I\u2019m 77. I live full-time on my boat and sail long distances alone. I still ski – and keep up with the family. As I write, we just met for a walking holiday. In other words, I am still living life to the full.<\/p>\n
How do I do it? Well, all the usual things, of course: I don\u2019t smoke. I eat healthily. I take exercise\u2026<\/p>\n
But the real secret is a remarkable supplement which I would never have known about if I had carried on trusting that anything in my local health food shop must be good for me.<\/p>\n
It is not produced by a multi-national pharmaceutical company. You cannot get it from your doctor or the chemist. At the end of this page, you will find a link to it. But first, if you would like to know what it did for me, read on (and on!)<\/p>\n
*<\/p>\n
I started taking this supplement in May 2016 because of Arthritis in my hands. Within a few months, the pain eased and then disappeared \u2013 and I have had none since.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, I realised that a patch of skin on my nose, which had never completely healed, suddenly did so.<\/p>\n
Various other unexpected benefits became apparent:\u00a0 I started waking up before the alarm, feeling that I might as well get up.<\/p>\n
I could drive for four hours without feeling drowsy.<\/p>\n
A lacerated leg from stepping on barbed wire healed remarkably quickly without the need for antibiotics (during the previous year, I had spent so much time on antibiotics that I ended up in hospital having them intravenously \u2013 all because I had banged my elbow\u2026)<\/p>\n
Periodic episodes of Optical Migraine ceased completely.<\/p>\n
Obviously, since I was buying this new supplement, I discontinued all the others I had been taking.<\/p>\n
For the record, this was the list:<\/p>\n
Glucosamine 1500 mg<\/p>\n
Centrum 50+ vitamin & mineral supplement for the over 50s.<\/p>\n
Feroglobin iron supplement.<\/p>\n
Aspirin 75mg<\/p>\n
Cod liver oil.<\/p>\n
It occurred to me these benefits I was experiencing might all be psycho-somatic \u2013 I was expecting an improvement, and I got one \u2013 so I conducted what I like to think of as my own scientific test:<\/p>\n
I went to give blood. Normally, mine would just scrape through the iron test. That was why I took the iron supplement \u2013 and on donation day, I would take two capsules. It didn\u2019t make the slightest difference.<\/p>\n
After eleven weeks on the new supplement, I thought it worth recording the results. You can see them at https:\/\/youtu.be\/3RqOsQg-KJ8<\/a> .<\/p>\n Now it has been suggested that I should stop taking them and see if I start going downhill. At least then I could do a \u201cbefore and after\u201d blood test.<\/p>\n But no; I still remember what life was like before this extraordinary preparation: The persistent fatigue, the wrecked car, the need to stop typing or playing the clarinet and massage my hands every 15 minutes\u2026 the constant reminders of approaching old age\u2026<\/p>\n The fact is that I will do anything not to go back there \u2013 even if it means taking this stuff for the rest of my life.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/u><\/p>\n The Updates:<\/u><\/p>\n As time goes by, there will be quite a few of these.<\/p>\n Update: February 2017<\/u>: Now the liver spots on my hands have disappeared!<\/p>\n Update January 2018<\/u>: Decided that I shall not take any pharmaceutical products on my boat when I sail singlehanded from Scotland to the Azores this summer.<\/p>\n Update March 2018<\/u>: Eye test confirms \u201cslight improvement\u201d. Decide I do not need to wear glasses anymore. Seem to be able to see well enough.<\/p>\n Update September 2018<\/u>: On the return leg from the Azores, I trapped my arm between a rope and a wire but, because of bad weather, did not take off my shirt for three days. Consequently, I failed to notice an enormous bruise developing. By the time I discovered it, the whole of the inside of my bicep was the same horrible colour as it had been some years ago when I had ended up in hospital having intravenous antibiotics. Immediately, I tripled the dose of the supplement, but the next day, the infection had spread below the elbow, and I was really worried (remember, I carried no medicines). However, on the day after that, it stopped spreading. For several days it remained static and then \u2013 very gradually \u2013 it began to fade. Total recovery took about three weeks, which was much longer than it had been with the antibiotics. However, this was natural healing and far preferable. I suppose the message is to have faith and be patient!<\/p>\n Update January 2019:<\/u> After discovering that my driving licence requires me to wear glasses, I went for an eye test: \u201cSignificant improvement over the past year in the distance vision of both eyes.\u201d Specsavers confirm I do not need glasses for driving. Brilliant!<\/p>\n Update March 2019:<\/u> The first cough since 2016 \u2013 I used to get them every winter (sometimes twice), and they would always turn into a chest infection with that horrible green phlegm. The doctor always insisted on antibiotics (don’t want you getting pneumonia).<\/p>\n This time, I just took three helpings of the food supplement instead of one. The cough went in about ten days \u2013 longer than with antibiotics. But no green phlegm \u2013 and no pneumonia!