Hi - I have what appears to be rheumatoid arthritis in my hands and feet. I have tried all the natural remedies - Glucosamine, Chondroitin, MSM, SamE, etc, and nothing seems to really help. I sometimes get really bad sharp pains in my feet, have an enlarged knuckle in my right hand and pains in both thumbs. I have read about Samento and just got my first bottle. Has anyone ever used Samento? Anything else helpful? I won't use any chemical preparations. I have Hepatitis C and am treating altenatively. I have heard that there is a correlation between the HCV and arthritis. Thanks for any input.

Love & Blessings

This is my first time posting. I was diagnosed with ra over a year ago.My doctor was getting ready to try methotrexate because nothing was helping with the stiffness and the pain. I could not walk without lots of pain and generally felt horrible. A friend of mine loaned me a book with all types of diseases and health problems listed alphabetically. In each section it would list vitamins and minerals in categories, essential, very important, important, helpful, etc. I read through and started with a few that related more to my symptoms and have since cut back on pain medication, and am able to garden, walk for exercise etc. I take 500mg of panothenic acid twice a day(helps with foot pain) ,folic acid, biotin , bromelian, chondrotin/glucosamine, ginger/multi, c, e and a chewable papaya with enzymes.
I read that a lot of women with ra have an overabundance of yeast (chlamydia ) in their joints. To see if this is a problem for you, when you first wake up in am fill a small glass with water and spit your early am saliva into it. If cloudy strands form it indicates an overabundance of yeast. I began taking a yeast cleanse product and this has cleared problem up.I also take milk thistle 3x a day it helps keep your liver functioning good and helps to filter out toxins from medication. One more thing I read was that potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant and bell peppers contain solamine and that it can irritate your joints if you have ra. sorry this was so long but it helped me so much my rheumatologist said not to come back for 6 months,

Hi, something else that worked for me was a omega-3 fats. I found a supplement that contained both flax seed oil and primrose oil. I was using them in conjunction with the methotrexate-but now I just use the supplement!
Good Luck!!

Hi, I definitly reccommend omega-3's, flax oil, and evening primrose help lubricate joints...and ease pain plus they are really good for you in general. Also, tumeric helps reduse inflammation, and arnica montana helps pain. Good luck!

I used arnica montana, the homeopathic pellets, together with arnica jel, when I had my sprained knee back in March Neither/together did didley for me. Can't personally recommend them for muscle pain. Ended up at my orthpedist's office, & after basic xrays, was put on an ibfrofin (sp?) regimen for three weeks, which cleared up most of the pain/swelling. Knee is fine.

Yes, I have a success story that I write about all the time.

I had these "arthritic" type of muscle pains that people call fibrotitis or fibromyalgia for years. It's a very long story.

I first started feeling better by changing my diet to natural wholesome foods about 19 or 20 years ago. Then I got interested in herbs such as ginseng, marshmallow root, comfrey root, and queen of the meadow etc. Many other herbs I tried too, that helped. Eventually, as years and years passed, I linked these "arthritic" pains to my mercury-silver dental amalgams. Today, almost 10 years later after I had these mercury fillings replaced with less toxic ones, I'm a new person.

I was told to not run more than a hundred yards by a doctor in 1978, and today I run nearly 20 miles a week. It took years of searching, going outside traditional medicine, to look for natural cures. In summary, this includes an improved diet, exercise, the removal of toxins, and herbal therapy for support.

It's worth the effort to try and find these things. Since everyone is different, is a matter of trying to find those individual "perfect set of conditions", so that the "body can heal itself".

Just wanted to add that there is good evidence that fish oil would be more beneficial for arthritis pain than flax oil. The compounds in fish oil serve as direct precursors to anti-inflammatory prostaglandins, whereas the compounds in flax must go through a conversion process that can take months to become efficient. Flax oil is still good stuff though - by no means am I saying its bad. Just FYI.

-Ramsemonius

Have long time rheumatoid arthritis. I did what one of writers said above on having too much yeast in joints. I spit in a glass of water in early am and sure enough it was cloudy swirls which she said indicated too much yeast in RA victim's joints of women. Will try that, will also try panothenic acid which I have also read a book on. Am on methotrexate for a short time and dislike taking this drug so am willing to try all else. I do take the milk thistle to cleanse and keep the liver healthy 3 times a day. but do try the saliva test. I am going to read more on this now. I had never heard of it.

I just wrote about and was writing about FLOWERHEAD who was a new poster. I hope that you will read this column again and tell me the name of the book that you read about diseases and homeopathy cures. You did not mention it. Are you also taking fish oil. I also take cat's claw and tumeric for inflammation. Please advise on name of book. Thank you.

Has anyone tried totally changing their diet. I have been told of a nutritionist who doesn't "belive" in arthritus and claims to be able to help over 90% of sufferers. Apparently problem food can be - wheat, dairy, alcohol, caffine, chocolate (oh no), peppers, tomatoes - thats all I rememer for now. Has anyone had good results from this?

I'm also interested in trying diet changes to control my RA and will know more about it after i see the dietician next week but i have been told so far no red meat, no dairy, no white flour, no tomato, capsicum or eggplant, grapes (or wine etc) fats or sugars - basically live on fish, wholegrain breads and lots of green vegies and fresh fruits. One naturopath even tried to convince that tap water was poisoning me...although his Vega allergy testing left me a little sceptical.
An interesting net search talked about the almost non existence of arthritis in less developed countries such as africa, india and parts of asia...however when these people migrate to places like us, uk and aus and adopt our diets full of highly processed foods, they catch up in the arthritis statistics. Therefore I guess this suggests that they're not protected through their genes, or even climate...but what they consume...I think those of us who are suffering have a genetic predisposition to the disease but it's worth thinking about what we put in our mouths that may act as one type of trigger...particularly if it means less drugs which may be causing more harm than good in the long run.

sammy wise,

Yes, you can read what I posted above. I initally started with totally changing my diet. But totally changing to a healthy diet is something we have to do slowly - something we have to work at every day.

I noticed some improvement with a better diet. The herbs for me, helped too. Finally with the removal of the mercury fillings, I'm a new person today! http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/wow.gif

The better diet that I embraced is avoiding all processed foods. It's not low fat, or low calorie, or high meats or proteins. It's basically a common sense diet of natural foods. I have lots of carbohydrates, but a lot of these come from whole grains - whole wheat, flax seeds, brown rice and millet are usually my choices. I grind these up with my food processor and make these hot cereals - having them for dinner is OK by me too. http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gif

Sammywise, just saw my dietician today and of course there's a million things ra sufferers could eliminate from their diets but although he believes in arthritis and works closely with rheumy's, he believes we can put ourselves in remission by finding the foods that are triggering it as he says it's all related to the gut and the way we digest certain foods. He is concerned with the amount of drugs we use which are masking agents. He suggests a systematic approach starting with no wheat...basically altering the cereals, breads, biscuits and pastas i choose. Secondly to reduce sugars which aggravate inflammation. He is cautious to cut red meats, dairy or even night shade vegies because of their other great vitamins. He also recommends vit c but not through orange juice due to its acidity. He raved about the properties of ginger and others but i have enough changes to start me off with. I recall you saying you were trying for a baby. He told me most RA women's symptoms disappear during pregnancy and many never to return. Goodluck with that!!

http://www.mercola.com/2000/aug/27/rheumatoid_arthritis.htm

Dr. Mercola's dietary and antibiotic protocol for RA

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