Is Baltic Amber a Money Racket or an Easy Cure?

I love to use natural things for my family's health care. The less side effects the better, and with young children it is even more critical to pay attention to amounts/dosages given and how much time between dosages. For a mother who already has a sick or hurting baby this can be nerve racking.

So when my son started teething I heard all kinds of advice on what I should do. Teething tablets, teething biscuits, teething gel, pain relievers and we tried many of those things without much success. Finally after talking to a friend about how little Boaz was miserable she asked if I had ever heard of using an amber necklace. How could a necklace help my son? It sounds like a possible placebo effect. Time to research.

What is Baltic Amber?

Baltic amber is the resin from a succinisera pine tree that has hardened into a stone like form. This kind of amber is found in the Baltic region in main land Europe. It has a light weight and is warm to the touch. What is unique Baltic amber is the fact that it contains 3-8% succinic acid which is a natural pain reliever and anti-inflammatory.

Succinic acid is naturally found in both plant and animal tissue and has many benefits.  It has been used for teething pain, arthritis, growth pains, head aches, joint pain, menstrual cramps or essentially anything you would take an Advil for.

The salts of succinic acid are one of the active substances used for cellular level respiration. Which means that it is effective at producing energy in the body by jump starting the Krebs cycle, one of the main ways we metabolize carbs, fats and proteins. Restoring a dragging energy level.

How does it work? 

Amber is a very soft and when it is worn against the skin the oils and heat your body produces break down the amber and rub some of the succinic acid off. This gives relief of pain close to location of the amber. Thus for best effect you should wear it closest to the source of pain; necklace for tooth and jaw issues, bracelet for carpel tunnel ect.  It has also been mentioned that the lighter the color amber the higher the concentration of the succinic acid so if you want or need a stronger pain reliever you would want to get a light yellow amber as opposed to a more brown or green shade.

But does it really work?

This was something I was interested in finding out. After all it sounds like it does a lot and has no known side effects. I purchased an amber necklace and put it on my little boy for the day time and wrapped it around the ankle at night to avoid possible strangulation. Well he didn't fuss as much and he stopped drooling. Good signs. It seemed like his teething pain was over but I wondered if it wasn't just coincidentally timed with the purchase of the necklace. I kept up with it anyway until I lost the necklace. This would be a good test to find out if it was doing anything. So for the first month no big change, however by the third month he was drooling and fussing all the time, so I bought another necklace. Then it stopped again, so am happy to say yes it does work and I don't want to loose it again!
I purchased a bracelet for my self to see if it would help with a ganglion cyst I get in my left wrist. Sure enough it has kept it in check so I don't have to take the turmeric powder every day. I like turmeric but not that much.

How do I know if the Baltic Amber is genuine? 

The best way in my opinion is to make a bowl of salty water and place the jewelry in. If it floats then it is the real deal. You can also test it by putting it up to a flame if it smells like pine it is genuine if it smells like burning plastic then it is a fake. I don't know about you but I don't really like the idea of putting my jewelry to a flame, you may know if it is real but you could ruin it in the process!

We have had good experiences with Baltic amber and I would recommend it to anyone who suffers from joint pain or inflammation. It is pretty too! Enjoy your life without the pain.
                                                           The Farmer in the Dell