Rheumatoid Arthritis and Natural Medicine

Is natural medicine helpful for rheumatoid arthritis?

Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease that responds very well to naturopathic treatments. Well researched natural treatments such as diet, herbs, vitamins, and other holistic therapies implemented early on can prevent the need for the overuse of harsh medications such as chemotherapeutic agents, corticosteroids, and drugs with a myriad of side effects such as hydroxychlorquine (plaquenil) typically needed to aggressively manage symptoms.

Most of my MD colleagues are happy to refer patients with frustrating autoimmune conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis off to naturopaths, as a thorough diet and lifestyle cleanup typically works wonders for improving the disease course. Although this article is primarily discussing RA, the general treatment concept should be helpful for most cases of autoimmunity.

Please consult with your doctor or naturopathic physician to develop an individualized plan that is right for you, natural medicines may have interactions with your medications or other health conditions that should always be researched thoroughly before implementing.

Even therapeutic foods such as ginger with lipoxygenase inhibiting properties (similar to pharmaceutical medications) can have side effects, interactions, or most likely an ADDITIVE effect that may warrant the need to reduce your prescription drug regime.

Arachidonic Acid and Rheumatoid Arthritis

Eliminate arachidonic acid from the diet. This is the inflammatory component of fat found in animal products such as red meat and high fat dairy. Almost all prescription anti-inflammatory medications work to inhibit cycloxygenase at some point in the biochemical pathway of arachidonic acid metabolism. When we ingest arachidonic acid we make it easier for the body to make inflammation. Without ingesting arachidonic acid dietarily, the body will be forced to have to make its own supply, which takes time, and ultimately results in a slower inflammatory response, and less dramatic inflammatory flares.

Aspartame and Rheumatoid Arthritis

Absolutely eliminate aspartame! Let me re-emphasize the importance of this. ABSOLUTELY ELIMINATE ASPARTAME. After writing about aspartame in my post on “The Kitchen Table Villains”, many readers came forward with their various autoimmune issues with aspartame causing symptom flares. Elimination of food additives, chemicals, and the other “Kitchen Table Villains” have had many case reports of symptom improvement from the removal of these unnecessary additions to the diet. To error on the side of caution…get all chemicals out of your diet and eat a Whole Foods Diet.

Probiotics for Rheumatoid Arthritis

Eat sources of probiotics- if you have digestive problems in addition to RA, then eating probiotics such as acidophilus will help break down your food and make your immune system less reactive to it. Healthy gut flora is imperative to a healthy immune system!

Whole Foods Diet for Rheumatoid Arthritis

Whole Foods Diet to eliminate the toxic burden on the immune system. Research shows that pesticides in the diet affect the functioning of the immune system. Eat organic whenever possible.

Allergy Elimination Diet for Rheumatoid Arthritis

Allergy Elimination Diet: Most patients under naturopathic care reportedly improve with the elimination of foods they might be allergic to. Since 70% of our immune system surrounds our gut in the form of GALT (Gut Associated Lymphatic Tissue), most conditions of autoimmunity will respond to the reduction of foods that the patient is allergic or intolerant to. For instance, the current naturopathic theory with gluten in the diet purports that the protein sequence of gluten is similar to the protein sequence of healthy cells in our body, so the immune system becomes confused if it is reacting to gluten, and begins to see healthy cells in the body as a threatening antigen as well…attacking them and marking them for destruction. Most common allergen offenders are: wheat, dairy, peanuts, tomatoes, potatoes, beef, corn, soy, and the nightshades such as eggplant, tomatoes, and peppers.

Anti-Inflammatory Diet for Rheumatoid Arthritis

Anti-inflammatory Diet. RA is an inflammatory condition. Eating an anti-inflammatory diet will prime your system to produce less prostaglandins and other inflammatory products. The ultimate goal is to reduce the total load of inflammation in your body, so that less prednisone, methotrexate, and other RA medications will need to be used. Improvement may be seen immediately but ultimate improvement will result after six months of this diet once most of the body’s cellular membranes have integrated the less inflammatory lipids in to their cellular structures.