I used to post here a lot, but stopped posting a while back because the angry mob tends to come out in force when I post.
Just wanted to let you know that yesterday my wife was officially told she's in remission. She has been pain free for about a year now.
We told the Rheumatologist about all the hard work and research we had put into beating RA, but naturally they weren't interested and were clearly very sceptical.
I just wanted to share this here for anyone that is newly diagnosed with RA or working hard to get rid of this horrible disease.
I used to cry everyday seeing my wife in pain. It killed me. We thought our life was over. Then we both went deep down the rabbit hole of learning about the disease, learning about the immune system, learning about how to influence certain processes in the body. Learning about how to influence the way the immune system behaves. After a lot of trial and error she started to feel a little better everyday. Now she has no symptoms. She hasn't had symptoms for a long time.
You CAN make it go away. Research diet, research stress management, research mental health, research all the things that can stress out your immune system and cut those things out of your life. It's not easy, but you can do it!!!
Two years ago my wife could barely walk. Her feet hurt so much in the mornings that she would cry driving to work everyday because it hurt her to push down on the pedals. She struggled to grip the gear stick.
Your doctors will tell you that diet and lifestyle will have no impact on your disease. They are dinosaurs. Don't listen to them.
Do your own research. You can beat this. Here is a good place to start:
Great job!!!! I totally agree with you as I had issues years ago...then it went away....and now many years later after having a lot of very traumatic events in my life has come back. I have read that stress, accidents, deaths or some kind of a traumatic event can cause RA/Psoriatic Arthritis to manifest or return. I also have read things that I know were present with me before starting down this road....like a lack of vitamin D.....possible leaky gut due to an umbilical hernia etc.
It's sad how doctors still won't listen to us. I just went through trying to tell a doctor that his going through my naval twice during two surgeries has caused me to have a distorted belly button and some thing was not right. He refused to listen to me, told me that it would heal in a couple months and be back to how it used to be. Well a few months later the area was even larger.....it was an umbilical hernia. He refused to listen to me. Now I have to return to that office to see another surgeon to have it fixed. They tried to give me the same doctor but I said....why....he didn't listen to me the first time.
I am so very happy for you and your wife. This is such a painful existence without the drugs and the drugs sound so dangerous that I'm not sure which would get you first...painkillers or the RA drugs. I pray they find alternatives for all of us who suffer....but meanwhile I will try to figure out once again what I changed many years ago that stopped the pain.....to hopefully do it once again too. Diet, vitamins....and stress are definitely things that I totally agree have an impact in creating and continuing this disease. Not to say that it true for everyone but I know it was true for me. I can only speak for myself!
In the end we found that controlling stress was the magic bullet to make it "go away". For the most part we could control RA using diet, but every once in a while it would come back for seemingly no reason. We didn't know what we were doing wrong because our diet was very clean.
My wife has always been really anxious, stressy, highly strung, she takes everything personal etc. The kind of person that would come home and cry after work because something small had upset her, but she would overthink it. It wasn't until a long time that we started to notice that stressful days in work led to flare ups the next day. They would often disappear within a day or two though.
It took us a while to realise this pattern, but eventually we figured it out.
I have that same sensitive reaction which then goes to instant reply over and over in my mind personality that you speak of. I am sure that for me that is also an issue as I have tried to notice if when I am stressed I feel worse and so far I have found that the day(s) to follow I have substantially more pain and have to use painkillers in addition to my steroid and Advil. (I'm not on the PA/RA drugs yet) I am really nervous about the drugs...I have breathing issues and have read some may cause breathing issues. I have no breath to spare to test these drugs without it possibly being a serious threat to me.
That's great news for your wife and I hope it is permanent remission.
I firmly believe that lifestyle has an impact, but also that with such a variable disease there's no one size fits all so you have to find what works for you. Could be diet, could be drugs, could be hanging upside down in an oxygen chamber. But if it works then it works....
Yes definitely helix, it was difficult because there are so many variables. It takes so much trial and error to crack the code. And everyone's code will be different.
I think this is why we don't see this kind of approach in traditional medicine. It's such a deep rabbit hole to go down that the health services just do not have the infrastructure or time to support this approach.
Hopefully in the future we'll get there. The amount of research online at least makes it much easier for people to figure out solutions to their own problems than ever before. Problem is, there's a lot of junk to sift through too.
