Turmeric for autoimmune, inflammation

Our doctor recommended this spice for an autoimmune disorder/inflammation. I just used it on a zoodle and salmon stir fry and it was great. Going to roast cauliflower with it later. Does anyone have experience with it for health purposes? Or take a pill form?
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Replies

  • zeejane03
    zeejane03 Posts: 993 Member
    edited February 2019
    I have a family member who takes it in pill form and swears it makes her sleep much better (she takes it right before bed). I don't know if it's a placebo affect but it's helping her either way :)
  • comptonelizabeth
    comptonelizabeth Posts: 1,701 Member
    I use it a lot in cooking. I have a chronic autoimmune disorder but don't think it helps - I just like it!
    I tried high strength supplements once and with me they caused internal bleeding and anaemia but, my chronic illness is gut related so it may be that most people are OK with it. Just be aware it has blood thinning properties!
  • como_agua1
    como_agua1 Posts: 210 Member
    we have organic turmeric and have made capsules with it. i've just started taking 4 daily and hoping for some positive results
  • nooshi713
    nooshi713 Posts: 4,877 Member
    edited February 2019
    I use it in cooking and take tablets. Im not sure if it helps because I havent been consistent with it and dont have autoimmune disease. I believe that eating antioxidant rich foods is important though and it cant hurt. I know a few people who swear by turmeric supplements.
  • LZMiner
    LZMiner Posts: 300 Member
    Thanks everyone, for the insight! We will probably start using it as one of our regular spices because it has so many positives. My daughter has Graves’ disease and is now being tested for Celiac. Sucks when your own immune system is working against you. There are no easy answers or wonder drugs, that’s for sure.
  • FL_Hiker
    FL_Hiker Posts: 919 Member
    edited February 2019
    LZMiner wrote: »
    Our doctor recommended this spice for an autoimmune disorder/inflammation. I just used it on a zoodle and salmon stir fry and it was great. Going to roast cauliflower with it later. Does anyone have experience with it for health purposes? Or take a pill form?

    I screwed up my knee a couple weeks before my marathon, it was huge purple and swollen. I tried lots of things, including curry with tons of tumeric in it. I don’t know if it actually helped, heck it may have been just the Advil, ice, rest or a combination and multitude of other things. I was desperate to try anything I could to help the inflammation including broscience. But I went from not being able to walk to running 26.2 miles. I also have hasimotos disease, raynauds and srojens. I figure, it tastes great especially in curry and it can’t hurt right?
  • shaumom
    shaumom Posts: 1,003 Member
    LZMiner wrote: »
    Thanks everyone, for the insight! We will probably start using it as one of our regular spices because it has so many positives. My daughter has Graves’ disease and is now being tested for Celiac. Sucks when your own immune system is working against you.

    Hugs for your daughter - mine has a variety of diseases/disorders, including celiac disease. It's hard to see them have to deal with all this crud, yeah?

    Re: celiac disease, just in case you are like my family and don't get an expert in celiac disease diagnosing your daughter... If everyone else in the family has not been tested for celiac disease (if your daughter tests positive, or there is someone else in the family positive), experts recommend that you do so. The recommendation is actually getting tested every 3-5 years or so, or if someone starts having symptoms. Mostly because it can trigger at any time, it can do damage for years before showing outward symptoms, and people closely related to another celiac are at a much higher risk of developing it themselves, eventually.

    We didn't know this, but after finding out and testing, we had every person but one, for three generations of a blood line, come back positive. 0.o Half had symptoms, half didn't. and the one who was negative turned out to be gluten intolerant anyway. It was pretty crazy.

    Re: turmeric
    I am allergic to some common fillers in anti-inflammatories, so I can't take them. My regular doctor recommended turmeric. But he also said that in the one medical study he saw done in the western world, it's not, like, a wonder anti-inflammatory. Pretty much if you took 1 pill of powdered turmeric, it'd be worth about 1 regular ibuprofen, you know?

    Also, you want to make sure and take turmeric solids - while the color will come out in water if you try to make tea with it, the components you actually want, that deal with inflammation, don't - they stay in the flesh of the turmeric.

