MD Cause: Life, aging.

MD Rx: Anti-inflammatory drugs, pain drugs, surgery. Repeat.

ND Cause: Nutrient deficiencies, consumption of inflammatory foods.

Discussion: One of the easiest conditions to treat with wholistic medicine is arthritis. Please remember that there is a point of no return in the genesis of every disease, beyond which the body cannot recover with modern medical (including naturopathic) treatments. It is the same with arthritis, but I can only remember two instances (out of thousands) where patients suffering with arthritis did not benefit at all from a medical nutrition intervention. 

From the naturopathic point of view, arthritis happens because the joints have run out of the raw materials that they need to keep themselves healthy, and because the unassuming patient has been consistently eating foods which cause inflammation in the joints. The intervention here is relatively straightforward: Stop eating the inflammatory foods (The 12 Bad Foods); Give the body the raw materials that it needs for the joints to fix themselves. That’s it.

My allopathic cousins have shown their true colors when it comes to arthritis. Again, they only pay attention to the published research when it benefits them to do so. When published research goes against the standard of care, it is simply ignored. In July 2014, there was a paper published in the medical journal Arthritis & Rheumatology(2014; 66: 2134-43) which reported the following conclusions: 

Approximately one-third of knee replacements in arthritis sufferers shouldn’t have happened in the first place. Only 44 percent of these procedures are fully justified, say researchers from the Virginia Commonwealth University in the US, after analyzing 205 cases of total knee replacements. In fact, the need for such surgery was “inconclusive” in a further 22 per cent of cases and “inappropriate” in 34 per cent, which suggests that more than half of all total knee replacement procedures are dubious. As approximately 600,000 knee replacements are done in the US alone every year, more than 200,000 could be unnecessary if these findings are to be believed.

After reading this book, you probably now understand why knee replacement surgery is destined to fail. But I will tell you anyway: It’s because the surgical procedure itself does not fix the underlying problem (chronic nutrient deficiencies). I wonder if the billions of dollars generated from knee replacement surgeries has anything to do with why they are still performed, even when the research shows that they are useless…

My Rx: In addition to the 90 EN:

• Plant Derived Minerals, or Cheri-Mins, or Strawberry Kiwi Mins, or Ultimate Mineral Caps:[1] 1 bottle per 100 pounds per month. This is in addition to the Plant Derived Minerals that is included in the 90EN.

• Beyond Osteo Fx liquid: 1 bottle per 100 pounds per month. This is in addition to the Plant Derived Minerals that is included in the 90EN.

• Gluco-Gel 240 caps: 4 caps twice daily with food

Homeopathy:[2] Get the homeopathic remedy in the 200c or ck potency. Take 4 pellets orally morning and evening for 5 days. If, by the end of day 5 there is NO change at all, then STOP taking it. IF there IS positive change, keep taking it , but now take the morning and evening dosed every OTHER day until you are all the way better and then stop. While taking any of these remedies, if your current symptoms become aggravated, then STOP taking it. If you develop any NEW symptoms, then STOP taking it.

• Bryonia alba: pains are worse from the slightest motion, better after rest. Pains are also better from pressure or by lying on the painful side.

• Guaiacum: rheumatic affections of the small joints, especially the wrists and fingers, worse from warmth, and better from cold applications.

• Kali bichromicum: periodic arthritis and arthritis alternating with other complaints (e.g. sinusitis, asthma, digestive disorders). Periodicity is often fixed (e.g. every spring or autumn, etc.). The pain is often in one small spot and may wander to different sites and come and go suddenly; pain may occur every day at the same time; pain is worse between 2 and 4am.

• Ledum: painful swelling relieved by cold applications and made worse by warmth. Areas especially affected are ankles, feet, ball of the first toe, and left shoulder and right hip together. “Rheumatism” starts in the legs and extends upwards.

• Rhus tox: pain and stiffness. Stiffness is very characteristic. The pain is worse when at rest, with weather changes, especially to cold, damp; by cold applications; and by initial motion (e.g. rising from a bed or a seat). The pains are helped by warmth and continued motion (once “warmed up”). Restlessness with the pain. Complaints are often left-sided.

• Rhododendron: all symptoms are much worse before a storm. Restlessness of the legs. Crosses legs in sleep.

• Natrum fluoricum: This is the FIRST homeopathic to take if you are diagnosed with arthritis.

Add-Ons: Bruised cabbage leaf has been shown in published literature to reduce the pain and inflammation of arthritis in the knees. Take a cabbage leaf, cut off the stem, then bruise the leaf with a rolling pin. Apply the bruised cabbage leaf to the skin over the affected joint and secure it with an Ace-bandage or tape. The results usually are felt within 30-60 minutes. You can do this as any times as you want both day and night. This is an excellent strategy because while we are waiting for the joint to heal, the pain will persist. NSAIDs and other pain meds are LOADED with bad side-effects, and the cabbage-leaf poultice is not.

__________________________________________

 [1] The dose for the mineral caps is different than for any of the mineral liquids. It is: 1 bottle per 200 pounds per month.

[2] Purchase from Amazon; HahnemannLabs.com; or IandEOrganics.com. If you get it from the last 2 places get one 2-dram vial of pellets.