Attempting to Defeat RA Naturally

I was diagnosed with RA last year at 55 years old. My rheumatologist prescribed mobic and methotrexate at a later appointment. I took the mobic till my fingers stayed swollen and my blood pressure stayed elevated. I never took methotrexate because the list of side affects freaked me out. I eventually started eating healthier thanks to a book on eating for your blood type. Later, I found an article on-line written by a Dr. Mercola about a patient who beat RA through use of diet and supplements. I’ve managed my pain through diet, exercise, and the supplements identified in the article. Two to three times a week I supplement with an NSAID. Incidentally, my C-reactive protein level has dropped to a normal range with these methods.

[helixhelix]

I would never knock anyone who wants to try using lifestyle changes to tackle this, what you put in your body is a personal choice. But please be very vigilant, and think again if there are signs that this is not protecting your from joint deformity.

You may be lucky and be one of the few where lifestyle works, or equally have reactive or palindromic arthritis not RA, or a relapsing-remitting type of RA that is non-erosive. But do be aware that what you are doing is pretty similar to how RA was treated pre-war, and people did end up in a poor state.

The fact that your CRP has dropped can be put down to your use of a NSAIDs, rather than lifestyle changes, so isn't really any proof that this is working for you. Please be careful, joint damage can't be undone.

[Hidden in reply to helixhelix]

I have been watching my two grandsons two days a week, one is one year old and the other three. It generally takes me two days to recover. I’m not sure how much of that is RA or the physical demands of providing care.

I have an annual physical next month and anxious to see if my C- reactive protein level is still normal.

[helixhelix in reply to Hidden]

At 56 you should be able to have fun with grandchildren without such a big effect. So sounds as if disease is active.

I've been on this forum 7 years now, and the people who seem to be most successful with lifestyle changes are those that do it in parallel with conventional treatment. So they use the drugs and change lifestyle at same time, and then when disease is under control slowly taper off the drugs. That's what I tried, sadly it didn't work for me, but everyone's different. And I keep up the lifestyle change because, as Kai says, it helps with the rest of life too.

[oldtimer]

This is an attractive idea but you do need to be careful that the auto-immune disease that is Rheumatoid Disease is not attacking your joints (or anything else) and causing damage.

I had a period without treatment on the advice of the rheumatologists who thought that I was in remission (no joint pain or swelling and low inflammatory markers) - but it was attacking my bone marrow (which stopped working and producing blood) instead of my joints. And then I had a major flare and all became clear to the haematologist after much puzzlement and masses of tests. So I am very cautious about reducing my medication now!

[Hidden in reply to oldtimer]

That's awful, i didn't even know it could do that, though is systemic i suppose so anywhere's up for grabs. Fed up with meds side effects myself, but your's has made me think twice. Thank you.

[Hidden in reply to oldtimer]

I understand about not changing anything if you’re feeling physically well and the medications seem to be working for you.

I may acquaint myself with a different rheumatologist depending on the results of my annual physical next month. Overall, I’m at 80% just using supplements and eating wisely. Thank you for the reply.

[Junebee]

You have very sound advice there I am not on medication due to adverse reactions and have become rapidly deformed in the hands and feet I do the healthy diet road and found it helpful at first

[Kai--]

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Yes, some of us have & can, Smitha1521.

And, because we work hand in hand 🤝 with our rheumatologist 👩‍⚕️👨‍⚕️ (& judicious use of meds 💉 💊 as needed) we minimise/ avoid the aforementioned horrors.

Yes, for some of us diet & lifestyle (d/l) 🥗 💆‍♀️ 🧘‍♂️ is the bedrock — the foundation — of allowing our body to self-heal once our conditions are brought under control.

No amount of FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt), ‘fear-mongering’, misinforming, disinforming, misconstruing, distorting, . . . will ever change the fact that d/l is the source of continued long-term improved health — whether regaining improved mobility & reduced pain or gaining long-term/ life-long remission. 🦉 (My layman’s ‘opinion’.)