Good for you! Not easy to step out of the box but you have shown that it is possible to find solutions without toxic meds. It may not be possible for everyone but there is no reason to assume that the official aggressive treatment protocol is the only right way to go in every newly diagnosed RA. Your work with your wife proves once again that healing can be achieved by supporting the immune system not suppressing it. Best of luck for the future. Simba
Yay!! Fantastic news. Diet is important. Food allergies do impact on health. My immunologist spoke to me about this. I hope she stays well. I have underlying infections and toxins causing my ill health. Trying to tackle it all.
in reply to
Kai-- are you back?? I am so pleased, you were right about food allergies and inflammation etc. We need people like you on here x
Thanks for this. Your earlier posts have also been interesting. I am certain that there are certain trigger foods which make things worse for me. I am just trying to find out if there are any I can eat with impunity. I am switching to A2 / goats milk / goats cheese as these may be less inflammatory. Cutting back on alcohol :-(.
Your wife is blessed on 2accounts - to be in remission and to have such a supportive husband . I have had R A since I was 38 ( 65 now) and I’ve been very lucky with remissions. I too took the route that your wife has taken and fought off attempts to take methotrexate . I had hepatitis A when I was 21 so I didn’t want anything to harm my liver. My last remission was 13 wonderful years - no meds and no damage. I had loads of stress in the last 8 of those years - sick daughter, looking after her little boy, sole carer for my mum with dementia and a 4 day job. Then I had a loft conversion on top of all that and I could feel something snap in me . I’d taken my health for granted and pushed myself too much. Back it came. I’m trying to do all the things I did in the past to get better like your wife has done. Really pleased for her but don’t do what I did and as the years go by take it for granted. May be no loft conversion as well!
Stress really seems to be a strong factor in RA. The stress can be both external and internal when your metabolism has troubles coping with different issues. Or often the stress is both external and physiological. New research also talk about cell memory and stresses of life that in fact are stored on a cellular level. Complicated....🤓😳
Thank you so much for your kind words Kalimera. You did it before, so you can definitely do it again!!!
Stress is definitely a huge part of my wife's disease. It took a long time for us to learn that. I also strongly believe it was the trigger for her developing RA. She first starting experiencing symptoms the week we were moving house.
That’s fantastic news, well done for sticking with it and I totally agree with all you have said. I am newly diagnosed, inflammatory arthritis or non serum RA, they don’t really know just that my CRP was 150 and I was I. An acute agonising stage of something attacking my joints, mainly knees.
I too have done my research and the immune system is so complex. Just makes no sense to me to give drugs to switch it off when it needs to heal.
Anyway after 2 months of clean eating, juicing, grain free, supplements etc. etc etc.plus taking meds as prescribed a massive flare has me back almost where I started. Devastating. Im going to continue as is, am waiting until my tests and myself are well enough to have bi lateral knee replacements, as I can’t walk, then I am seriously thinking of stopping meds which I know will be met with fierce opposition from the doctors.
Thankyou for sharing that it is possible to go into remission with this disease and heal your body not just bandaid the problem. I’m into auto immune secrets, lots of awesome info, parasites being one that no one ever talks about. Constant ongoing Stress is in my opinion, one of the biggest factors bringing this disease to the fore, along with a compromised immune system.
Thanks again and so happy you both have your life back, really makes you appreciate good health.
Hi again Allsopp.. I would be interested to know the journey regarding stopping meds, associated pain etc. feeling better then up to remission. thanks.
If u took the time to write this post why not share the practical day to day things your wife changed to overcome her pain as that would be more helpful.
Did she have RA? Sounds like plantar faciatis or a chillies tendinitis as u only mention her feet. Just wondering as maybe her feet healed with time and would have done no matter what she ate. Just asking!
If you search on name you will find that Allsop did post more details earlier on. I do agree that some of the examples of people achieving med free remission are because they had reactive arthritis or were wrongly diagnosed in the first place. However I recall Allsop's wife was formally diagnosed with widespread RA.
Been thinking about your wife and the fine work you are doing with her RA. I would imagine that many things support the work you are doing. Young age, the prompt measures to eliminate factors that have been known to be players in RA like stress, diet, imbalance of hormones vitamines and minerals and so on. The best results have been achieved, as I have understood when these corrective meassures have been put to work when RA is newly diagnosed and you are otherwise still healthy and you are not on RA medication. Turning things around or reaching drug free remission in established RA is probably much harder.
