickly realized that it was time for phase II. I had beaten it back before and I was determined to beat it back again, to somehow get a handle on this rotten disease. I got lucky again. Call it karma or what ever, but I feel that if you are searching for answers hard enough and keep an open mind, you are bound to get lucky eventually and so I did. About that time a doctor by the name of Dr. Joel Wallach (you may remember him as the veterinarian on Wild Wild Kingdom) came to Cape Cod to lecture on alternative medicine and natural cures. I had been taking his liquid colloidal minerals for some time but although they helped in other ways, they weren't helping my arthritic pain. Well, as luck would have it, I ended up in the elevator (let's face it there aren't many elevators on Cape Cod) with Dr. Joel as we arrived for his lecture. I had just enough time to tell him about my plight and he told me to simply take an envelope of plain Knox gelatin in some juice every day. Simple for him, a godsend for me. I started that night taking it and the relief was unbelievable. Within 1 or 2 days I was sleeping well and out of pain. But wait, there is even more good news here for as luck would also have it, right about that same time my sister Robin came to spend a few weeks with us and while she was with us she introduced us to a few other things I was not familiar with. Among these were a substance I later learned NO ONE should be without and that is
Digestive enzymes are a vital substance that are present in just about all living things. Enzymes are energized protein molecules. They are the human body’s life force and are involved in every function of the body. Vitamins, minerals and hormones must have enzymes to work properly. Life cannot exist without enzymes. Individuals who are enzyme deficient are subject to physical problems, disease and degeneration. Studies indicate that decreased enzymes levels are found in a number of chronic ailments, such as arthritis, diabetes, allergies, skin diseases, cancer, immune deficiencies and much more.
Now for a very strange but telling coincidence. Are you ready for this. The common method for testing the viability of enzymes (to see if they are any good or not) is to sprinkle them on Knox Gelatin. If the enzymes are good the gelatin WON'T GEL. This is where it all comes together folks: What do we KILL when we COOK our food. You may have guessed it, ENZYMES. I don't recall the good professor (mentioned at the beginning of this article, you remember, the one on the plane describing the cooked food DISEASE?) ever mentioning the enzymes. He just knew, from his studies, that it had something to do with cooking the food.
To Your Health,
Jim Fisk
Wow, sorry guys, I haven't been back here in awhile. I will try and check back more often.
Yes, just take the gelatin in some juice. I have heard of as much as 3 envelopes a day. It won't hurt you so I really don't think you could overdose and compared to ANY drug it is really cheap.
As far as mad cow disease is concerned you have to eat brains and organ meat. My ex-mother in law died of mad cow after a trip to England (land of the mad cows) where she gorged herself on sweet breads and other organ meats. Knox gelatin is so processed and is from the bones and ligaments so it is very safe. Kosher, well you're on your own there.
The enzymes are very safe as well and the right heavy dose is around 3 taken 3 times a day with meals and once without meals. Once you have your joints back in health I for one only take them with breakfast and 2 or 3 when I over indulge on holidays, eating out, etc.
I hope this sheds some more light on the subject and remember the original premise here. Eat as much RAW (enzymes intact) food as possible. If we could do that all the time we wouldn't have to take anything I am convinced. It just isn't practical.
I should add that I am taking a substance called MSM of late with good over all results. It is supposed to give "cell and tissue support" 1000mg x 2 once a day. My health food supplier recommended it and I feel there is something to it. When I feel young after long snowmobile rides, wind surfing, etc. at 61 I take notice. I have gone without for weeks and start to slide noticeably so you may want to look into this stuff as well.
All the best for now, Jim