No one can ‘predict’ 🔮 who will improve, to what degree, or for how long. 😯 😳 🤔

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Kindly consider spending your precious energy 🔋⚡️ seeking 🕵️‍♀️ 🔎 techniques/ processes/ roadmaps 🗺 that work for you while continuing a close relationship with your rheumatologist/ medics throughout. 🤔

There’s abundant realistic hope. 😌

From young 👶 👧 👦 ( healthunlocked.com/nras/pos... ) to old 👵 🧓 👴 ( healthunlocked.com/cure-art... , healthunlocked.com/nras/pos... ) to everything in between 👱‍♀️ 🧑 🧔 ( healthunlocked.com/cure-art... ) — kindly, never be discouraged just because d/l ‘failed’ someone else.

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Make your own journey. Live your own life ( healthunlocked.com/nras/pos.... ). 🦉

[Kindly, please, p l e a s e 🙏 avoid prematurely resigning yourself to ‘acceptance’ of the current ‘status quo’ or of what you anticipate ‘your fate’ might be. Avoid premature ‘resignation/ defeat’ 😔 😞 or the false belief that ‘what befell others will befall you’. 🙏 😌 ]

Participate in creating your own success by using your own gawd-given sense & effort. 😌

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Aside:

Smitha1521, the mere fact that you’re noticing improvements by the d/l changes you’ve currently made is the only evidence you need about the influence of d/l on your body — despite what any other human being (medic or non-medic) tells you is "supposed to happen". 😳 🤔

Use your own experience as the guidepost 🚏 🏁 as to how to proceed while maintaining your relationship with your rheumatologist/ medics 👩‍⚕️👨‍⚕️ . (They can help you minimise/ avoid the misfortunes that befell others.)

You’re on your way, Smitha1521. 👍👍

You’re on your way! 🤗

Persist.

Keep using your head. 🧠

Keep questioning. 🤔❓❓

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😌 🙏 🍀 🌺 🌞

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[Hidden in reply to Kai--]

Nothing to stop you trying both I suppose, is there Kai? Is this what you do, or have i read yours wrong? 😄 Don't judge anyone, your body, your choice, like helix, just wondered x

[Kai-- in reply to Hidden]

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Exactly, Kerena!! 👍👍

It’s so individual, so unique to our particular situation that we must discover 🕵️‍♀️ 🔎 this for ourselves through ‘experiential learning’ — "the school of hard knocks". 😣🔨

It’s not a ‘false dichotomy’ of ‘either/ or’.

It’s both.

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And, for some, it is ‘either/ or’ because we can no longer tolerate meds 💉 💊 & can only manage through d/l 🥗 💆‍♀️ 🧘‍♂️ .

And, for some, we’re at a phase where we can no longer tolerate food (& are no longer able to move) 🥗 💆‍♀️ 🧘‍♂️ therefore we must temporarily(?) manage through meds 💉 💊 until we can resume ingesting food.

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It’s unique to our particular situation along our individual lifelong journey.

There’s no 1 ‘pat answer’ that suits everyone — especially as ‘managing disease’ is a lifelong journey of discovering 🕵️‍♀️ 🔎 what works for us as our body, our situation, our circumstances each continually change/ evolve.

(It’s multi-factorial — multi-wheels ‘in motion’ ⚙️⚙️ . . ♻️♻️ . . 🌀🌀 — simultaneously.)

Because we’re not ‘static‘, unchanging biological creatures, we’re continually changing/ evolving ♻️ (not only in our ‘thinking’ 🤔💭 ) but in our inner biological systems — our biochemistry ⚗️ . [We’re ‘moving targets’. 🌀 🎯 ]

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Aside: It’s not a “blame game”. It’s a discovery 🕵️‍♀️ 🔎 of what works at each phase of disease manifestation, healing, improvement/ recovery, maintenance . . . . 👍👍

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A precarious (& hair-raising 😱 ) journey at times, but with our medics 👩‍⚕️👨‍⚕️ by our side, we can minimise (reduce the probability 🎲 🎲 ) ‘tipping over the edge’ 😲 🙃 & falling into the abyss 🕳 🌚 🌑 .

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😌 🙏 🍀 🌺 🌞

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[Hidden in reply to Kai--]

Thanks Kai, it is a puzzling disease, the way some drugs work for one and not another, like you say, we re all individuals. Really interesting; still trying to get my head round it all x

[Kai-- in reply to Hidden]

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Puzzling indeed! 😯 🤔 🙃 Yes, we’d all (medics, patients . . . ) would love 💕 to know ‘how/ why’ what works for 1 person doesn’t work for another. 🧐 🤔 Yes, this whole autoimmunity ‘mass of intricacies’ is so difficult (impossible?) to get our heads around . . . Time to roll out the ‘big brains’ 🧠 🧠 🧠 . . . 🤪 🙃 🤯

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[SpaghettiIsGood in reply to Hidden]

You know what I find interesting is that different countries have different solutions. Isn't there a best solution followed by a next to best solution?

