Hello everyone. This is my first ever post and have been galvanised to share this video with you all as it makes so much sense to me. It is an interview that Clint Paddison has recently had with a guy called Dr. Tom O'Brien who is on the Teaching Faculty for the Institute of Functional Medicine. Functional Medicine I have only recently have come to understand is looking at ourselves and our environments as a whole and not just as modern medicine sees things, in compartmentalised segments. I know a lot of us are ambivalent about this Paddison Programme, but his guests have no investment in anything he promotes. It is a bit scientific in places and a little over my head in others but it makes so much sense to me in my own experiences with my RD and exploring ways in which I can help myself. It is about 45 minutes and requires a little concentration but wow! I would love to hear from those of you who have the time and energy to view.
I watched it and then looked up that dr with the book he kept showing I have never been big on drinking water and never cranberry juice. But my ra dr has also been on me to drink water more I have been trying to do that but maybe I will add cranberry juice and blueberry juice to it also
It's not at all true that modern medicine sees us and our ailments in 'compartmentalised segments', you know - quite the reverse! I don't know anything about the chap you're promoting, but I do know that 99.9% of NHS practice is based on holistic concepts backed up by expert specialisation. Just saying.
Modern medicine and the training of doctors is rigged to diagnose and treat symptoms, less attention is given to understanding the root causes of the disease. Functional integrative medicine tries to do just that and by understanding the pathological processess even before the disease breaks out are able to reverse the process leading to a fullblown disease. This does not mean that meds are condemned but they are used as part of the healing process not only to get rid of symptoms.
Do you actually have some evidence for the 'rigging' of medical training? That's quite a serious and aggressive claim! Maybe you mean 'is biased towards' diagnosis and treatment of symptoms?
The steadily growing number of physicians leaving the traditional medicine, often internationally well known doctors have all in interviews told about their frustration over how medical training has changed in this direction and how frustrated they had felt practising medicine with these given guidelines. They have explained how helpless they have felt seeing their patients continually worse off on meds and their side effects.
I am talking about the practising medical doctors that are frustrated with what is expected of them as practisioners, to make a diagnosis with the help of a list of symptoms and prescribe the medications listed for this disease. There is seldom time to see the big picture and it is not required since it takes up too much of the doctors time. Doctors are also frustrated by the lack of nutritional training in medschools.
Tom O'Bryon is coming out with an interesting 7 part documentary, Betryal. The first part came out yesterday and can be seen free on streem. In the second part RA will be one of the topics. internationally well known doctors will be interviewed. Really worth seeing.
The science is a bit flawed so gave up before the end. I'm lucky that my doctors have always been very good at looking at me as a whole and not just a collection of symptoms.
It always seems a shame to me that there is such a divide between alternative & conventional medicine as both have things to offer. However more and more the conventional approach is recognising that there are positives in functional approaches. And, for example, that some lifestyle changes are important - unfortunately there isn't a system to help people change so there's no straightforward approach. So we end up with extremes.
I did watch it and thought it made sense, was very long winded as most of these video's are, will see how long I last watching it as know I would not to be able to follow Clint Pattersons program, as it must end up with diet. Sill it is for some people and even if the penny clicks on something it helps.
I did look into the Paddison diet, ( other interviews are on Utube) it is so extreme, I kind of cherry picked elements that felt doable for me....just doing something made me feel more in charge..
That's a great step. Changing diet has many challenges including cooking meals for a family with different interests. It would be a difficult thing to have one person in a household on a paddison diet and everyone else eating meat at each meal, for instance. Not impossible, but a significant challenge.
Also cupboards and fridges start off full of things for the "old" diet. I miss being able to use marigold's superb bouillon powder which either has yeast extract or milk proteins in it, depending on the version. But I don't miss the RA.
Yes I have just watched this video too, it is an eye opener (along with 'The Truth About Cancer' videos.) Many cures for (all) illnesses we don't get told about.
The truth needs to come out about medication and vaccines all which have too many side effects and are often not tolerated or needed, (do your own homework) environmental dangers such as pesticides and toxins etc., and even the dangers of some foods with too many additives and preservatives in them. This video tells it as it really is, even Doctors should watch it, thankfully the truth is networking out fast.