<\/p>\n Update April 2019<\/u><\/p>\n A little bit of showing off: I am now, officially, over 70 \u2013 and still skiing on my original 70-year-old knees and hips.<\/p>\n However, on the first day I fell \u2013 as you do \u2013 and wrenched my ankle. It didn\u2019t hurt as long as it was in the ski boot because that won\u2019t let the ankle bend. But as soon as I got back to the hotel and tried to walk in shoes, it was murder.<\/p>\n Of course, the reception desk could have made me an appointment with a physiotherapist, but instead, I took an extra helping of my food supplement. What happened next was rather weird: I woke up at 2.00 a.m. with the ankle throbbing horribly. Moving it helped a little, but the pain kept me awake until 4.00 a.m.<\/p>\n But in the morning, everything was back to normal. Is it possible that the tendons repaired themselves overnight \u2013 and that was what had kept me awake? Did it have something to do with the supplement? I have no idea. Still, it was a great week’s skiing.<\/p>\n Update November 2019<\/u><\/p>\n No longer have to get up in the night to pee.<\/p>\n Actually, this was one of the early benefits of the supplement, but I had to delete it from this list about a year ago. Then, recently, I discovered that as you get older, the body finds it harder to absorb nutrients, so you need to start taking more.<\/p>\n Once I did that, no more getting up in the night!<\/p>\n Update March 2020<\/u><\/p>\n A bursitis on my elbow: Google advised that if it did not subside in a few days, I should go to the doctor to have it drained. I doubled the supplement and waited\u2026 and waited. It didn\u2019t subside. Eventually, after about six weeks (and reading that the elbow might become immobilised permanently, which would be disastrous for sailing), I relented and made an appointment. However, although the doctor offered to stick a needle into my elbow, he thought the fluid had begun to calcify, and I was now too late. Amazingly, after four months, the elbow appears to be completely back to normal. Natural healing takes a long time\u2026<\/p>\n Update June 2020<\/u><\/p>\n After hearing that a solution of the supplement applied with a perfume spray turned out to be good for sunburn, I started using this instead of sun lotion. It was less greasy and seemed to work just as well. Then I burned my thumb on a charcoal heater. This was extremely painful. I applied running cold water, but could see that the skin was discoloured across the whole ball of the thumb. I expected an enormous blister. However, after applying the solution and rubbing it in, the next morning, there was no sign of burn or blister.<\/p>\n Update December 2020<\/u><\/p>\n This was the year of Coronavirus. I haven\u2019t had it, but I have increased my daily helping of the supplement as a precaution (and yes, the vaccine is one pharmaceutical product, I will take. I consider it my civic duty.)<\/p>\n Meanwhile, there have been other benefits to the increased dose.<\/p>\n If you have read my blog \u2013 particularly the post https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/3629-miles-of-isolation\/<\/a> you will understand that for 42 days, I did not sleep for more than an hour at a time \u2013 usually much less.<\/p>\n Also, you may have read in these updates that I credit the supplement with ending the old man\u2019s curse of nighttime trips to the bathroom. Obviously, if I was not even attempting to sleep for eight hours at a stretch, there would be no chance of being inconvenienced by such \u201cvisits\u201d.<\/p>\n It was only when I arrived back in Falmouth that I realised I was completely out of practice at \u201cholding it\u201d. Also, I was unprepared for finding all the pubs shut and the public conveniences barricaded with plastic hazard tape. This meant that I found myself \u201ccaught short\u201d and suffered what can only be called an \u201caccident\u201d in the street. It is probably true \u2013 you can die of embarrassment.<\/p>\n So imagine how it felt to wake up one night and find my sleeping bag warm and wet\u2026<\/p>\n I had something else to think about, too: every evening, I practise the clarinet – standing up if the boat is stable. By the late summer, these evening sessions were lasting an hour or more \u2013 and I began to experience a pain in the inside of my right thigh. Might this be some sort of thrombosis? Standing still for long periods was what set it off.<\/p>\n I increased my daily dose of the supplement yet again.<\/p>\n At home for Christmas, I stood for more than two hours at a socially distanced party – yet there was no pain in my leg. Also, while just about everyone else excused themselves at one time or another, I didn\u2019t feel the need \u2013 even though I never once refused a top-up.<\/p>\n Come to that, I\u2019ve been sleeping through the night as well. Maybe I just needed more of the stuff. I am a bit startled by how much I’m taking compared to when I started – but it does seem to do the trick\u2026<\/p>\n Update August 2022<\/u><\/p>\n In the UK, if you don’t go to the dentist for three years, they can drop you. So, I went yesterday \u2013 after a gap of two years and eight months.<\/p>\n He poked around a bit, took a couple of X-rays and said: “All good. Come back in nine months.”