[Hidden in reply to Kai--]

Thank you for the encouragement.

[Kai-- in reply to Hidden]

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(Very welcome, Smitha1521. 🙏 😌 )

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Don’t know if this will help, Smitha1521, but AmyDee207’s post ( healthunlocked.com/nras/pos.... ) might be of interest? ☺️ 🙏

With persistence & staying attuned to how your body is reacting, you can figure out a lot. 🤔

You can continue improving. 👍👍

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Please, don’t ever be discouraged to the point of ‘giving up’, Smitha1521. 🙏

Kindly remember, whenever you encounter an obstacle (a ‘blip’) along the way, there are workarounds. 😌

You can troubleshoot through difficulties. 🤔💭

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Keep ‘thinking things through’ 🤔💭 — not giving up.

You can figure things out. 👍👍

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Results/ improvements are ‘cumulative’ — over time. ⏳⌛️

At times, you may not think you’re making progress & have ‘hit a plateau’ — are ‘stuck’. 🤦‍♀️

Yet, with persistence, practice, patience you quietly 🤫 ‘breakthrough’ 💥 ☀️ 🌞 & continue improving — over time. ☺️

(Yes, and there can even come a time when you ‘forget’ how bad things were! 😳 )

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Persistence . . . practice . . . patience . . .

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Persistence . . . practice . . . p a t i e n c e . . . 🙏 😌

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😌 🙏 🍀 🌺 🌞

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[john140]

I took MTX for 6 years until I got fed up with the side effects. For the most part I took a meekly injection in the thigh which was okay, but the thumping headaches and the washed out feeling wiped out so many weekends for me I said enough is enough ! I now take my chances with Plaquenil only. MTX works well and if your side effects are not too bad it is a good option but beware of the down side. It helps if you have a strong liver function which I do not (probably due to too much embibement in my earlier life !)

[medway-lady]

I have no idea what Mobic is and believe your sadly not thinking of the hidden affects of RA. Sometimes RA can cause or be a risk factor in my other conditions, if you choose to believe after just a year that you've acheived the holy grail of remission solely by your changes in lifestyle then the NHS will beat a path to your door. I admire you but this is not for me and its seems to me to be saying that by noble efforts your RA is in remission albeit with the occasional NSAID. For the vast majority medications are vital and we still have a healthy lifestyle.

In short it may just be co incidence and best of luck. For me I'll keeep taking the pills, injecting and enjoying my active life.

PS I have Celioc, Pernicous Aneamia and had blood clots in both lungs with bronchectastsis all related to RA as auto immune diseases, the body is complex and no resposable doctor is going to prescibe any unneccesary medications, sometimes risk v benefit and benefit wins.

[Nettac]

Diet and change of lifestyle alone works brilliantly for some. I've changed my diet and avoid foods that irritate my gut. I tried vegan diet for six months and it didn't work. Perhaps because I'd been left too long before diagnosis.

I hate drugs, and wish I could stop them as the side effects are grim. However, right now I'm worse off not taking them than on them. I am hopeful that once things have settled down a bit, that I will be able to taper the drugs, and finally stop.

Everyone is different. You just have to listen to your body. It's important to eat, sleep, and keep mobile. If you find things are working for you, I am very pleased for you. Don't overdo it though!

I've no idea why diet alone seems to work for some folks. Clearly it does. I get very frustrated that it hasn't worked for me sometimes. But...I keep trying different things, and don't feel bad if things flare up. We can all only do our best.

Look after yourself

[AgedCrone]

I'm glad you appear to be in remission, but do keep seeing your rheumatologist. Unfortunately diet has never been clinically proved to get RA to disappear ....I'm sure we all wish there was a proven " Get rid of RA" diet.....our doctors would prescribe it & we'd all be pain & symptom free.

I'm sure we all eat as healthily as we can, but we don't all get remission.. ..and without Dmards the majority do get joint damage that creeps up on us, & is permanent if we refuse to take drugs that do work.

Good Luck....I really hope you are the exception to the rule. Do keep posting maybe you have the 'cure' we all crave.