Reaction to InflamX?

[hollyanna]

My LLMD recommended InflamX (Metagenics). He said that it should help with my inflammation (swollen knee and wrists and sometimes ankles). He also said it would be good for detoxing. The first time I tried it, my body reacted strongly – my joints became stiff and my muscles weak. I waited a few days and tried it again – 1 scoop instead of 2. Same reaction. So today, a few weeks later, I tried it again – half a scoop. The reaction isn’t as bad but my hands became noticeably weaker and stiffer. It’s almost like a herx reaction (minus the myalgia). I am just wondering if anyone out there has tried this supplement and had a similar reaction – and if so did you continue to use it to any benefit?

[hollyanna]

And, in case you are unfamiliar with InflamX, here is a blurb: “UltraInflamX from Metagenics is a patented, pleasant-tasting, easily digested medical food that provides nutritional support for patients with conditions, such as with rheumatoid arthritis, ulcerative colitis, eczema and psoriasis, and Crohns disease*. UltraInflamX:

Can be used as part of a comprehensive elimination, GI Restoration, or anti-inflammatory lifestyle program*

Supports Phase II detoxification, gastrointestinal mucosa integrity, and reduction of damaging free-radical generation*

Features a unique blend of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, bioflavonoids, and the phytonutrients rutin, curcuminoids, and quercetin to nutritionally support healthy essential fatty acid metabolism*

Provides a low-allergy-potential rice protein concentrate that is augmented with essential amino acids for increased biological value

Supplies high-molecular-weight rice dextrins as a carbohydrate source

Provides a good source of antioxidants with a high ORAC value of 17,108″

[Trudi]

@hollyanna wrote:

I am just wondering if anyone out there has tried this supplement and had a similar reaction – and if so did you continue to use it to any benefit?

Hi–
My LLMD put me on this during a trial anti-inflammatory diet. It was supposed to help give me the nutrients that I was going to miss on this strict diet. I did this for 2 months. I was miserable and by the end of two months my skin hurt so bad I couldn’t tolerate a massage. It has a boatfull of ingredients so it’s hard to know for sure what gave me so much grief. However, per chance my electrodermal doctor checked me for L-lysine. The machine literally screamed. The doctor told me to never take it–not good for me. When I got home, I checked the container and saw it contained L-lysine. Again, who knows what other ingredients may not have agreed with me.

Take care,
Trudi

Lyme/RA; AP 4/2008 off and on to 3/2010; past use of quinolones may be the cause of my current problems, (including wheelchair use); all supplements (which can aggravate the condition) were discontinued on 10/14/2012. Am now treating for the homozygous MTHFR 1298 mutation. Off of all pain meds since Spring '14 (was on them for years--doctor is amazed--me too). Back on pain med 1/2017. Reinfected? Frozen shoulder?

[vera]

I tried Ultra InflamX a couple years ago for a few months, but it did nothing for me. Perhaps the rice in the formulation did not agree with me. I am now grain/starch free. Someone I know swears by it, so I guess it’s truly an individual thing.

Lori

[Krys]

Hi Hollyanna,
What a wonderful name!!!
I’m not familiar with InflamX. But I had a negative reaction to InflammaQuell, systemic enzymes.

You may be “reactive” / allergic to any ingredient in the formula. Being on the anti-inflammatory diet probably intensifies your reactions to any substance that is offensive to your system. What jumps out for me in the ingredients is:
-starch in “rice protein concentrate”. Rice is considered to be one of the least offensive grains, being gluten free. But for those who react to starches, it can cause an unwelcome reaction and is a “forbidden” food.
-sugar in “high-molecular-weight rice dextrins”
Of course any other ingredient can be the culprit, but anti-inflammatory diet eliminates starches and sugar, so any intake of them could be felt much stronger.