Enjoyed reading your post. Congrats re remission, how amazing! I totally agree that stress can cause the immune system to go into overdrive. I was pushing my stress levels beyond belief and something just snapped. I firmly believe we can heal with lifestyle changes. Management of stress in particular. Thanks for sharing X
In modern medicine, we tend to take a very mechanical view of the body and the physiological functions of its component organs. But in Greek Medicine and other traditional medical systems, the internal organs were seen as being strongly affected by the emotions. These traditional notions of Greek Medicine are as follows:
Heart: The heart, being the principal organ of the Vital Faculty, is very sensitive to emotional states. Noble, expansive, uplifting emotions like courage, valor, honesty, forthrightness, altruism and compassion strengthen the heart and Vital Spirits, whereas ignoble, constrictive, base emotions like cowardice, timidity, guilt, remorse, deceit and duplicity weaken them. Love and the emotional will to live are also very important to the heart; according to Greek Medicine, you CAN die of a broken heart. The heart, being the hottest organ in the body, is also very vulnerable to hot, turbulent passions, which can agitate the Vital Spirits to such an extent that they create a fever, which can be quite high and acute; Greek Medicine calls these fevers of energetic or emotional origin ephemeral fevers.
Lungs: The lungs, being an important noble organ of the Vital Faculty that works closely together with the heart, are sensitive and vulnerable to many of the same emotional states as the heart, and respond similarly. The lungs need a feeling of psychic space within which to function; the phrase, "breathing room" is a common expression. The feeling of being smothered, invalidated, or denied one's psychic space can constrict the lungs and cause respiratory problems like dyspnea and asthma. Conversely, a feeling of dignity and pride puffs up the chest, and allows the lungs to expand and function properly. Negative emotions that sap the will to live are also injurious to the lungs, especially grief and bereavement; many chronic respiratory diseases and conditions develop after a major loss or bereavement.
Throat: The throat is the body's main communications center, and is connected with the Throat Canter, or chakra. An inability to come out and speak one's truth will often cause physical problems with the throat; in extreme cases, one may even become mute and unable to speak. The throat is also the upper end of the digestive tract, and hence part of the Natural Faculty. Acute emotional tensions and anxieties can agitate the Natural Force in the liver, causing it to rise and get bottlenecked in the throat; one then feels like one's choking on something, or has something lodged in the throat, a condition called globus hystericus. Emotional gushings or catharses of sadness, grief or intense sentimentality will also cause a lump in the throat. Stuffing one's emotions and feelings down one's throat is injurious to its health, and will increase its vulnerability to dysfunction and disease.
Liver, Gall Bladder: Bile is produced by the liver and stored in the gall bladder, which makes these two organs vulnerable to negative Choleric emotions like anger, irritability, frustration, resentment, jealousy and envy. These negative Choleric emotions are stored in these organs, and can slowly eat away at them if allowed to fester. Anger and rage can explode upwards from the liver into the head, causing a lot of havoc in their wake: headaches, migraines; red, sore, bloodshot eyes; and muscular tension in the neck and shoulders. Nervous and emotional tension and stress, as well as Melancholic emotions like pensiveness and worry, will stagnate the flow of the Natural Force in the liver, which in turn causes nervous, colicky, Melancholic disturbances of the digestive functions. This excess melancholy often accumulates under the lower ribs, giving a stuffy, distended, congested feeling in the whole chest and diaphragm area. This is the origin of the term hypochondriac.
Stomach: The stomach is a seething cauldron of emotions, and is intimately connected to the Gastric Center, or chakra, also called the Abdominal Center, which governs energy flow and distribution throughout the belly and gut. Choleric emotions like anger, hate, rage and frustration stored here lead to gastritis, ulcers and other Choleric stomach conditions. Many of us hold a lot of Choleric emotions like anger and resentment in our gut. Melancholic emotional stress and tension, as well as pensiveness, worry and anxiety, will stagnate the flow of the Natural Force in the stomach, causing distension, bloating, colic, gas and stomachache. And so, we must always try to be of good cheer when we eat. If accumulated Choleric and Melancholic emotional tensions in the stomach and Gastric Center get very severe, we may experience anorexia, appetite disorders, giddiness, nausea and dry heaves.
