Do you, or someone you care about, suffer from the pain of chronic inflammation? If so, your doctor may have prescribed an anti-inflammatory medication such as Celebrex® or Naproxen® to combat the discomfort that accompanies your arthritis or disc degeneration. For most people, these medicines do the trick. Sadly though, there are others who experience tremendous digestive irritation when taking non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications, or NSAIDs (myself being one of them). Subsequently, they are unable to benefit from this avenue of treatment.

So what can you do if you (or your loved one) cannot “stomach” the pills you’ve been prescribed?

A few years ago I took a one day course on brain aging. Dementia and Alzheimer’s disease are now understood to be inflammatory in nature. Along those lines, the course instructor mentioned a natural supplement derived from the pineapple which had been shown to have anti-inflammatory properties similar, and sometimes even exceeding, NSAIDs—Bromelain.

Two years later I had need to try this supplement out for myself. I went to the vitamin store and picked up a bottle of 500mg tablets.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that, after taking one tablet a day for one week, my painful inflammatory symptoms had reduced significantly!

Recently, when I mentioned my personal findings to a friend, she told me that her son had been prescribed bromelain by his plastic surgeon to ward off the post-surgical swelling of his rhinoplasty (“nose job”). That was all the convincing I needed to share this with you.

So whether you cannot stomach NSAIDS, or you worry about the secondary liver or kidney complications of taking medications long term, you may find bromelain to be a beneficial option*. It has certainly made a believer out of me!

*Before adding a supplement to your diet, or discontinuing any prescription medication, please seek the advice of your physician.