<\/p>\n This was so unusual that I thought it worth asking for a list of my previous treatments since I started with the practice in January 2013. This is it:<\/p>\n Fillings: 9<\/p>\n Inlay: 1<\/p>\n Root canal extirpations: 2<\/p>\n Root canal fillings: 2<\/p>\n Crowns: 2<\/p>\n Also, there were regular X-rays and appointments with the hygienist. Prices ranged from under \u00a320 to \u00a3246. There was, of course, a whole separate list with my previous dentist \u2013 including implants which involved a bone transplant in the early noughties \u2013 that came to something over \u00a37,000. Also, I’ve still got a 1970s bridge (it’s now of architectural interest.)<\/p>\n In other words, I’ve had bad teeth for as long as I can remember.<\/p>\n Until now. Since my last crown in December 2019, until yesterday, I have visited a dentist once – in the Orkney Islands – to get one of the crowns glued back on.<\/p>\n The only thing that I can imagine which might have brought about this dramatic change is the supplement I started taking in 2016. Admittedly, I still needed treatment for the next three years \u2013 but since then, nothing.<\/p>\n Evidently, these things take time.<\/p>\n Update November 2022<\/u><\/p>\n Well, finally, I caught COVID. I would never have known but for a slight cough and taking a test because I was going to spend the weekend with Tamsin, who looks after her 91-year-old mother, and our son, the medical student who works in Warrington hospital. The good news was that the cough was the only symptom (no weariness, temperature, loss of taste etc.) It lasted about ten days. I wouldn’t have thought anything of it in the old days.<\/p>\n Update October 2024<\/u><\/p>\n In Aruba for the (hot and steamy) hurricane season, and with permanently salty clothes from the tradewind throwing spray into the dinghy, I developed a saltwater sore in just the wrong place! Tea Tree oil didn’t fix it, but an extra 600mg of the supplement did. I’m a bit alarmed that I’m taking 1,800mg a day now and worried about running out before I go back to the UK in March, but needs must.<\/p>\n Update November 2024<\/u><\/p>\n \u2026 hum, not so cured after all: I was so anxious about the amount I was taking (two big doses a day) that once the sore closed up and the redness around it began to diminish, I went back to my normal dose. Sure enough, it flared up again – with a vengeance.<\/p>\n Like a First World War general ordering a “Big Push”, I embarked on a campaign of overwhelming the infection by sheer weight of supplement. I now realise that over 23 days, I consumed 60,000mg! Which, divided by 23 days, works out at a whopping 2,600mg a day! Something to think about if you’re worried about not following the instructions.<\/p>\n I am pleased to say that my bottom is now as smooth and pink as a baby’s.<\/p>\n Update January 2025<\/u><\/p>\n The expression \u201cbleary-eyed\u201d sounds like a bit of a joke – as if I had gone to bed with the rum bottle and woken up with the after-effects. But this was serious. I was waking up day after day with blurred vision in my left eye. It was like looking through a laundry window. No amount of rubbing or blinking made any difference.<\/p>\n This would last for much of the morning before gradually returning to normal around lunchtime. Then it started taking longer and longer before I could see – until I had to accept that I could not see anything at all out of my left eye.<\/p>\n In the old days, I would have made an appointment with the optician, anxious that they were going to diagnose some awful degenerative disease. I well remember our next-door neighbour having eye trouble while driving back from holiday in the South of France. By the time he got home, the doctor told him he had macular degeneration, and it was already too late. If only he had stopped at a French hospital on the way\u2026<\/p>\n But of course, I wasn\u2019t going to any hospital was I? Or doctor, or optician. I don\u2019t even wear glasses anymore. If I was going to go blind, then presumably, I would pile up on some remote reef because I couldn\u2019t see where I was going or just fall over the side – always the default ending.<\/p>\n So, I kept on blinking, bathed the eye in pure water from the watermaker and told myself to count my blessings: I still had one good eye – and nobody really needs two…<\/p>\n It did occur to me to increase the dosage of my magical supplement, but I\u2019d already done that for a month or more with the saltwater sore on the bum, so surely my system must still be pretty stoked with it. Besides, supplies are now somewhat depleted, and I won\u2019t be getting any more until I go home to meet the family for the annual ski holiday in April. Probably the best thing to do is just stop worrying.<\/p>\n And guess what? After two-and-a-half months, the trouble has eased, and finally I can say the eye is as good as ever.<\/p>\n Wonderful thing, the human bod.<\/p>\n Update February 18th<\/sup> 2025<\/u><\/p>\n If you look at the blog post for January 26th<\/sup> 2025, you will see that I got a rope caught round my ankle – pretty dumb, but we know by now it\u2019s the sort of thing I do.<\/p>\n The next dumb thing was to decide it wasn\u2019t too serious – at least, not as serious as the great flap of skin hanging off the forefinger of my left hand (I cleaned that most meticulously and bound it up with tea tree oil – and sure enough, it healed).