Arthritis Aches and Pains

As the colder weather sets in you hear more complaints about the aches and pains of arthritis. Many people blame this on the weather, but there may be more than just the weather causing those aches and pains.

Arthritis is an autoimmune disease. Like most chronic illnesses modern medicine really doesn't know what to do with it. Instead of trying to find the root cause, they concentrate on attacking the symptoms. The symptoms are easy to find, but hard to treat. Most of them use pain relievers, starting with over the counter and moving up to steroids or even stronger narcotics. In the mean time they work at reducing the effectiveness of the immune system. Since it is an autoimmune disease they figure if they kill the immune system it will quit attacking the body. What they forget is that without an immune system there will eventually be no body.

Instead of going that route it makes sense to attack the underlying causes of arthritis. The first one is gluten, or grains in general. Gluten, and other portions of grains cause inflammation, something someone with arthritis has more than enough of already. In addition to this gluten can cause leaky gut syndrome, which can lead to even more allergic, or autoimmune symptoms.

Nightshades are other foods that cause inflammation. Especially to those with a sensitivity to them. If you have chronic pain you are most likely sensitive to nightshades. Nightshades include tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, eggplant, and blueberries.

Other foods may be trigger foods for you. Try eliminating (one at a time) refined sugar, foods high in oxalic acid, caffeine, alcohol, red meat, eggs, and dairy. Not all of these will be trigger foods, but some of them might be yours.

Mercury and other heavy metals can cause your immune system to be overloaded. An overloaded immune system easily gets confused about what is an invader and what is the body it is supposed to be protecting.

Mycotoxins are volatile organic compounds produced by toxic mold. These overload the immune system and cause inflammation in the body. Breathing these mold spores would be similar to drinking small amounts of poison every day. It might not kill you right away, but your health isn't going to improve as long as you keep it up.

Like leaky gut, a gut that is over run with bacteria can leave you susceptible to illness and work your immune system into overload. Get rid of the bad bacteria and replace them with probiotics and fermented foods.

While you are working on cleaning up your diet, your bloodstream, and your environment there are a lot of things you can do to improve your pain level and your ability to function on a day to day basis.
Get some gentle exercise every day. Although the joint may not like to move, it will feel better afterwards. Exercise will also delay any stiffening of the joint.

Put some heat on it. Heat loosens the joints and relieves some of the pain. In addition to just warming an Epsom salt bath or a few minutes in an infrared sauna will also pull some of the toxins out of the joints. A good massage can help in relieving the pain and the toxins within the body.

In addition there are many foods and supplements that can help with the pain and swelling. These include tart cherries, apple cider vinegar, stinging nettle, alfalfa, turmeric, fish oil, glucosamine/chondroitin, ginger, essential oils, a Chinese herb called thunder god, an herb called devil's claw, or another called cat's claw, willow, Vitamins C, D3, E, A and a B complex. Digestive plant enzymes can also be helpful in cleaning out the waste products in the body.

Eating a clean diet without processed foods, artificial sweeteners, flavoring or colorings will also help. So will getting plenty of water. A good way to define plenty is to take your body weight in pounds and divide that number in half. That will give you the number of ounces of good clear water you want to strive for every day.

Good health is a journey. Start from wherever you are in life and strive to be continuously moving towards the goal.

Sources:
http://thehomesteadsurvival.com/16-home-remedies-arthritis/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+HomesteadSurvival+%28Homestead+Survival%29#.Uzxog1e9beo
http://www.naturalnews.com/044958_thunder_god_Chinese_herbal_medicine_arthritis_pain.html
http://www.anh-usa.org/chinese-herb-ra-drugs/
http://eatlocalgrown.com/article/12612-a-functional-medicine-doctor-tells-you-how-to-recover-from-rheumatoid-arthritis-in-6-steps.html
http://www.motherearthliving.com/health-and-wellness/herbs-for-arthritis-zm0z12amzdeb.aspx?newsletter=1&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=HW%20eNews&utm_campaign=7.15.14%20MEL%20hw#axzz37YCCcbfj
http://www.naturalnews.com/049175_arthritis_pain_relief_natural_remedies.html

Lupus

Lupus is an autoimmune disease. Like most of the autoimmune diseases modern medicine does not truly understand the cause of Lupus. They have broken it down to three distinct versions of the problem. They are, in plain English, systemic, skin only and infantile. The systemic version is the most common.