    That said - I have a lot of disorders that can involve inflammation, pain, etc... (including celiac disease, too), and as I said, I can't take OTC or prescribed anti-inflammatories, so I can pass along what I've learned. :-)

    1. bioflavonoids
    Ones that have been shown to be mast cell stabilizing can be of some use, sometimes. Quercetin, luteolin, and rutin are the three I'm most familiar with. Quercetin you can even find in supplement form now, but you can get foods high in it as well (like, some folks might get a bunch of fresh thyme, and juice it, and take a shot on a really bad day, as something that helps. Or olive leaf tea or guava leaf tea are high in these). There are lists online sometimes about what foods are high in these, or you can simply look up the bioflavonoid and start researching. :-)

    These can help because the some of the mediators that cause inflammation are released by degranulating mast cells. If you can stabilize the cells a little more, then they may release less of their contents and it can reduce inflammation. I have a mast cell disorder, so my mast cells are more likely to degranulate than normal, so adding these bioflavonoids has actually allowed me to avoid severe reactions and lessen pain and inflammation. I have to take them frequently, though, and for many people, it can take a week or two before things really start to calm down (me, I notice a difference in hours, but I'm told that's not normal for most people).

    2. Food journal and possible food elimination diet.
    One thing I've found with a lot of folks with a variety of auto-immune disorders and other diseases (there's a whole cornucopia of the things in my family, so I get to meet lots of people with a variety of illnesses. >_<) - we have problems with things we eat. I know so many people who have found out that certain foods, or certain chemicals in foods (like sulfite preservatives, say), cause their symptoms to worsen. There are some that seem more common (dairy, gluten or all grains, nightshades - tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, eggplant - artificial dyes, preservatives, or coffee), but some are very individual. I know two people who reacted terribly to carrots. I know a few who have problems with brassicas (broccoli, cauliflower - the things people often eat to HELP with inflammation, you know?). Know some who had problems with blueberries, or kiwi, or papaya, or lemons. There does not seem to be a lot of rhyme or reason.

    But figuring out problematic foods really made a lot of difference for them. Like me - corn seems to be inflammatory to me. I don't get much of a reaction otherwise, but if I eat corn, the next day my joints all hurt and my nerve pain starts flaring up. It's wacky. But enough of an issue, I'd highly recommend exploring the issue, anyway, you know?


    3. There's this gal, Yasmina, who has a site called healing histamine, I think. She has some cookbooks that are all aimed at lowering inflammation or histamine levels (she has histamine intolerance). Her site looks really snake oils salesman, but I know she is a person who really went through a lot of crap, and researched a lot to get where she is - I first heard of her before she was selling stuff, when she was on support groups I was in, for the same issues. I've tried some of her anti-inflammatory suggestions and at least for me, they did seem to have a positive effect., for what it's worth.

    Wishing you and yours good luck.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,846 Member
    LZMiner wrote: »
    Our doctor recommended this spice for an autoimmune disorder/inflammation. I just used it on a zoodle and salmon stir fry and it was great. Going to roast cauliflower with it later. Does anyone have experience with it for health purposes? Or take a pill form?

    @LZMiner I imagine you'd need quite a lot of the spice for it to have a medicinal effect. Did your doctor give you a target amount? Might be easier to get benefits from supplements.

    https://examine.com/supplements/curcumin/ says

    Do Not Confuse With
    Turmeric (Spice it comes from), Curry (meal preparation using Turmeric), Tree Turmeric (a term for Berberis Aristata)
  • Keto_Vampire
    Keto_Vampire Posts: 1,670 Member
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    LZMiner wrote: »
    Our doctor recommended this spice for an autoimmune disorder/inflammation. I just used it on a zoodle and salmon stir fry and it was great. Going to roast cauliflower with it later. Does anyone have experience with it for health purposes? Or take a pill form?

    @LZMiner I imagine you'd need quite a lot of the spice for it to have a medicinal effect. Did your doctor give you a target amount? Might be easier to get benefits from supplements.

    https://examine.com/supplements/curcumin/ says

    Do Not Confuse With
    Turmeric (Spice it comes from), Curry (meal preparation using Turmeric), Tree Turmeric (a term for Berberis Aristata)

    Right, when looking for supplement form, look for curcumin (active component)
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,373 MFP Moderator
    Turmeric/curcumin is actually one of the few "good"/useful supplements; comparable to NSAIDS
    Generally stick with USP certified products such as NatureMade
    Turmeric actually does have good data/evidence:https://examine.com/supplements/curcumin/

    Does show up with good data even in drug databases (lexicomp, epocrates, micromedex, etc.)

    One thing to note is its bioavailability issues. So those positive effects are based on specific dosing and combined with other supplements. So consumption through food is not likely to yield much benefit.
  • okiewoman510
    okiewoman510 Posts: 1,280 Member
    I’ve tried it on two separate occasions. Both times my joints got swollen and sore. It works for a lot of people, but not me.