Indeed Coastwalker. The idea that most of our chronic human conditions are due to the immune system trying to repair the body as it was designed to do without us getting in the way with environmental, medicinal and surgical misunderstandings is revolutionary, but I daresay will be seen as common sense sometime in the distant future! I often imagine a Dr. McCoy or Dr. Beverley Crusher figure (Star Trek fans will get this) being totally amazed as to how unenlightened we are now!
I am signing up for the 7 part free documentary series "Betrayal - the Auto Immune Solution They Are Not Telling You" to see what that has to say.
Our bodys are usually good at healing themselves if we treat them right, we are what we eat and consume. Wild animals don't get treated by NHS pills and vaccines and most survive in good health for many years if they avoid their preditors.
Talking about animals, pet owners are also noticing their pets are not living as long as they use to and are being given more vaccines and pills than before. Coincidence ? big money to be made ?
Thank goodness for the internet, the truth needs to be networked out.
My 20 year old cat chased a large fox out of the garden the other evening. Completely random, sorry, but I'm just so proud of her! I'm trying to get her to divulge the secrets of her extraordinary youthfulness but she's not telling!
He is certainly very slender and pale for an Australian with all the sun they have access to for sure! However in comparison to his early videos from when he was in the throes of acute inflammatory rheumatoid disease, with a hugely swollen knee, exhaustion that kept him struggling to get out of bed for months and needing to exercise his left elbow 18 hours out of 24 after a laminectomy due to rheumatoid damage......yes I would say he looks very healthy indeed!
I watched a few of his videos. I do believe diets help in our recovery process but I do not believe without the medication we can fight the disease. I also do not believe diets can reverse the disease.
I did not follow his program, I followed what I believe in and worked very closely with my rheumy and physiotherapist, I am in remission after 1 1/2 years of RA and I am very healthy now. Therefore, without following the program, we can be in remission if we are in the right path.
You are right Amy_Lee drugs are a crucial first stage to stabilise and "stop the rot". Working very closely with supportive Dr and Rheumy is critical. Also there are many approaches to returning to good health. Well done for your DIY approach.
May be I am just too lucky in my own way. Basically I did not have enough knowledge of how diets could help me and I dared not take the risk of my joints being damaged. Therefore I rather submitted myself to the professional who knew well what to do with me.
What I meant by professional was referred to my rheumy. They know best what to do with me, I trust them and I have confident in them.
I do not know enough to decide what to eat and what to do hence I do not want to take any risk. I always consult them before I take the next move. For example, if diets really hurt or help us? They always said that RA is not due to diets issue but our immune system problem hence I can eat just anything I like as long as they are healthy food. However, some do feel worse with certain food, so my rheumy wanted me to do up a list to find out myself because we are all different. They also said no harm to take food that help in reducing inflammation in the body.
I do wonder when the root cause(s) of inflammatory arthritis and indeed all autoimmune diseases will be clearly understood. However it seems to me that complementary medicine tends to make unsubstantiated claims, often contradictory ones, about root causes, based on beliefs, hunches, observations etc.
My limited understanding is that drug therapy is beginning to address deeper and deeper processes that lead to autoimmune disease even if the absolute roots of disease are still little understood. Once upon a time treatment was palliative, now biologic therapy is aimed at the inflammatory process itself. That does represent progress.
I have hunches .... tons of them. I could probably chose one at random & convince a whole lot of people on the internet that they were valid if I tried hard enough. For example, is it true that many more women than men get autoimmune disease? Not sure, but observation suggests as much. So therefore I wonder whether pregnancy can be a cause seeing as an expectant mother's body has an awful lot of work to do to manage the presence of another little human with his or her 'alien' DNA etc. I don't think I'll be peddling that theory though 'cos what's done is done and if there's anything in it at least I have 3 fabulous children as compensation. Childhood trauma is also on conventional medicine's list of possible triggers for some autoimmune diseases .... again, not a lot that can be done after the event.
What I do believe is important and I doubt that rheumys anywhere would disagree, is that everything we do to maximise our physical and emotional health is likely to do us good and certainly can do no harm. Old and stubborn woman that I am, I think I know by now how to keep as healthy as possible and Mr Paddison isn't going to influence me.
