Rheumatoid Arthritis

Poppo

Hi All
My mrs was diagnosed with ra about 3 years ago but will not go down the chemical route preferrring instead to tackle her illness through diet. The pain seems to be worsening and I am just wondering has anybody else tried to combat this illness without drugs and with what success?
Thanks

gizmorox

Poppo wrote: »

Hi All
My mrs was diagnosed with ra about 3 years ago but will not go down the chemical route preferrring instead to tackle her illness through diet. The pain seems to be worsening and I am just wondering has anybody else tried to combat this illness without drugs and with what success?
Thanks

Have ra 6 years now,medication is vital in slowing down the progression of the disease and keeping deformity to a minimum,came off my meds for a year but had to go back on to it after I developed ra in many other joints,controlling diet is something that should come second in order of priority,actually can't quite believe your wife's doctor has not informed her so!!

cafecreme

Sorry for you and your Mrs

I have RA and can understand why she doesnt want to take the drugs-some of them are scary,especially the biologics.
I spent a horrible year giving up coffee, not eating nightshade foods etc. It didnt work for me and I've never met anyone first hand that it worked for either.
That said this is a decision your wife must take for herself. She should read up on the inflammatory process and how it affects you long term, not just in your joints. Thats what finally persuaded me

Poppo

Thanks giz and cafe. Has anyone heard of a tablet called Rheumadim.Its supposed to be natural and effective.
Thanks again

cafecreme

Hi Poppo,
no I hadnt heard of it but a quick google shows its a natural remedy that costs $40 a jar. The blurb goes on about rheumatism being a natural part of aging-while you could argue that with osteoarthritis that is definitely not the case with RA as its an autoimmune disease-your wife's body is misreading immune response signals and attacking her joints. It is also very carefully worded to not make any claims about stopping the process that is causing pain-it justs says it relieves pain-so does willow water as it has a naturally occurring aspirin in it. The key to managing RA is reducing the inflammatory process that causes the pain, not masking the pain with pain killers. Dont you think that if these natural remedies worked then everyone with RA would use them? If I had a euro for every remedy suggested to me by helpful friends and strangers I wouldnt have to drag my aching joints out of bed to go to work every morning

I'm not being harsh here but if you have RA the only natural thing proven to have a (tiny) impact on inflammation is fish oil-often sold in expensive supplements but you'd get a better result eating salmon & mackerel for your dinner every day. You'd be better off spending the 40 quid on a good book about RA and then your mrs can review the evidence herself and decide whether to carry on the natural route or try some of the meds.
As I said before I totally understand why she wants to try the natural remedies though.