Some people cherish a dream all their lives and then one day, when it’s too late, find that ill-health has overtaken them.

If you’ve read the “Old Man’s Story” page, you will know how close I came to the same fate: The falling asleep at the wheel – the constant courses of antibiotics…

If you haven’t seen the video, watch it now:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tf-uzDM-300

For a more professional opinion, Dr James Le Fanu,  the medical correspondent of the London Daily Telegraph, wrote an article entitled “All those pills could be making you ill”. You can view a pdf version here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1goHVrEy1r86jdZexJNKGQw3stEoRxET9aDhX8sWwP7A/edit?usp=sharing

So, I have every intention of spending most of my time on this boat for the next 50 years.

Yes, that is not a typographical error. And yes, at the time of writing (2017), I am 68 – which means that I am awarding myself a life-expectancy of 118 years (let’s call it 120). Why do I feel so confident? Because I have a “secret ingredient”- an all-natural nutrition supplement which I believe is so effective that I do not carry any pharmaceutical products on Samsara at all – not even an aspirin.

Let me tell you the story:

I started taking this supplement in May 2016 because of Arthritis in my hands. Within a few months, the pain eased and then disappeared – and I have had none since.

Meanwhile, I realised that a patch of skin on my nose which had never completely healed suddenly did so.

Various other unexpected benefits became apparent:   I started waking up before the alarm, feeling that I might as well get up.

I could drive for four hours without feeling drowsy.

A lacerated leg from stepping on barbed wire healed remarkably quickly without the need for antibiotics (during the previous year I had spent so much time on antibiotics that I ended up in hospital having them intravenously – all because I had banged my elbow…)

Periodic episodes of Optical Migraine ceased completely.

Obviously, since I was buying this new supplement, I discontinued all the others I had been taking.

For the record this was the list:

Glucosamine 1500 mg

Centrum 50+ vitamin & mineral supplement for the over 50’s.

Feroglobin iron supplement.

Aspirin 75mg

Cod liver oil.

The total cost was £42 a month and I still had all the troubles listed above.

The new supplement cost £24 a month.

It occurred to me that this might all be psycho-somatic – I was expecting an improvement and I got one – so I conducted what I like to think of as my own scientific test:

Eleven weeks after starting the supplement, I went to give blood. Normally mine would just scrape through the iron test. That was why I took the iron supplement – and on donation day I would take two capsules. It didn’t make the slightest difference.

After eleven weeks on the new supplement, I thought it worth recording the results. You can see them at https://youtu.be/3RqOsQg-KJ8 .

Now it has been suggested that I should stop taking them and see if I start going downhill. At least then I could do a “before and after” blood test.

But no; I still remember what life was like before this extraordinary preparation: The persistent fatigue, the wrecked car, the need to stop typing or playing the clarinet and massage my hands every 15 minutes… the constant reminders of approaching old age…

The fact is that I will do anything not to go back there – even if it means taking this stuff for the rest of my life.

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The Updates: As time goes by, there will be quite a few of these. You don’t have to read them all. If you like, you can skip straight to the end and find out how to buy the stuff.

Update: February 2017: Now the liver spots on my hands have disappeared!

Update January 2018: Decided that I shall not take any pharmaceutical products on my boat when I sail singlehanded from Scotland to the Azores this summer.

Update March 2018: Eyetest confirms “slight improvement”. Decide I do not need to wear glasses anymore. Seem to be able to see well enough.

Update September 2018: On the return leg from the Azores, I trapped my arm between a rope and a wire but, because of bad weather, did not take off my shirt for three days. Consequently, I failed to notice an enormous bruise developing. By the time I discovered it, the whole of the inside of my bicep was the same horrible colour as it had been some years ago when I had been ended up in hospital having intravenous antibiotics. Immediately, I tripled the dose of the supplement but, the next day, the infection had spread below the elbow and I was really worried (remember, I carried no medicines). However, on the day after that, it stopped spreading. For several days it remained static and then – very gradually – it began to fade. Total recovery took about three weeks which was much longer than it had been with the antibiotics. However, this was natural healing and far preferable. I suppose the message is to have faith and be patient!

Update January 2019: After discovering that my driving licence requires me to wear glasses, went for an eye test: “Significant improvement over the past year in the distance vision of both eyes.” Do not need glasses for driving. Brilliant!