The paddison approach is backed every step of the way by authoritative scientific research. There are no hunches in what he advocates.
On the other hand 90% plus of RA sufferers still rely on MTX which has nothing other that empirical trial and error to support it. Using MTX for RA was and still is totally based on a hunch. Remember MTX is, first and foremost the drug of choice for chemotherapy. AFAIK, that is what it was designed for! To this day no-one know why MTX works.
A hunch may have instigated its use, but in clinical trials patients repeatedly report that Mtx helps with symptoms. When it comes to Mtx and the slowing of radiographic progression there have been plenty of studies, for PsA anyway which is what I know most about, but I'd expect that even more have been done in relation to its use to treat RA.
In referring to the clinical trials, leading PsA specialists are completely open about the fact that the jury is out as to whether or not Mtx slows disease progression in PsA. I have yet to see such a frank approach from those advocating complementary medicine. Many patients who try complementary medicine are pragmatic and reasonable about it, along the lines of 'seems to work for me, so why not give it a try' but those who are selling the programmes etc. are much more dogmatic and I find that extremely off-putting, it rings alarm bells.
You are right that anyone selling anything is very off-putting. I was put off the Paddison Program until I reached the point of being completely at the end of my tether, and I jest not about those words.
I needed some serious help. My previous forays had led to minor improvements so I knew I was on the right path. The only problem was I did not have a clear path that I could follow. Paddison promised that path - and delivered.
If you are not feeling that you are falling over a cliff face, then perhaps Paddison is not for you.
Interesting about pregnancy and hormones. After my first child in my 20's I went to the doctor with pains in my hands and was given Ibuprophen and it thankfully went away. It wasn't until I was 56 that other syptoms prompted tests and RD diagnosed. Have never known what to make of that connection but an interesting thing they are saying in the "Betrayal Series" with Tom O'Brien is that people often have an underlying auto immune disease for decades that will not manifest as diagnosible as a condition until the tipping point has been reached for the immune system and symptoms arise. I was diagnosed in 2010 with weakly positive blood tests. My rheumatologist told me to go away, live my life and see. In 2014 symptoms became undeniable and medical treatment needed and instigated. I often wondered whether I could have done something to help myself in those 4 years between 2010 and 2014.
Clint Paddison I think is merely acting as a conduit at the moment for the kind of information that certainly I would not have access to if it were not for the interviews with so many unknown (to me) experts in fields I had not imagined (like Functional Medicine) .....and of course there's the internet!
Many of the doctors that have began practicing functional medicine have reversed their own AI diseases with non toxic treatments, dietary modifications being the most important. Tom O'Bryans mother had Celiaci and to check if the same disease was bruing in him he checked his blood for antbodies against Celiaci and sure enough the disease was bruing in him. He changed his diet and after some time the antibodies were no longer to be found in his body. So he really did reverse the pathological process. Like you I did have symptoms after the birth of my third child and further on at times and often wonder if I could have done something. The CCP antibodies that predict with a 97% certainty that you will get RA have been in your blood 4-14 years before the disease breaks out.
I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 1990. I had 2 MRI s and plaques were discovered on my brain stem. There was no treatments available back then.
I began to smoke and eat unhealthy. My attitude was "why should I continue to be a vegan, exercise health freak? I wanted to have fun before I became a bed ridden, blind crippled person...Beer, cigarettes and pizza are what I survived on. Time went on and guess what? My MS went away.... I did nothing to rid myself of MS...it just went away. I was one of the lucky few who went into spontaneous remission. I've been MS free for over 20 years. After remission, I started to look after my body and health again.
The point I'm trying to make is no one knows why our bodies develope auto immune diseases. I just find it strange that people claim they have the cure because their disease went away.I would never advocate beer, cigarettes and pizza as a cure. For a few lucky people, Auto immune diseases can and do "just go away" without any intervention.
The same can be said about RA. There is a certain % of the RA diagnosed that go into remission without meds after1-2 years. I' ve often wondered with this early aggressive treatment of everyone diagnosed how do the meds effect these patients chances of going into remission and if they do are they still continuing with the toxic meds believing the meds make it possible, that it is a clinical remission only. I have understood that most rheumies keep their patients on meds even after they reach remission.
