Alternative Medicine for Rheumatoid Arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic systemic inflammatory disease affecting the synovial membrane of joints primarily. As the disease progresses inflammation may spread to the articular  cartilage, fibrous joint capsule, surrounding ligaments and tendons, resulting in pain, joint deformity and loss of mobility.

Although the cause is unknown, evidence available at this time  suggests that it's an autoimmune disease, which could be precipitated by a severe infection or drug reaction.

Rheumatoid arthritis affects 1%-2% of adults, and like most autoimmune diseases it is more common in the female population.

Rheumatoid  nodules occur in areas of pressure or trauma, most often found on extensor surfaces of elbows and fingers. Rheumatoid nodules may be found on cardiac valves, pericardium, pleura, and spleen.

The joints of the hands, feet, knees,wrist, elbows, ankles are the most common sites, but shoulders, hips, cervical spine and temporomandibular joints may also be affected.Older people are more likely to have lesions in the lower spine ,spinal involvement has shown strong correlation with structural damage in the cervical spine. Severe polyarthritis is commonly found in people who have lesions in the cervical spine as well as rheumatoid nodules.

The inflammatory response appears to perpetuate the disease, rather than acting as a protective measure, it appears to have gone awry, and the normally self limiting function of the inflammatory response has been lost.

The onset of the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis may follow an infectious illness,with the systemic manifestation of inflammation, fatigue, weakness, anorexia, weight loss, and generalized aching and stiffness.

A number of symnptoms suggest rheumatoid arthritis,morning stiffness,pain on motion, tenderness over joint,swelling of a joint,nodules under the skin,positive rheumatoid factor,and changes showing on x-rays such as decalcified areas of bone near joint margins.

The progression of rheumatoid arthritis is usually slow, and in some of the more fortunate cases the disease remits after the first attack.The majority of cases progress to the chronic stage, with relapses and remissions and gradual loss of function.

The severity of rheumatoid arthritis varies among different ethnic groups across varied geographical locations. Northern Europeans appear to suffer the worst manifestations of the disease, whereas, in Greece the disease is much milder with less joint destruction. Could this have something to do with the amount of olive oil they consume?  Olive oil is known for its anti inflammatory properties, and Greek olive oil is rich and pure, definitely  something to think about.The medical treatment is with antiinflammatories, rest, physical therapy,and in some cases surgery.

What treatments might be used for this disease in Alternative Medicine?

Before you undertake any treatment, always best to have an allergy test, it could be an important factor in causing exacerbations of your disease, or even the disease itself.

Setting up a healthy diet would be the first consideration, excess meat or protein of any sort should be avoided, and only fresh  organic vegetablesand fruit,wheat grass and barley grass products, should be consumed. Certain vegetables from the nightshade family, tomatoes,eggplant, potatoes, capsicum may be best avoided, vegetables high in oxalic acid, spinach and rhubarb are likely to aggravate the condition.

Cut out all other cooking oils,use only virgin olive oil, don't eat margarine, the fat in margarine has been hydrogenated and is therefore much worse for you than saturated animal fat.

There's a lot of hype  around now about the positive effects of cod liver oil, and its  healing effect on arthritis.This has been based on a study done at Cardiff University on a group of preoperative patients, eighty six percent of those patients who took the cod liver oil showed a significant drop in the level of enzyme which causes cartilage damage. Although this is a recent study and has created a lot of excitement, forty plus years back there was a book written about the curative effects of cod liver oil for arthritis, needless to say the internet wasn't around then to promote it, so the book seemed to drop out of sight.

Tissue salts for rheumatoid arthritis are just about  the same for all types of arthritis. Nat Phos, the metabolic alkalizer is first consideration in arthritic complaints, then follows Ferrum phos for inflammation, Nat sulph for fluid retention,Silica as a calcium reorganizer. Kali phos for muscle paralysis.NB: If there is renal involvement caution must be exercised with the kali/ potassium salt.

A number of herbs can be used to give some relief. devil's claw, evening primrose,feverfew, ginger, meadowsweet,white willow,and many more, however,  the sensible approach is to seek the advice of a  trained herbalist, best not to self treat to avoid interactions with any medications you may be taking, hopefully you won't be taking too many of those. 

Caution: If you are sensitive to asprin, then white willow, meadowsweet,and wintergreen  herbs would be best avoided, for they are a rich source of salican, which convert to salicyclic acid.If you are taking prescription medication, consult your doctor first before taking herbs of any description.

Herbs may be natural as opposed to drugs, but that doesn't mean you can toss down as much as you like because it's natural.You will have reactions from herbs, and sometimes these can be unpleasant as the herbs detoxify your system.

  A relatively safe herb/spice to use is turmeric ( curcumin), it's strength lies in its abiity to relieve inflammation, it also has a lot of other health giving properties as  well. This is a very common ingredient in Indian cuisine, but when taken daily as a medicine it can produce diarrhoea and stomach upset, so take it slowly. Although it can produce these effects, they are not irreversible, and are not likely to send you to hospital, unless you break a leg on the way to the toilet!

The recipe for turmeric paste to be taken: half a cup of water and a quarter of a cup of turmeric powder, mix and heat in a saucepan until the mixture thickens. Cool and keep in a glass container in the fridge. Take a 1/4 teaspoon daily at first to see how your system takes to it, if you take too much it can give you the trots, so take it slowly at first.It is a foul tasting albiet effective paste for bringing relief to painful joints. If you  can get the tincture of turmeric/curcumin it would be much easier to take.Reference, Herbal Defense by Robyn Landis.

Looking at the disease from an homeopathic point of view, one must individualize the case , there is no one size fits all, although many remedies may relieve for a short time, this is a form of palliation which is not recommended, and is not they way of  classical homeopathy. Homeopathy is highly recommended as a modality for treating this disease,  it's far better to heal the whole patient rather than just palliate manifesting symptoms.Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic disease, therefore, it requires considerable time to obtain a noticeable positive result.

Treating symptoms with prescription drugs comes at great cost to the patient's quality of life, for every drug taken has possible side effects, depending on the patient's susceptibility.

Zinc helps immune function , the inflammation of this disease increases the demand for bioflavonoids,these are found in the skin of fruits and vegetables,citrus fruit, and buckwheat.Really the best souce of vitamins and minerals to take is wheatgrass juice, small amounts every day, and you'll see how your health improves..

Read more:Osteoarthritis

References:McCance Kathryn L & Huether Sue e, Pathphysiology, The Biologic Basis for Disease in Adults and Children. Published The C.V. Mosby Company.1990.

Merck Manual sixteenth edition published Merck Research Laboratories 1992

Forbes,Charles & Jackson William. Color Atlas and Text of Clinical Medicine 2nd edition published Mosby-Wolf 1997.

Govan/McFarlane/Callander, Pathology Illustrated thrid edition Published Churchill Livingstone 1981.

Chandrasoma Parakrama & Taylor Clive. Concise Pathology first edition published Prentice-Hall International Inc.1991.

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