Re: [CH] Health benefits of Peppers
danceswithcarp (dcombs@bloomington.in.us)
Sat, 26 Feb 2000 11:58:21 -0500
From: "Chris Gleed" <chris@gleed.net>
> Have you, or anyone you've known, experienced any health benefits (or
> negative effects for that matter) from chile peppers, hot sauces,
> cayenne pills etc.? If so, what?
In 1995 I had a midlobectomy, which means I had the biggest 1/3 (?) of my
right lung sliced out. It had calcified (bronchialith) and for who knows
how long it had been painlessly collapsed. When I got colds I had them
forever and could never expectorate the mucous secretions. It was generally
believed that I had allergies as the things would stick around forever.
There were various other symptoms like extreme tiredness, inability to focus
for long, and a general wakness. But I didn't know I was sick, I just
thought that's how a person felt after they turned 40 and entered the
Geritol Generation.
Since that surgery I feel all sorts of good feelings, but I'm still weak on
my right side where the inscision was made and there's a general numbness
from my breast to my spine an inch or so on either side oif the "cut-here"
scar. The numbness is from severed nerves during the surgery. The biggest
problem with that is when I pull or strain a muscle in that region I don't
know it UNTIL the pain spreads outside of the numb area. An unprepared
forsneeze one afternoon while scrambling eggs with fresh jalapenos in them
caused a muscle spasm that put me in the emergency room and a coughing spasm
is something I have avoided since then at at costs.
That cost? Eating fresh chiles on a daily basis in something, in large
quantities. I have a chile-soup for lunch everyday while teaching school,
be it cream of pepper, a chicken/beef broth with two or three kinds of
peppers in it, a noodle soup with chiles, or a chili. I eat tons of hot
sauces on almost everything, and although the vinegar of most sauces kills
most of the Vitamin C I still believe there is massive therapeutic values in
the capsacian itself--something about an internal suana effect.
I have developed a somewhat high tolerance for the heat taste-wise ("The
Bread" pushes it, but when I first ate a piece I had to email Jim The Oneth
and tell him, um, it wasn't that hot. He admitted that particular batch was
just a habenero-based bread as he was out of savina powder and later sent me
a piece of savina Bread that suitably humbled me). but I still get the
red-face and sweat, and I think the regular sweats from peppers have many
purging benefits.
Since my surgery and the stepped up pace of eating cap and cap products in
1995 I have had exactly 3 colds that merit mentioning. One was when I went
to wirk inside of a max-security prison and I caught every URI stored there
at once, I got a spring cold in 1997 and when I started teaching at this
middle-school in 1998 I caught "middle school." All three colds knocked me
down, but I came back from them in a matter of days and was on full rock'n
roll in no time. That is THREE full-fledged colds or respiratory flus in 6
years, even though I am exposed to every bug that comes into a school full
of kids. Oh, yeah, my second job is wirking with homeless and low-income
people, who sometimes have every ailment in the book, so I can feel
comfortable saying I'm not hiding from anything.
Yes, I have had stomach flus a few times--general intestinal distress--but
all in all I've been remarkably respiratory-wise healthy. I do not avoid
sick kids, and I have two kids of my own. I do not eat vitamins or any
other dietary supplement nor would I EVER consider getting a flu shot even
though they are free in my line of wirk (WIRK?)
Do chiles have any healthful effects? I don't know, but I do know if it
ain't broke you don't fix it and something I'm doing seems right. The kids
at school do sometimes stop into my room just to watch me eat and wonder at
the nuttiness of it all, but that is a small burden to bear.
When I sneezed and pulled the muscles in my inscision I had to get shots
totalling 20 grains (or however they measure it) of morphine before I could
unwrap myself enough for the doc to check out the inscision--I was seriously
contorted. I never want that feeling again. Oh, the morphine was fine, but
the pain was wirse than anything I felt during the surgery and recovery
itself. Chiles rule. And I never want to cough again.
carp