November 7, 2021
From: Beverly Brown
To: jeffbo@aol.com
Sent: Sun, Nov 7, 2021 4:28 pm
Subject: Re: High-dose D3 resolving ankylosing spondylitishere’s the story:
I’m a 58-year-old woman who ran competitively 30+ years ago. Not good enough to qualify for the Olympics, but training with a coach who ran in the ’68 and ’72 Olympics enabled me to win a little money in local 5Ks and 10Ks. That season ended and I remained reasonably fit taking exercise classes, lifting weights, jogging a few times a week, etc. But in 2015, I pulled a muscle sprinting and instead of healing, it only got worse. Arthritic inflammation settled in my lower back, in the lower-left L5-S1 area. Determined to heal, I taxed the limits of my employer’s generous health insurance; I spent thousands on traditional and alternative remedies. Physical therapy, acupuncture, massage, various shots, pills, salves, and anesthetic patches. No medical interventions delivered lasting results. Not even a radiofrequency nerve ablation. A 2018 MRI confirmed degeneration in the facet joints: ankylosing spondylitis.
I believe in healing prayer (actually SAW a woman’s leg grow even with the other in a healing service…a whole other story), so I had people pray over me and I prayed over myself. That worked better than anything. Remission would sometimes be immediate, but pain always returned. Finally in 2019 I prayed, “Lord, arthritic pain is NOT part of your kingdom, so I know it’s not your will for me to be in pain. But clearly there’s some other way you want to resolve this. So what is it? And Lord, you know subtlety doesn’t work with this daughter of yours, so please make it plain!” The answer came in the form of this scripture in a devotional: Psalm 103:5, which I turned into a prayer thanking God in advance for showing me what to do.
I waited and watched. Kept praying. Slapped on anesthetic patches and popped ibuprofen when the pain was horrible. Got depressed. Gave up on exercise, except walking. Gained 20 pandemic pounds stress eating between March and May 2020. A friend and a Facebook group educated me about intermittent fasting. Then, the most random thing ever, I ran across Dr. Steven Gundry’s “Plant Paradox” book at a beach rental. So, I learned when and what to eat for better health. Pounds melted off through December of 2020, when I hit my goal weight. Arthritis lingered through this past summer, when someone in a Facebook group related to Gundry’s program mentioned Jeff’s books. What? You mean, just upping your vitamin D supplements treats all these things? Naw!!! But I didn’t see a reason NOT to try.
In August 2021, I began doing one-meal-a-day fasting to the letter (instead of sneaking snacks throughout the day). Between September and October, I gradually upped D3 supplementation from a meager couple thousand IU a day to a robust 40,000 IU a day, plus the cofactors (magnesium, K2, boron, and zinc) and various other supplements recommended by Dr. Gundry. My D3 level went from 35.5 in April to 134 at the end of October. Arthritis pain *literally* evaporated for a few weeks. FINALLY! FREEDOM! HALLELUJAH! Everybody who knows me is getting an earful. My back feels a bit pinchy now, but I believe it’s due to remodeling taking place. I believe structural repairs are underway. Bunions at the base of both big toes are shrinking. And a yuuuge @#&!! granuloma on my right eyebrow that popped up a couple of weeks ago is also shrinking. This is the best I’ve felt in 50+ years!
Biggest concern is am I taking enough cofactors? Forgetting an afternoon round of magnesium resulted in foot, leg and hand cramps. Not sure I’m doing this exactly right, and do hope and pray my body is tough enough to weather any innocent supplementation mistakes. Once everything is repaired, what then? What does maintenance look like? What’s sustainable? Affordable? Time will tell, but I’m here for it.
A bit of advice to any grammar/spelling nerds (like me) put off by Jeff’s free-wheeling style of writing: Get over it. It’s the 21st century. Open databases of every kind imaginable are available for regular people to mine for useful nuggets. Solutions to every conceivable problem are “hiding” in plain sight. Praise God for someone like Jeff, who is willing to pore over literally tons of minutiae to bring us answers. The internet has democratized data to the point that any of us with the will and a way can share analysis to make the world better. I believe Jeff’s work and the community he has created is the fruit of a generous spirit that desires people to be healed of disease. If I can see past the style to embrace the substance, you can too.
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End of testimony
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