Beet Juice

I have been absent for a bit because I was not feeling too well. I also had to catch up with my studying. Anyway, all is well now.

Nothing exciting has really happened. I was having some shoulder and back pain, and did not know what to do about it. I am trying not to take any medicine anymore, but the downside is that I often experience discomfort that I can't make disappear. I have been using more over the counter mentholated pathches, which kind of take the edge off my pain. Heating pads also help, especially in days when it been a bit too cold for me.

My husband has been telling me I have to work on taking my beet juice, but I took it so much as a kid that now just the thought of beet makes my stomach turn. It works wonders on anemia though. But it must be taken in moderation because my body is not used to working with so much blood, when I approach the boundaries of 10, I feel extreme exhaustion. The first time it happened, I had taken some medicinal herbs that my father had sent me from Cameroon. After feeling so tired and breathless, I called the hospital to see my physician. The first thing he did was run some test to determine the cause of my fatigue. He seemed so concerned when I left for the labs that I did not understand why he had a smile on his face when he came to me and told me that the blood test showed that I had a blood count that was almost to a 10, which happens very rarely unless I take home made beet juice.

In Africa, some families do not get blood transfusion, the preferred home remedy for anemia is a concoction of herbs or beets and additional high antioxidant fruits or legumes such as Strawberries and carrots. That's why at 25, I only had one blood transfusion. All the other blood transfusions I have had up to now have occured in the US. Some times, doctors did it because the situation did not give them any other option, but when I had been able to convince them to let me increase my blood count, I have always turned to a concoction of beet, carrot, and carrot juice.

After almost a month of hospitalization after a crisis, my bloodcount had dropped to four, the physicians attending to me wanted to keep me for a longer period of time because I was pregnant and still chronically sick. But I was so sick of staying in the hospital that I begged them to let me go, until the morning they discharged me, I was not sure whether they would go with my plan of getting out of the hospital. Nonetheless, they did. Under one condition, if my blood count was not any higher within two days, I would be readmitted. When I went home, my husband who has become a specialist in preparing my home remedies made me drink religiously my concoction of beet juice. When I returned to see my hematologist, and had some blood work done, he announced the news to me as if I had accomplished something quite spectacular. He told me my blood count was at 8 in just two days. It took me alsmost half an hour to get back to my car, as I was still in pretty bad pain and not strong enough to walk, I could not wait to tell my family the good news.

So there it is beet juice is the trick under my sleeve.

DISCLAIMER: DO NOT GO CRAZY WITH THE BEETS. TOO MUCH BEET MIGHT BEAT YOU INSTEAD. THIS IS NOT A PROFESSIONAL RECOMMENDATION, JUST SOMETHING MY FAMILY ALWAYS DID TO TREAT MY ANEMIA.