Update March 2019: The first cough since 2016 – I used to get them every winter (sometimes twice) and they would always turn into a chest infection with that horrible green phlegm. The doctor always insisted on antibiotics (might turn into pneumonia).

This time, I just took three helpings of the food supplement instead of one. The cough went in about ten days – longer than with antibiotics. But no green phlegm – and no pneumonia!

Update April 2019

A little bit of showing off: I am now, officially, over 70 – and still skiing on my original 70-year-old knees and hips.

However, on the first day, I fell – as you do – and wrenched my ankle. It didn’t hurt as long as it was in the ski boot because that won’t let the ankle bend. But as soon as I got back to the hotel and tried to walk in shoes, it was murder.

Of course, the reception desk could have made me an appointment with a physiotherapist but instead, I took an extra helping of my food supplement. What happened next was rather weird: I woke up at 2.00 a.m. with the ankle throbbing horribly. Moving it helped a little but the pain kept me awake until 4.00 a.m.

But in the morning everything was back to normal. Is it possible that the tendons repaired themselves overnight – and that was what had kept me awake? Did it have something to do with the supplement? I have no idea. Still, was a great week.

Update November 2019

No longer have to get up in the night to pee.

Actually, this was one of the early benefits of the supplement but I had to delete it from this list about a year ago. Then, recently I discovered the US developer of the supplement and read his book which explains that as you get older, the body finds it harder to absorb nutrients, so you need to start taking more.

Once I did that, no more getting up in the night!

Update March 2020

A bursitis on my elbow: Google advised that if it did not subside in a few days, I should go the doctor to have it drained. I doubled the supplement and waited… and waited. It didn’t subside. Eventually, after about six weeks (and reading that the elbow might become immobilised permanently which would be disastrous for sailing), I relented and made an appointment. However, although the doctor offered to stick a needle into my elbow, he thought the fluid had begun to calcify and I was too late. Amazingly, after four months, the elbow appears to be completely back to normal. Natural healing takes a long time…

Update June 2020

After hearing that a solution of the supplement applied with a perfume spray turned out to be good for sunburn, I started using this instead of sun lotion. It was less greasy and seemed to work just as well. Then I burned my thumb on a charcoal heater. This was extremely painful. I applied running cold water but could see that the skin was discoloured across the whole ball of the thumb. I expected an enormous blister. However, after applying the solution and rubbing it in, the next morning there was no sign of burn or blister.

Update December 2020

This was the year of Coronavirus. I haven’t had it, but I have increased my daily helping of the supplement as a precaution (and yes, the vaccine is one pharmaceutical product, I will take. I consider it my civic duty.)

 

Meanwhile, there have been other benefits to the increased dose.

If you have read my blog – particularly the post https://www.oldmansailing.com/3629-miles-of-isolation/ you will understand that for 42 days, I  did not sleep for more than an hour at a time – usually much less.

Also,  you may have read in these updates that I credit the supplement with ending the old man’s curse of night-time trips to the bathroom. Obviously, if I was not even attempting to sleep for eight hours at a stretch, there would be no chance of being inconvenienced by such “visits”.

It was only when I arrived back in Falmouth that I realised I was completely out of practice at “holding it”. Also, I was unprepared for finding all the pubs shut and the public conveniences barricaded with plastic hazard tape. This meant that I found myself “caught short” and suffered what can only be called an “accident” in the street. It is probably true – you can die of embarrassment.

So imagine how I felt to wake up one night and find my sleeping bag warm and wet…

I had something else to think about, too: every evening, I practise the clarinet – standing up if the boat is stable. By the late summer, these evening sessions were lasting an hour or more – and I began to experience a pain in the inside of my right thigh. Might this be some sort of thrombosis? Standing still for long periods was what set it off. I increased my daily dose of the supplement yet again.

At home for Christmas, I stood for more than two at a socially distanced party – yet there was no pain from my leg. Also, while just about everyone else excused themselves at one time or another, I didn’t feel the need – even though I never once refused a top-up.

Come to that, I’ve been sleeping through the night as well. Maybe I just needed more of the stuff. I am a bit startled by how much I’m taking compared to when I started – but it does seem to do the trick…

Update February 2022

For the first time, I visited a doctor and took a course of antibiotics. This was an extraordinary event but I must include it here for the sake of honesty. I don’t believe it has any bearing on the efficacy of the supplement. You can read a full account on the blog post www.oldmansailing.com/not-a-straightforward-crossing.