Spleen: The spleen is the storage receptacle for black bile. And so, it is adversely affected by negative Melancholic emotions like pensiveness, anxiety, worry and depression, which unduly constrict the free flow of the Natural Force through the digestive system and aggravate the Retentive Virtue, producing colic, gas, distension and bloating throughout the entire abdominal area. Actually a trio of subdiaphragmatic digestive organs can be adversely affected by negative Melancholic emotional states: the liver on the right, the spleen on the left, and the stomach in the middle.
Intestines and Bowels: The intestines are often the effect of psychosomatic or emotionally induced digestive disorders that arise in the upper digestive organs - the liver, gall bladder, stomach and spleen. The upper small intestine, or duodenum, being very close to these upper digestive organs, is the part most affected; these emotional disturbances are usually of a Choleric or Melancholic nature. In the middle and lower intestinal tract, Melancholic emotional disturbances are most injurious and keenly felt, because they aggravate the Retentive Virtue, producing colic and kinks in the intestines, or obstructions to their smooth flow and function.
Colon: Since the balanced, proper action of black bile is important to proper colon function, the colon is very vulnerable to aggravations and excesses of the Melancholic emotions - especially chronic or deeply held worry, anxiety and nervous or emotional stress and tension. Security issues and deep insecurities will also impact negatively on the colon, since its functioning is intimately connected with the Root Center, or chakra, which pertains to our emotional security. These Melancholic emotional disturbances usually produce disorders like constipation, irritable bowel syndrome, or spastic colon, but if the aggravation is severe, even colitis and more serious degenerative diseases may result.
Kidneys: Fright, fear and shock are most injurious to the kidneys. The energetic flow of these emotions is downwards, as they take away the foundation of security and self-assurance that we have. This also concerns the Root Center, or chakra, that root support or energetic foundation of strength and security that we have, which is closely connected to the kidneys and their balanced retention and evacuation of urine. When beset with extreme fear or fright, many lose control of their kidneys and bladder, and urinate spontaneously.
Adrenal glands: The adrenal glands, sitting right on top of the kidneys, are injured and drained energetically by excessive stress. The adrenal medulla and its fight-or-flight adrenaline response is excessively provoked by acute stress and emotional outbursts of anger and the like in those whose lives have become an overdramatized emotional roller coaster. Chronic stress aggravates the functioning of the adrenocortical hormones like cortisol, which can lead to weight gain, especially in the lower body and midriff, as well as rising blood sugar, if the stress is constant and unresolved. Since the adrenal glands provide the energetic support for healthy urinary function, the health, vitality and functioning of the kidneys will also be drained, and adversely affected by weakened or challenged adrenals.
Brain: The brain comes last in our discussion of the emotional life of the organs because it's often the effect of humoral and metabolic imbalances arising elsewhere in the body, which send subtle vapors up to the brain to influence its functioning. Choleric vapors agitate, irritate and inflame, provoking anger, rage, envy, jealousy, or irritability. Warm, moist Sanguine vapors can stir up feelings of wellbeing, pleasure, sensuality or even lust. Melancholic vapors provoke feelings of prudence, caution, pensiveness, worry and withdrawal. Cold, wet Phlegmatic vapors will dull or fog up the brain, producing mental lethargy and dullness, or they will cloud objective thinking with excessive sentiment and subjectivity. However, the brain is not all effect; it can also be cause, since the kinds of thoughts that it habitually thinks can have a profound impact on the heart and its Vital Spirits, and hence on the entire Vital Faculty, for better or worse. And so, we have come full circle, and again return to the heart.
Conclusion
The proper balance and regulation of our emotional life is an important part of our daily hygiene. It's important not only to the health of the mind, but, as we have just seen, to the health of the body, and all its internal organs.
I left two out (male and woman parts ) because it was a bit , well not for a forum
Allsopp...The new age medical theory is now to stop pushing pills at every disease as the only way to help. Infact, from what I am reading, there is starting to be a new way in thinking from some of the more enlightened doctors/researchers that until otherwise noted through more research now are starting to believe that most if not all disease is a reaction from some thing in our environment even if our genetics may be predisposed..... and not necessarily our bodies dying off into illness never to regain our previous health without tons of medication to sedate us into some kind of blind less tolerance. Hopefully, there will be equal amount of research dedicated to the root cause of disease and not just how to pacify the symptoms. Your definitely on the right track....
Yes you really wish.....A cure would certainly stop the money flow to Pharma not something the pharmaceutical companies could be too excited about. Research needs a lot of money.
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