11/18/12 UPDATE: I'm still taking Gaia turmeric most every night, and the tendonitis has not come back. (In fact, I'd forgotten I ever had it till I reread this review.) Whether the turmeric cured the tendonitis, or it vanished on its own, I don't know. But turmeric has numerous other benefits, so I plan to keep taking it.3/5/15 UPDATE: I drifted away from taking Gaia's Turmeric Supreme for a while, but have recently begun taking it again. I actually like taking it along with New Chapter Turmeric Force (one capsule of each). I feel the effect dramatically within an hour or so of taking it.The tendonitis I cited in the "original review" is old history. My joints, muscles and tendons all feel fine these days. I take a lot of natural anti-inflammatories such as turmeric (in various forms) and fish oil. It may the combination that made the difference.*******************************************ORIGINAL REVIEW:I started experiencing pain in my left forearm and wrist a few weeks ago, that was severe enough to keep me awake at night. I hadn't been injured, it just came out of the blue, and was severe enough that I couldn't type or work with that hand at my computer.I went to a doctor who confirmed diagnosed the condition as tendonitis caused by the work I do at a computer, and recommended that I begin occupational therapy. But the OT she recommended was booked up, so I couldn't get an appointment till September. My doctor gave me stretching exercises to do while waiting for the OT, which were painful themselves but helped a little. She wanted me to start pharmaceutical anti-inflammatories, but I held off on that because mental clarity is important to me. (When I've taken pharmaceutical anti-inflammatories in the past, they put me in a mental fog.)While waiting for the occupational therapist to become available, I mentioned the pain to a friend of mine, and he suggested turmeric. (He takes a teaspoon of turmeric every morning.) I decided to try Gaia turmeric extreme, three capsules a day (actually I take them at night), because I like Gaia's approach to how they process herbs.I was startled to find that my tendonitis was greatly improved, almost overnight. I have literally no symptoms as long as I take the turmeric. The only "side effect," if you can call it that, it that when I take it, I sleep soundly through the night.I can't prove that what I've experienced is cause and effect; maybe something else cured the tendonitis pain (though I had been told it was not curable). Maybe my doctor's diagnosis was incorrect. Maybe the tendonitis is cyclical and the pain will return in time. But my gut level feeling is that it's the Gaia turmeric supreme which is handling the inflammation so effectively, that healing can take place. Gaia's herbal products are high quality and highly distilled. BTW, I have also taken fish oil for inflammation, which I have sometimes found effective if I take a large enough dose for things like arthritic back pain, but the turmeric seems to have had a stronger effect at a much smaller dose.************************************ADDENDUM (one week later): the tendonitis pain is still completely gone, as is my back pain. I'm still sleeping great. And I have noticed one more interesting side effect: I breathe better at night.Re: buying herbs and supplements on Amazon, I have found that if you shop around, it's often less expensive than buying locally, with one caveat: you have to make sure you don't get slammed with high shipping costs, which aren't revealed till the last stage of completing your order. Sometimes the shipping costs when buying this way are reasonable but occasionally they're through the roof. I've learned to check the details of the order before approving it. (I recently tried buying $150 worth of supplements on Amazon --- each supplement was reasonably priced, but the shipping came to $50! And this, for lightweight supplements that did not have any kind of "rush" on delivery. So I canceled the order and bought the products locally.) Free super savings shipping is great when you can find it. But you do have to be careful cause it it's not free, it can add up to an outrageous amount.LATER NOTE: If you buy a LOT of supplements on Amazon, getting a Prime membership is one way of lowering the shipping cost. Be aware however that "Prime" products often cost more than their non-Prime counterparts. And Amazon no longer guarantees two day shipping. When I order using Prime, usually the product(s) will arrive within two days; but sometimes it's taken a week or ten days. When I call Amazon for an explanation, I'm told that "two day shipping" just means that once it ships, it'll take two days to get here, but it may not be shipped for a week or more! I have appreciated Prime's quick shipping in the past, and am disappointed that the quality of the service has gone downhill. They used to actually guarantee the product's arrival in two days, and give a partial discount if it took longer.