<\/p>\n The ankle seemed to be taking longer. I\u2019d done it on January 18th,<\/sup> and here we were in February. Maybe I should leave the dressing off – let the air get to it. After all, the skin wasn\u2019t actually broken\u2026<\/p>\n And that\u2019s the way it was when I met Ilke on Banedup in the San Blas Islands of Panama. She was off a Canadian catamaran, sailing with her husband and teenage twins, and every day she took it upon herself to spend a couple of hours clearing the plastic waste that washed up in the undergrowth. I volunteered to help.<\/p>\n It was unbelievable – like wading through a garbage dump.<\/p>\n And when you think about it, that\u2019s not something you should do with a raw wound on your ankle. Especially if you\u2019re still so dumb you don\u2019t take a second chance to clean it afterwards and bind it up again with tea tree oil.<\/p>\n A few days later, the green pus appeared.<\/p>\n Ah, I knew what to do about this: Double the dose of the supplement – except that my year\u2019s supply was supposed to last me until I collected the next batch when I flew back for the annual family skiing holiday in April. Now it was clear that with this increased consumption, my supply wasn’t going to last that long..<\/p>\n Quick; order a consignment to be sent to Panama.<\/p>\n Have you ever ordered anything to be sent to Panama?<\/p>\n By the time it was due (but nowhere to be found), I was eking out the supplement like an American diabetes patient on a budget. A rounded teaspoonful became a level teaspoonful. Three a day became two. On the last day, I didn\u2019t even get one. My son, the doctor, wanted me to send him a photo of my ankle, but I knew he\u2019d just prescribe antibiotics.<\/p>\n When the stuff did arrive, of course, I made up for the deficiency with a vengeance (and carried on like that for two weeks).<\/p>\n OK, so it was kind of expensive, but it did the trick. The wound now has a nice healthy scab to protect it, and I\u2019m back to the normal dose – well, normal for me – although I do spray the scab with a solution of the powder three times a day. That seems to be helping.<\/p>\n I suppose the message is this: Don\u2019t be nervous about taking plenty of this stuff – and make sure you have a generous reserve, just in case of being dumb. Yes, it can get expensive, but think what I’ve saved on dentist’s bills!<\/p>\n Update October 2025<\/u><\/p>\n An Australian sunscreen scandal featured on Facebook recently. Several popular brands were found to do nothing to prevent sunburn. I commented that I didn\u2019t use sunscreen, even though I spend most of my time in the tropics.<\/p>\n A few people agreed with me – but there were some who took great exception and called me irresponsible. One suggested I might change my mind when I discovered my first skin cancer.<\/p>\n So, I thought I would show you two pictures of my forearm. The first was on October 25th and shows a worrying discolouration of the skin. It is the sort of thing that might prompt people to book a doctor\u2019s appointment.<\/p>\n I haven\u2019t been treated by a doctor since 2016. I just sprayed the arm with a solution of my mineral supplement twice a day (when I remembered).<\/p>\n The second picture was taken on the 31st – seven days later.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n All of the above would be considered by the UK regulatory authorities to be \u201cunsubstantiated claims\u201d, and I am not allowed to make unsubstantiated claims about a health product. This means that I cannot mention its name or paste a link here.<\/p>\n However, if you were to email me and ask for it, that is a different matter.<\/p>\n So, if you would like to send me an email, I will reply with a link that grants you access to a folder of Google Documents which will tell you everything you need to know.<\/p>\n I apologise for making it seem as if we are whispering together in a corner of our local pub, but those are the rules.<\/p>\n Send your email to john@oldmansailing.com<\/a>. Since I now have Starlink on most of the time, I should get back to you fairly quickly.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0<\/u><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/u><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/u><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n All social media stars have a picture in their skimpies<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It\u2019s a familiar story: Someone spends their life dreaming of what they\u2019re going to do when they have the time, or the money, or when the children are settled, or the dog dies\u2026 But by the time they get there, their health gives out, and they spend the rest of their days regretting that they … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-70","page","type-page","status-publish"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/70","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70"}],"version-history":[{"count":122,"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/70\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3819,"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/70\/revisions\/3819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"25.10.25\"](\"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1984F1C5-D387-438A-9BBA-AFFAD0A372DD_1_105_c-225x300.jpeg\")
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