Also,  you may have read in these updates that I credit the supplement with ending the old man’s curse of night-time trips to the bathroom. Obviously, when crossing the Atlantic alone, I was not even attempting to sleep for eight hours at a stretch, so there was no chance of being inconvenienced by such “visits”.

It was only when I arrived back in Falmouth that I realised I was completely out of practice at “holding it” and found myself “caught short” and suffered what can only be called an “accident” in the street. It is probably true – you can die of embarrassment.

So imagine how I felt to wake up one night and find my sleeping bag warm and wet…

I had something else to think about, too: every evening, I practise the clarinet – standing up if the boat is stable. By the late summer, these evening sessions were lasting an hour or more – and I began to experience a pain in the inside of my right thigh. There was nothing to see, but I wondered if this might be some sort of thrombosis – at any rate, I imagined this was what it might feel like. Standing still for long periods was what set it off.

I increased my daily dose of the supplement yet again.

At home for Christmas, I stood for more than two hours at a socially distanced party – yet there was no pain in the leg. Also,  while just about everyone else excused themselves at one time or another, I didn’t feel the need – even though I never once refused a top-up.

Come to that, I’ve been sleeping through the night as well. Maybe I just needed more of the stuff. I am a bit startled by how much I’m taking compared to when I started – but it does seem to do the trick…

Update August 2022

In the UK, if you don’t go to the dentist for three years, they can drop you. So I went yesterday – after a gap of two years and eight months.

He poked around a bit, took a couple of X-Rays and said: “All good. Come back in nine months.”

This was so unusual that I thought it worth asking for a list of my previous treatments since I started with the practice in January 2013. This is it:

Fillings: 9

Inlay: 1

Root canal extirpations: 2

Root canal fillings: 2

Crowns: 2

Also, there were regular X-Rays and appointments with the hygienist. Prices ranged from under £20 to £246. There was, of course, a whole separate list with my previous dentist – including implants which involved a bone transplant in the early noughties – that came to something over £7,000. Also, I’ve still got a 1970s bridge (it’s now of architectural interest.)

In other words, I’ve had bad teeth for as long as I can remember.

Until now. Since my last crown in December 2019, until yesterday, I have visited a dentist once – in the Orkney Islands – to get one of the crowns glued back on.

The only thing that I can imagine which might have brought about this dramatic change is the supplement I started taking in 2016. Admittedly, I still needed treatment for the next three years – but since then, nothing.

Evidently, these things take time.

Update November 2022

Well, finally, I caught COVID. I would never have known but for a slight cough and taking a test because I was going to spend the weekend with Tamsin, who looks after her 91-year-old  mother, and our son Theo, the medical student who works in Warrington hospital. The good news was that the cough was the only symptom (no weariness, temperature, loss of taste etc.) It lasted about ten days. I wouldn’t have thought anything of it in the old days.

Update November 2024

… hum, not so cured after all: I was so anxious about the amount I was taking (two big doses a day) that once the sore closed up and the redness around it began to diminish, I went back to my normal dose. Sure enough, it flared up again – with a vengeance.

Like a First World War general ordering a “Big Push”, I embarked on a campaign of overwhelming the infection by sheer weight of supplement. I now realise that over 23 days, I consumed two full pots of the stuff. That is 60,000mg. Which, divided by 23 days, works out at a whopping 2,600mg a day (remember the Trading Standards’ recommendation is 100mg!) I have been taking 26 times the recommended dose for just over three weeks – something to think about if you’re worried about not following the instructions.

I am pleased to say that my bottom is now as smooth and pink as a baby’s.

 

Update October 2024

In Aruba for the (hot and steamy) hurricane season, and with permanently salty clothes from the tradewind throwing spray into the dingy, I developed a saltwater sore in just the wrong place! Tea Tree oil didn’t fix it but an extra 600mg of the supplement did. I’m a bit alarmed that I’m taking 1,800mg a day now and worried about running out before I go back to the UK in March, but needs must.

Where to buy the supplement:

Because of the regulations regarding advertising and unsubstantiated claims for health products, I prefer not to include direct links on this page but, instead, send the information by private email. If you would like to know more, please contact me via john@oldmansailing.com with the subject Good Health

And finally, a picture of the healthy old man in his skimpies (all sailing bloggers have a picture in their skimpies…)

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