If it was me, I would stop taking it and notice if there is any difference. If you see that the negative reactions are gone when you do not take it, you can always choose to enrich your diet with a powder mixture of your own making: you can buy in bulk, mix up and take a scoop of any combination of the “super foods”: Acai berry powder, Bilberry powder, wheat grass powder or barley grass powder (they do not contain starch while in a grass form), Chia seed powder, Acerola berry powder (very rich in vit.C), beets powder (only organic to avoid GMOs, but you may want to avoid it in the beginning because beet being a root vegetable is not advised on anti-inflammatory diet, even though it is immensely nutritious), organic Alfalfa powder (inorganic will be GMO), Pomegranate seed or little less anti-inflammatory: Pomegranate juice powder, Goji berry / Lycii berry powder (eating them whole does not help much for me: they leave my body whole, indigested), you can also add Rosehips powder, and if there is heart involvement a smaller amount of Hawthorn berry powder. You can use any of the above that appeal to you; except for hawthorn berry which is medicinal, the other ones are immensely nutritious food and a small amount added to smoothies or just dissolved in water will provide huge amount of nutrients (and antioxidants, vitamins, minerals). You can add a smaller amount of freeze-dried veggies like spinach (lutein), asparagus, etc. And a much smaller amount of crushed cell Chlorella for intensifying detoxification. And if there are digestive problems, maybe a small amount of Triphala (Ayurvedic combination of 3 fruits considered “holy” because of their beneficial effect on digestion, assimilation, detoxification, healing).
The best organic source is mountainroseherbs.com, the cheapest is herbalcom.com (don’t buy anything that needs to be organic over there, or it may be GMO: beets, alfalfa, papaya (papain enzyme). I’m not sure about bromelain: I think they are making GMO pineapple now, too, so bromelain will be GMO, unless organic, too. Their Chlorella is probably not wall crushed. They never answered my question whether it was wall crushed or not. But bilberry powder from Germany, is just wild harvested, it is totally safe. It does not grow in polluted forests, so does not need to be labeled organic. Many other herbs / fruits/ dried veggies from that source are really OK and muuuch cheaper). Two other companies I use is Atlanticspice.com and Monterey Bay Herbs (herbco.com).
I’m only giving the suppliers because I spent over a month 2 years ago going through every herbal company, comparing the prices and customers reviews. Of course, if you choose this path of supplementing your diet with nutrient rich foods, please do your own research and choose what appeals to you. The advantage of doing your own mixes out of whole fruit and veggie powders is that there will be no fillers and if you are not allergic to fruit and vegetables, you are bound to be safe while greatly supplementing your diet with nutrient rich foods. I hope any of the above helps.
Warm wishes, Krys

[Maz]

@hollyanna wrote:

Features a unique blend of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, bioflavonoids, and the phytonutrients rutin, curcuminoids, and quercetin to nutritionally support healthy essential fatty acid metabolism*

Provides a low-allergy-potential rice protein concentrate that is augmented with essential amino acids for increased biological value

Supplies high-molecular-weight rice dextrins as a carbohydrate source

Provides a good source of antioxidants with a high ORAC value of 17,108″

Hi Hollyanna,

I haven’t tried this supp, but it sounds like it could potentially be helpful from the write-ups. However, the ingredient that caught my eye was the quercetin.

You might be able to find better research than the following. I just did a quick search to look for something about the actions of quercetin and came up with the following….of course, it’s sales schpiel, but there may be something in it:

http://www.nutritiongeeks.com/p-7021-quercetin-bromelain.aspx

“Quercetin, which belongs to the

[Trudi]

@Maz wrote:

Quercetin has a broad range of activity, much of which stems from its interaction with calmodulin, a calcium-regulatory protein.1 Calmodulin transports calcium ions across cellular membranes, initiating numerous cellular processes. Quercetin appears to act as a calmodulin antagonist.

Hi Maz–
This is interesting. My former LLMD always checked my calcium using a cuff similar to a blood pressure cuff on my calf. My reading was normally 180mm (ideally over 200) and dropped down to 140-150 after my bout with the anti-inflammatory diet plus InflamX. I was immediately put on calcium supplements which worsened the numbers–go figure? I stopped taking the calcium supplements, went back to my normal diet, and my numbers went back up to 180.

Take care,
Trudi

P.S. Krys–that’s some great information–thanks for taking the time to write it all up!

Lyme/RA; AP 4/2008 off and on to 3/2010; past use of quinolones may be the cause of my current problems, (including wheelchair use); all supplements (which can aggravate the condition) were discontinued on 10/14/2012. Am now treating for the homozygous MTHFR 1298 mutation. Off of all pain meds since Spring '14 (was on them for years--doctor is amazed--me too). Back on pain med 1/2017. Reinfected? Frozen shoulder?

[hollyanna]

Wow. You guys are amazing! That is a whole lot of information and I appreciate all of it. It may take me a few days to take it all in but I’ll let you know what I find out. Thank you so much.

[Author]

Posts