Well written. I've been thinking the same thing. I've been hoping my RA will "just go away" as my MS did. Maybe for some unknown reason my body heals it self. I found a new rheumatologist that is very fascinated with my case. He is putting me through multiple tests including an MRI.
I do not want to take toxic drugs, (but I am because my symptoms have snowballed). I am just happy he is investagating my past MS remission.
I did ask my rheumy if I will be drug free one day if I continue to be in remission. He said that he will slowly reduce the drug but it all depends on how good is my condition.
In May this year, though my blood work results were mainly very good except my liver marker was 2 times higher than the normal, he decided to reduce my mtx from 20 mg to 15 mg. Then all my blood works were very good after that. In Oct, my liver marker went up slightly, but my ESR and CRP were very low and the rests were very good, so he said that since my ESR and CRP were very low that meant my RA was well control hence to protect my liver, he decided to reduce it further to 12.5 mg a week now.
That means if my condition continue to be good, I can be drug free one day. I am looking forward into the one day to come.
You may also be one of the lucky ones that actually may have gone to remission spontaneously already? Perhaps you don't need the meds anymore? This is actually a possibility.
I do not know yet really. However, I can still feel the improvement slowly. Right now, when I get up in the morning, I feet feel quite normal when I get out of the bed. I remember months ago, I still felt I needed some movement to get my feet into the normal feeling to walk straight away without any feeling.
In addition, my upper part of the body was very stiff, but now I can feel that the stiffness has reduced tremendously. My figures and wrists too, feeling less stiff these days. So I believe I still need time to feel totally normal as before.
I continue my yoga every morning, I continue to eat healthy, I continue to sleep early and not to stress myself, I believe I will get very much back to normal in future very soon. I am really looking forward into that.
Hey Sandra - Good post - I had signed up for the series on autoimmunity when it first came up and just finished watching the first video and am making notes. I've come quite a long ways toward "natural" or functional medicine, but am still far from being where I want to. So far what I picked up today was the three primary triggers: allergins, mycotoxins and microbes. It should be interesting to see what the rest contains..
Thanks for this, Sandra. I actually made time to listen to this tonight, and the first of the "Betrayal" series. Coincidentally, my copy of "the Autoimmune Fix" by Tom O'Bryan arrived this morning. (Thanks to Simba for the heads up on this.)
I think it is wonderful that somebody is bringing together people who know about these things, speaking out, and bringing hope and knowledge to those who suffer from AI diseases. A lot of this stuff sounds "alternative" at the minute but it will become accepted in the future.
I posted earlier about my experiences with gluten/wheat, and this underlines my own feelings about it. But I didn't realise the cascade of problems caused by wheat sensitivity.
Thanks to everyone regarding their thoughts on the Tom O'Brian stuff. There is so much more going on with the endlessly fancinating, complex and intricate machines we inhabit isn't there?
Personally I am seriously considering trying Suzanndale's previous experience with beer, cigarettes and pizza - that would shock the rheumatologist who thinks I am such a good patient!!
Two points: From the video, if I got it right is that once your microbiome/gut flora is working again then at least some foods can be re-introduced.
Also why would you fill your life with a diet that is, through no fault of anyones apart from changes in society, damaging your body? Doesn't your body deserve better?
Whereas yours is healthy, unfortunately varied diet can also be unhealthy. To my mind, a healthy "varied diet" means a wide range of foods from which you will get a wide & supportive range of nutrients and micro-nutrients. All humans can do well without are foods that are not good for that particular human being. So excluding anything one is intolerant of is a must, imo. My body is intolerant of oils and fats, in that they will cause RA flares. So that on its own means no fish, no meat, no dairy.
(That said I am beginning to be able to tolerate some oils. My local indian takeaway does a fab sag-dahl which used to cause me flares, but now causes me little problem, despite the Ghee. And yes, I know that's dairy, but that's the best for me on the menu.)
Tom O' Bryan, at all the lectures I've listened to always presents himself as a DC. It is not uncommon to call anyone who has a doctorate, Dr.
In a series that aims to give a big picture of what is going on in research it is quite impossible to give scientific research links constantly. The specialists, many internationally well known have a lot of studies and research already published. And some information comes from the work done with patients and it is not without value.
