Fighting Without Meds

[Fil37]

Hi, I'm new here. I'm very hopeful to receive and give some advice. I was diagnosed with RA in Nov 2015. I was immediately put on Prednisone and methotrexate which I took, reluctantly, for about 6 weeks. I had a severe rash on my neck and was quickly taken off methotrexate. That's when I tried a different approach. First, I must say this is not for everyone. I got extremely healthy. Changed my diet. Cut out processed foods first. I started on tumeric and ginger. Lots. I juice large quantities of fruits and veggies everyday and I'm starting to exercise more. A year later I feel better than I have in a long time. I rarely have a flare-up and if I do it only lasts a few seconds. I feel lucky but on the other hand I am sacrificing a lot to stay meds free. Also my RA factor went down from 32 to 20. My Dr said the number didn't mean much? It made me feel better

[Hidden]

Nice work!! Very hard to do. Just pay attention to your joints because they can continue to erode sometimes. So what did the doctor mean about your RA?

[Fil37 in reply to Hidden]

Thanks! The Dr. I see now is ok with monitoring me and he seems interested in my progress. My x-rays showed no signs of arthritis in any of my joints and the inflamation is way down.

[Hidden in reply to Fil37]

Nice - My doc is doing the same thing.

[Fil37 in reply to Hidden]

Great! Are you not taking any meds? Are you doing well?

[Hidden]

I take minocycline, and after a year in am getting pretty close to remission. Thanks for asking!

[Fil37 in reply to Hidden]

That's Great! I've just recently heard of this. Isn't it antibiotic therapy? I have also been using probiotics and I think it has been very useful. I am going to talk to my Dr. about the minocycline.

[Hidden in reply to Fil37]

Hi Fil37 - Yes it is... And the probiotics are important too. If you go to this website to the FAQs, it will tell you a lot: roadback.org/

Like I said, I've been on it for a year and done extraordinarily well. I posted about where I am a couple of months ago on here if you are interested:

healthunlocked.com/nras/pos...

The good thing about this is that it is much gentler to me than when I was on MTX. The bad thing is that it is an antibiotic therapy, so the probiotics are critical. Others have done this, and done very well (to remission within 3 years or so, although I am close now), and one poster said that she had to stop it. Just make sure you are well informed. That roadback website is actually based on Dr. Thomas McPerson Brown who is the originator of the therapy and he brought around 10,000 people to remission in his life.

Good luck with whichever direction you take. But you have made a great first effort with the diet and exercise.

PM me if you need additional information!

[GoatGirl56]

My D. started me on all natural approach (supplements and exercise, but not diet). Pain kept getting worse and exercise almost impossible. He started me on methotrexate and I had fatigue and headaches for about a month. This got better, and so did my pain. But recently, my pain has gotten worse - and I had my dose increased before this.

I've been vegetarian for 47 years and hardly eat anything processed, fast or fatty. Lots of fruit, veggies, raw nuts,soy, juice, green tea, water. I've also tried gluten free for a period. I recently read a study showing the success of a gluten-free/vegan diet for RA pain. So I've started to make these changes. My worry about going off meds altogether was joint deformity. Has dietary change proven to cause RA to go into remission, or just treat the pain? Would like to hear any experiences.

[Fil37]

I'm really sorry to hear that all your effort is still leaving you with pain. I have not seen any study that proves diet has any links to improving RA pain or causing it to go into remission. I have noticed personally that removing sugar and fried foods have helped me. I think dairy causes inflammation in me so I've cut that out too. I am also working on cleaning my gut. I think probiotics have really helped.

[GoatGirl56 in reply to Fil37]

Hi, here is the study I found re: vegan/gluten free. The study sample is small but the results are very positive. I'm not into it long enough myself to know, although years ago I had isolated elbow pain and going gluten free made it disappear.Also, I am still on meds. rheumatology.oxfordjournals...

[Kai-- in reply to GoatGirl56]

If you don't mind my chiming in, Fil37 & kswise:

If interested, kindly consider researching the works of Drs.:

T. Colin Campbell, Caldwell Esselstyn, John McDougall, Michael Klaper, Michael Greger, Joel Fuhrman, Dean Ornish, Neal Barnard -- if you're not already well aware of them.

I think (merely layman's opinion) these Whole Foods Plant-Based Diet/ Lifestyle (WFP-BD/L) physicians have 'nailed it'. 🙃 🔨

Or, at very least, come closest to a safe/ 'natural' approach in conjunction with a judicious use of meds (as needed).

[So far, 'knock on wood' (knocking on head ☺️), I've very good experience/ results following a process migrating to WFP-BD/L. 👍]

Highly recommend to anyone -- especially the "toughest of tough RA/ multi-autoimmune cases". 👍

Wishing you tremendous relief -- whatever paths you pursue. 🙏

[Hidden]

Hello. I hope you have a mild form of RA that comes and goes like my husbands did. He wasn't diagnosed with RA until Jan 2015 after about 15 years of "strange" symptoms that waxed and waned. He didn't need to start drug treatment until last year. I hope you can go for years without drug treatment too.

There is much in the "natural health" world of pro biotics. The only problem is that they donot survive our stomach acid. The only probiotic that did survive our stomach acid was a product called Symprove. Here is a university double blind study on probiotic held at Kings College in the UK.

youtube.com/watch?v=XpTDo9p...(Not working as expected?)

There was a study done at the University of Washington about green tea and RA. This is the only double blinded study that I am aware of. This is just the first phase of a clinical trial, but it couldn't hurt you to start drinking green tea now.

news.wsu.edu/2016/02/16/145...

[tkp610]

Glad to hear you are fighting without meds as that is my goal. Did you cut out gluten in your diet and certain fruits and vegetables such as the nightshade plants? It is a long process of elimination but I am finding certain foods that are labeled healthy don't agree with my inflammation. Just wondered what your diet consists of. Thanks for sharing and stay healthy!

[Dedeols]

I have Dx With RA a little over a year. Was put on methotrexate and then added Humira. I started to have mood swings, crying and my family were asking me if I was crazy,depressed. I didn't fit that catorgory of bein depressed. Saw my doctor. With out discussing any symptoms he put on my record primary depression. We had wean me off methotrexate before so I decided after my liver enzymes started to go up I again wean myself off. That made such a difference in my mental health. I don't have mood swings I don't cry easy and I don't have fog. I don't think I will ever take it again. My family all stated I was back to normal. Thank God