Ginger’s Impact on Pain & Autoimmune Responses

This has been quite a year. I didn’t just come off of wheat, I also had to come off of otc pain relievers of all kinds. Ginger has become my greatest whole food friend because ginger’s impact on pain has become very clear to me. As an individual with a run away autoimmune response from undiagnosed Celiac Disease, I know what the autoimmune system can do to a body.

What To Do When Your Body Turns Against You

Autoimmune disease is tricky. Your body is clearly in distress, and your systems are trying like anything to guard you from a perceived threat. As I look backwards with the knowledge I now have, I can see my system slowly attacking more and more in an effort to create balance.

As my body continues to heal from the wheat exposure of 50+ years, I am left with a badly degraded system and many issues I would never have had with an earlier diagnosis. But I also know that a body that receives what it needs, will not only find stasis, but will recover. So at 54 years old, I began to attempt to stop the autoimmune response that has been eating away at my joints for far too many decades. Once I began to get some rest from the constant onslaught of body pain, I could begin to see more clearly exactly what had occurred and what I need to do to rebuild.

Ginger’s Impact on Pain & Autoimmune Responses

Ginger and tumeric are amazing at bringing a quick end to the joint pain anyone with an autoimmune disease is familiar with. For me, tumeric is kind of hard on my stomach, and I can’t handle much more than 1gm per day. Ginger therefore is my godsend and for more than one reason.

Ginger not only has an direct impact on inflammation (like tumeric) but it also has the ability to actually inhibit the autoimmune response which causes inflammation. I like that. That to me showed some promise. On a good day, I take around 2gm (2 – 1100mg ginger root capsules) plus ginger tea and ginger chews. On a bad day, I take twice that.

What I like most about ginger is that the longer I take it, the better it works. So as it built up in my system, it became more effective in terms of less bad pain days. As I noticed this, i began to research it more fully. This spice is pretty savvy especially when it comes to ginger’s impact on pain.

Health Benefits of Ginger

Ginger can have a powerful impact on a body, it can affect both systems and the development of cells within those systems. Ginger has been documented as improving the immune, circulatory, digestive, hormonal, & respiratory systems.

Ginger is high in potassium, manganese (imperative to building disease resistance), silicon. It also contains vitamins A, C, E, B-complex, magnesium, phosphorus, sodium, iron, zinc, calcium and beta-carotene.

In addition, Ginger contains powerful antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antibiotic, antiseptic properties along with effective anti-tumor agents (for multiple types of cancer cells).

Is There a Downside to Ginger?

While ginger’s impact on pain and autoimmune responses is clear, there can always be a downside. Ginger can thin the blood which helps reduce risk of stroke naturally but can be a problem for someone already on blood thinners. So, as always, if you have health issues and use conventional medicine, it is best to check with a doctor.

In addition, in larger doses, some people experience abdominal discomfort. I advise for that reason that you take your ginger with some food to make it less disruptive to your digestive system.

Ginger Like Wine Gets Better With Time

Ginger did not just get me through the worst three months of joint pain in my life. It continues to improve daily. As long as I take those two capsules every day, the pain lessens and lessens (unless I of course am exposed to wheat accidentally, and even those exposures are lessening in pain over time). Every once in a while I skip for a week just to make sure I still need and, and guess what? I still need it. So, I have found consistent daily use is the best way to help reduce the long term joint pain associated with an autoimmune response.

While my joints where the reason I began to take ginger, it is the fact that it also helps fight off disease well which I love. It improves my lungs ability to fight infection off, it also restricts H. pylori growth which means no more decades of suffering with GERD.

For me, the most lovely impact I did not expect was to my circulatory system – or in other words, high blood pressure. Lack of it is a better way of looking at it. While I have known I needed to be aware. There had been a few experiences of unnatural pounding around my head. These episodes are naturally receeding in frequency and become farther and farther apart. I cannot remember a time in the last three months where that feeling in my head said to pay attention.

I Take my Ginger Where I Can

In addition to ginger’s impact on pain, ginger is also a very powerful anti-oxidant. I literally take it when I can. If I see it, I will consume it.

I make a ginger white hibiscus tea each day which I use to keep the inflammation down in my feet. We make ginger gummies to munch on in the test kitchen. We use ginger in just about every stir fry we make, and I love ginger dressing on salads. I would prefer not to stop taking my ginger supplements. I also could not imagine a day without the zing of ginger in something I happily ingest.

Blissful Anti-oxidant rich Ginger Tea.

So please, do not think of ginger as a supplement only. Think of ginger as an all rounder. I love a blissful cup of ginger tea. We make wonderful ginger snap cookies and nothing is better than great ginger sauce on your chicken. Ginger is a miracle spice I cannot get enough of.

Resources:
HealthLine: Proven Benefits of Ginger
Ginger – Anti-Oxidant – Anti-Inflammatory Studies
Health Benefits of Ginger

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