I have a back problem called dish and sometimes I am in lots of pain. Taking painkillers but they don't always work. Can you suggest something please?

DISH stands for Diffuse Idiopathic Skeletal Hyperostosis, and sometimes is called Forestier's Disease.

It involves the calcification of the tendons where they attach to the bone and the development of bone spurs, typically in the spine and on the heel.

Being idiopathic means it is of unknown cause but natural medicine principles state that many conditions involve and are a result of inappropriate calcium dumping.

In other words, calcification, calcium growths and calcium deposits where they are not meant to be. Think bone spurs, calcified blood vessels, kidney stones and tight muscles.

The best advice I can offer you is that which aims to reduce the calcium in soft tissues and encourages it into its storage areas, such as the bones, teeth and nails.

First, reduce calcium rich foods, such as milk, cheese and yogurt to a minimum. At the same time, eat a lot more magnesium rich foods (basically plants). A decent list of these can be found on our fibromyalgia section. Reducing tea, coffee, salt, sugar and animal protein will usually result in a reduction of the amount of calcium deposited into the circulation for the purposes of re-balancing blood pH values.

You must also be pretty fed up with the pain and for that I would suggest our Atrosan Devils Claw tablets, licensed for back pain and muscle pain. Bear in mind that its effects do build over several months though. For faster relief, our Arnica Gel may help.

The final option to consider may actually aid the correct allocation/distribution of calcium. It is called Urticalcin and has been used by many many people to help conditions where inappropriate calcium dumping has occurred, such as crystalline forms of arthritis.

Best wishes

Earle