Dee's Story Dee's back problems started when she was in her twenties.
Sporadic at first, she was treated with injections of muscle relaxants and over-the-counter pain relievers.
Fast forward a few decades, and her pain was occurring more and more frequently, and was more and more severe.
She was finally diagnosed with bulging discs, misaligned vertebrae, and signs of arthritis and stenosis, causing increasing pain and stiffness.
Along with OTC medication, she used therapies such as chiropractic, massage, acupuncture, supplements, and yoga, all with lackluster and impermanent results.
She was concerned that she would eventually have to turn to more drastic remedies: steroid, epidural, or nerve block injections...
or powerful prescription pain killers.
This was not a route that she wanted to go.
Then she was introduced to a brand-new product, an all natural, first-of-its-kind supplement that was optimistically called Recovery.
The name turned out to be prophetic: in just a short time her pain and stiffness were largely mitigated, and she no longer had to worry about problems with prescription pain-killers.
An Epidemic of Pain.
Too many other pain sufferers are not as fortunate as Dee.
A 2012 Gallup Poll, based on a survey of 353,000 U.
S.
adults age eighteen and older, reports that more than one-third of Americans in their mid-fifties and older have chronic pain in their neck and back, and a similar percentage report chronic knee or leg pain.
More than one in five adults in their late forties through their late eighties have some other type of recurring pain.
More Pain = More Drug Use = More Deaths According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, enough prescription pain-killers were prescribed in 2010 to medicate every American adult around-the-clock for a month.
Painkiller related overdose deaths swelled from 9,000 a year in 1999 to nearly 15,000 in 2008.
Additionally, the misuse and abuse of prescription painkillers is believed to be responsible for more than 475,000 emergency room visits in 2009 -- a number that nearly doubled in just five years.
The pills are highly addictive and, a report from Brandeis University states, now cause more fatal overdoses in the US than heroin and cocaine combined.
Prescribed pain-killers such as Oxycontin and Vicodin are among the most abused drugs, Dr.
Mercola writes.
If used long term, their effectiveness diminishes and larger and larger doses are required for relief.
If too large a dose is taken, however, the drugs can slow breathing and lead to death.
This risk rises if alcohol is also involved.
Over-The-Counter Pain Relievers Also Cause Problems Many consumers are unaware of potentially serious health risks associated with over-the-counter pain relievers: NSAIDs ( non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs).
They believe that if it's sold over-the-counter, it must be safe.
Yet researchers report that 16,500 people die and 103,000 are hospitalized each year because of NSAID-related problems.
A survey on Web MD shows that nearly half of the 175 million adults who take OTC pain relievers (such as aspirin, ibuprofen, naproxen) admit to exceeding the recommended dose, but few are aware of the potential side effects such as stomach bleeding and ulcers.
Acetaminophen-based pain relievers can also cause adverse effects, such as liver damage.
As acetaminophen is an ingredient in dozens of medications, a user can overdose on it completely unintentionally.
William Grubb, MD.
, Director of the New Jersey Pain Institute stated: "All NSAIDs -- except aspirin -- also increase the risk for heart attack and stroke when used over long periods.
" As Erika Schwartz, MD, Chief Medical Officer at Age Management Institute in New York City said: " People don't think a painkiller they can buy over-the-counter can hurt them.
And people are popping [them] like candy...
" The recommendation is to use over-the-counter pain relievers only at the recommended dose for the recommended time.
A New Category of Pain Reliever For the first time, in 2012, molecular hydrogen was successfully encapsulated in tablet form in a product called Recovery.
Hydrogen enriched water had known health benefits but the water machines were expensive and the hydrogen in the water quickly evaporated in the atmosphere.
In tablet form, the gas is not released until the product is ingested.
Recovery is described as being a unique blend of redox-active hydrogen that generates alkaline minerals.
It has been clinically studied to release molecular hydrogen, produce a negative oxidation reduction potential, create an anti-acid alkalizing effect and increase cellular hydration.
In short: in the body it reduces inflammation, joint pain, oxidation, and acidity.
These conditions are thought to be the root causes of many serious diseases; keeping them under control could be a very important health benefit.
And these reductions, combined with an increase in cellular hydration, could also produce an anti-aging effect.
To date, there are no reports of any negative side effects.
There are increasing numbers of testimonials as to the product's benefits and efficacy, but, as it is very new on the market, there is as yet no firm data on its rate of effectiveness.
Update on Dee The positive effects of Recovery have continued for her.
The unrelenting pain and stiffness, the worry that her condition would only worsen over time, are largely gone.
A couple of tablets a day generally suffice to keep her feeling good, she reports.
"It's not like I've gotten a 20-something body back again," she says.
"But I feel like I've got a normal, functioning body now, and I'm not held back from doing the things I want to do.
For so long I thought this body would never feel this loose and comfortable again!"