Health is more often than not widely accepted as a given in modern day society. As a whole, we have never had so many pills, potions and remedies for conditions or diseases as we have now, and as a result, our society has become far less focused on the idea that we must work hard to maintain health than ever before.
In fact, health seems now to be sold to us as a commodity; something that we can just go to the store to purchase, or order online. So totally assured of this are we, that we have developed a worried mentality, rather than being proactive in our approach to health.
Steve, a young man who should have been at the peak of health, was forced to confront this very issue. But, by the time he realised it was almost too late.
In 2010, Steve weighed 283 lbs, was prediabetic, had sleep apnoea (a sleeping condition where you go minutes without breathing and can be fatal) and was taking pharmaceutical medication in order to treat hypertension. He wasn’t happy, and it showed. His health was declining rapidly and as it stood, he knew that if he did nothing to change this injurious mentality, he would just go on to become just another number in the increasing statistics of obesity related deaths in the U.S.A.
Steve made the decision to change his attitude. And in order to make the change he knew was vital for his health, he began to research what he could do to turn back the clock on his poor health; and change his body and mind for the better.
“I decided to lose the weight and began a journey of health, absorbing all of the latest science on nutrition and training hard.” And by 2014 Steve had completely reset his approach to health; treating his body with respect and feeding it correctly. As a result, he managed to lose a third of his body weight while becoming physically fit and healthy.
But what he hadn’t accounted for was the reaction his body had to the years of excess weight and ill health and what the intense physical stress, ha done to his joints. “After doing heavy squats one day, my left knee started to swell and wouldn't go down.” He recalls, “I went to an orthopaedic surgeon and he diagnosed me with osteoarthritis in my left and my right knee.”
This was an incredible blow. What he had once looked to as a sustainable way to advance his health had now been snatched out of his grasp; his doctor warned him that if he maintained the same gym regime, his joints would deteriorate further and become unsalvageable.
“The very thing that became my saviour from an unhealthy, sick, and unhappy lifestyle was the root cause of a new pain and sickness.”
The pain was so bad that it kept him almost housebound, and unable to walk up and down stairs for the first month. He was terribly conflicted. Without the gym, he felt that he was being forced back into a lifestyle and mindset that was awfully unbalanced and that was leading him toward an early death.
He didn’t want to go back to that place. And he wasn’t going to allow himself to either. But with squats, power cleans, snatches, lunges, running and leg extensions out of the question, he wasn’t left with much else to do.
So, once again he turned to literature, but this time it was about supplementation and inflammation, trying to find natural ways in which his body could heal. He found remedies that included curcumin and glucosamine, which would help with inflammation and swelling, but when he returned to the gym, he experienced an incredible amount of pain, atrophy—where body tissue or organs waste away as a result of degeneration of cells—in his left quad and calf muscles, as well as bouts of swelling. The swelling, he says, took up to two weeks to get back under control, and would meanwhile leave him almost completely out of action. It just wasn’t sustainable.
But, late in 2017 he recalls “ I started hearing about CBD and its anti-inflammatory properties.” With CBD directly linked to having strong anti-inflammatory benefits, as well analgesic qualities, Steve put his confidence in a compound that would help deliver him from this dire ambiguity.
“I started a super low dose of 3mg with no results. I increased the dosage and started taking 10mg capsules… That’s when some magic started to happen.”
After using the method of starting low and going slowly, he managed to find a dose that started to work for him; also noticing how he could go for longer stretches of time without swelling.
Steve says that this was when he really began to improve. “I started squatting again, doing PT [Physical Therapy], strengthening my quads, and bringing back full mobility”, but this unfortunately did not completely negate the frustrating bouts of swelling, even though they were far shorter in duration and much more manageable.
It wasn’t until he began using CBD infused salve directly on his arthritic knees that he truly noticed a far more pervasive influence on his inflammation and pain. With just a little increase in CBD his pain perception and inflammation had dramatically decreased. So he began his search for the strongest CBD salve on the market and found Endoca 750mg CBD Salve.
“Since I started using it [Endoca CBD Salve], my knee hasn’t swollen once. I can now dig deeper than I was ever able to before to gain access to my quads to restore the integrity of my knees.”
He believes that only after his jaunt with CBD—and especially after using CBD Salve directly on the point of pain— he has determined the future of his health and his ability to fully recover from his ailments.
He says, “I now have full mobility, I’m squatting under reasonable load, and not having to worry about stressful swelling or pain.” Steve has even begun using it elsewhere as a post workout therapy, helping with lower back pain, inflammation and soreness with “great results.”
“All in all, CBD has been paramount in repairing me from a persistent injury that’s caused physical and emotional pain, and I can’t stress how thankful I am for products like the Endoca 750 mg salve. I’m living again.”
If you, like Steve, have had positive experiences with CBD, we would love to hear from you. Each month we hold a Community User Story Competition where you have the chance to share your stories and go into the running to win $1000 USD worth of Endoca products. Just send your story to social@endoca.com to enter. So, get writing!