True rice does not contain gluten but has shown to cross- react very often with the protiens of gluten in wheat. So even if you leave out all gluten you may, not always, still have symptoms as if you were eating gluten. This is why it is often eliminated in the AIP diet. You can reintroduce it later to see if its ok for you.
But is the same not true about conventional medicine too?
I don't feel we have all the facts, because not even the medical profession have all the facts. How many drugs have been approved, taken by people in good faith, but then later have been withdrawn because previously unnoticed side effects have become apparent?
As we are all different, what is right for one, is not necessarily right for all. It can only be our own responsibility as individuals to do our own research, look at published papers etc and make our own decisions.
So if Dr. Tom O'Bryan can be called a doctor, with no credentials, then I want to be called a doctor too...Dr. Sue sounds good too me...my mother would be so proud...
Not sure, does it involve eating live mice and having violent confrontations with the neighbours?
There's no doubt that for instance when he worked out that cucumber and celery juice was a great start to a detox and thence an elimination diet that he did not back it up with his own double blind trial etc and get it published in the lancet.
However what he did do was find properly published scientific research and built his approach on that.
I see you're not challenging the empirical basis for MTX despite the vast research resources of drug companies.
I think the interesting thing is that you can see these antibodies years before the onset of the disease and by doing something about it before too much tissue damage has been done, I think that is the point and this seems to be the case in other AI diseases. Had I known in time that my clock was ticking for RA I certainly would have done all the dietary changes I am doing now and I believe it would have made a great difference.
I understand your thought trail about the antibodies before the disease, but what about people who don't have the antibodies? The seronegative Ra people have no antibodies in their blood.
Then there are people who are RF positive that do not develope the disease. Very confusing.... Hopefully RA will be understood soon.
The RF antibody has only 57% predictive value where as CCP has 97%. I know I had CCP for quite a while in my blood , before my RA broke out, but the doctors never said anything about it. Perhaps in the future this will change and AI processess will be cought before the damage has gone too far.
Here is one reference to make you a very happy person! "Weinblatt ME. Efficacy of methotrexate in rheumatoid arthritis. British Journal of Rheumatology 1995;34 (suppl 2):43–8."
Hidden I fully agree wholeheartedly when you say, "Drastically changing your diet is not a decision to be taken lightly." I would go further and say radical diet changes are not recommended for anyone.
But I would argue that gentle changes that have been shown to be promising are potentially a good thing. I, for instance removed gluten a year ago, largely removed dairy by March and only substantially removed fats & oils in the last couple of months.
As for adding things into a diet, is anyone really going to argue that eating plenty of salad and greens are not a good thing to do on a daily basis? But, again for many people eating salad and greens may seem a drastic change.
Do one change at a time, build it into your lifestyle and that of your family.
This is the difference between functional medicine rheumathologysts and mainstreem rheumies. In functional medicine the aim is to understand the individual patients situation as a whole with all important facts from childhood on. Time is spent on a thorough analysis before treatment advice is given instead of summing symptoms and offering a gold standard treatment, one size fits all.
Lots of research actually but important to keep in mind that it works for around 60% and the time of efficacy varies greatly, usually best with other Demards. Newest research see Mtx primarily as an anti-inflammatory that may have disease progression halting effect.
The point is that finding the culprit for triggering inflammation gives you the means to stop further damage. This does not mean that you will be able to take it back into your diet. Gluten cannot be eaten if you want the pathological process to stop in a person who has celiac antibodies.
If you would learn 10 years ahead of time that you will get cancer with a 97-100% probability but you could avoid this with a certain diet, I am quite sure most of us would happily take the diet alternative because we know how terrible the disease is. By making people aware of different diseases and possible ways to prevent their outbreak, hopefully is something healthcare will focus on in the future.
I would of done anything to prevent RA if I was told that I had even a 50% probability. The problem is that no one knows what triggers RA.
People swear up & down about diet to prevent RA. I truly believe they believe it to be their trigger, just as I believe extreme stress was my trigger.
If 10 years ago I was told stress was a trigger for RA, I would of done something about it...Yes I am that stubborn!! Not proud of my stubborness, but it does come in handy
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Newly diagnosed with RA - hopeful and happy!
