Holding It All Together-Hemp, Hemp, Hooray!

By Amy McCollom
My shoes make me look like a dork.  But when your feet hurt bad enough, fashion and humility go out the window.  Not only do I suffer from plantar fasciitis, I also have a large bone spur that grows up like a thorn on my heel.  The accompanying pain in my heel is called Achilles Tendonitis. When my heel hurts, I walk funny. Walking funny causes inflammation around the Sesamoid Bones at the base of my big toe.  This condition is called Sesamoiditis. My foot doctor put me in an orthotic walking boot to stabilize my foot for a couple of weeks. It wasn’t a long enough period of time. The pain returned a week after the boot was removed.  Sucks to be me, sometimes.

I have tried so many different kinds of shoes.  But there are basically three brands of shoes that don’t hurt my feet; they are Birkenstock sandals, Oofos, and Crocs.  In this cold climate, socks are a must. So that increases the “Dork Effect” by one hundred points. Socks and Birkenstocks.  Socks and Oofos. Socks and Crocs. It’s like wearing football cleats with a prom dress. Fortunately, Dork-wear fits my goofy personality.

Still, though.  Nobody wants to put up with foot pain.  I tried icing my foot. Then heat. Alternating heat and ice.  Vicks mentholatum rub. Icy hot. Home-made goop from nature websites.  Assorted anti-inflammatory teas. Herbal supplements. Nothing seemed to work to relieve the pain.  It was frustrating.

Then one day my husband came home from work and told me about a conversation he had with a coworker.  John, who suffers from intense knee pain, asked a friend at work how his knees were doing, since they both carried mail and walked many miles a day on the job.  His friend, who had previously told John about his knee pain, told him, “Oh, I started using a salve on them every night and I don’t have pain anymore.”

The friend suggested John try this salve, and get some for me as well, as he knew that I also had assorted pain.  The name of the salve is Extract Wellness Hemp Salve.  It is the Spring Mist scent, 25mg, full spectrum 100 percent pure Kentucky grown industrial hemp infused salve.  John and I decided, sure, we would give it a try, especially since a friend and coworker verified it worked.

You can order it online at the Extract Wellness website, or you can buy it at certain Walgreens stores.  John’s friend picked us up a little jar of it a week or so later, and we tried it right away. I rubbed the slick salve all over my heel and the top of my foot before bed.  The next day, I started to get out of bed, and noticed I didn’t have to ease my foot onto the floor slowly. My foot did not hurt. I moved my foot around, testing every angle that my ankle could turn.  Still no pain. I was sold! The heel and foot pain I had been dealing with daily for over a year was suddenly gone, and my foot felt relaxed, not stiff. John said his knees felt better, but not 100 percent. Then again, John’s knees are in very bad shape and he is getting knee replacement surgery in February.  But I felt like a new person.

I found out that I still needed to wear my dork shoes, or the pain would return by end of day.  As long as I applied the salve every night, though, I would wake up with refreshed feet. Hemp, hemp hooray!

I do not know if the hemp salve works the same way for everyone.  I just know that it worked for me. I love the stuff. Hopefully this information will help someone who reads this column.  It is my testimonial that this stuff really works. I hope it works for you too. If you try it, please let me know if it helped your pain.  You can email me at rudyandrosasmom@yahoo.com .  God bless you all.