Symptoms of systemic lupus include extreme fatigue, painful or swollen joints (arthritis), unexplained fever, skin rashes, and kidney problems. These symptoms are not consistent from person to person or even from one period of time to another. Because the symptoms seem to come and go they are referred to as flareups of the disease. Different things trigger these flareups in different people, though one that is pretty consistent is exposure to sunlight.

This is problematic in that Vitamin D deficiency is common among Lupus victims. Vitamin D also plays a large role in protecting us from many other chronic illnesses. Since people with Lupus have trouble spending time in the sun it is generally recommended that they take a Vitamin D supplement. Typical recommendations would be 10,000 units per day. Testing to monitor Vitamin D levels are also recommended.

Leaky gut syndrome is a very common issue that is related to autoimmune diseases like SLE. In these conditions, an abundance of pathogenic bacteria and yeasts take hold of the reigns of control in the gut and create inflammatory changes that damage the intestinal lining. This allows food particles to pass into the bloodstream. The undigested food particles are identified by the immune system and labeled as toxic invaders and a massive immune assault results. The most common recommendation for healing leaky gut syndrome is called the GAPS diet. These types of diets are very low in sugar and processed foods. They are high in fermented foods and often recommend taking probiotic supplements. Avoiding modern grown meats and dairy are also critical, but naturally grown versians of these products have been shown to be helpful.

Because many people with lupus go on to have high cholesterol and heart problems many doctors recommend that they take statins to try to prevent this. Although statins can be useful there come with some pretty serious problems. Among them are weakened muscles, including heart muscles. A study done with children with lupus has shown that there is no advantage to them taking statins.

Other illnesses that seem to occur more often with lupus patients than with the general population are leukemia and breast cancer. This may be because lupus interferes with the immune system in ways that normally protect us, or it may be because one of the common treatments for lupus is immune depressing drugs.

Other treatments that doctors use include NSAIDS. These come with their own sets of complications which can include kidney problems and ulcers. Some other attempts at treatment have also shown to be problematic. One such attempt was the off label use of a drug named Rituxan. Off label means that the FDA has not specifically approved that drug for that purpose. Rituxan has been approved for lymphoma and rheumatoid arthritis. Two people died when prescribed the drug for their lupus.

Alfalfa is one supplement that has been found useful with lupus. Alfalfa is an antipyretic, which means it is a fever reducer. It is a diuretic, meaning it increases urination. It is an appetite stimulant, and is a hemostatic, which means it helps to stop bleeding. Alfalfa is mineral and vitamin rich. It is very high in the macro-nutrients calcium, magnesium, potassium, and phosphorus. Alfalfa has a high chlorophyll content, and contains almost every known vitamin. It has been clinically proven to reduce LDL cholesterol and shows promise in the treatment of autoimmune diseases such as lupus.

Most autoimmune diseases can be managed with a diet rich in organic foods and eliminating all processed foods, especially sugar. Non dietary sources of toxins such as personal care products and air fresheners should also be avoided. Mild exercise and plenty of fresh air (although out of direct sunshine) has also been shown to be effective.

Sources:

http://www.naturalnews.com/037761_systemic_lupus_SLE_natural_remedies.html
http://www.naturalnews.com/030386_statin_drugs_children.html
http://www.naturalnews.com/034740_alfalfa_cholesterol_lupus.html
http://www.naturalnews.com/021374_off-label_prescribing_lupus.html
http://lupus.us.com/lupus-overview.html?utm_source=msn&utm_campaign=lupus&utm_medium=00_01_lupus&utm_term=lupus&utm_content=394249570
http://www.medicinenet.com/systemic_lupus/page5.htm#what_is_the_treatment_for_systemic_lupus
http://www.medicinenet.com/systemic_lupus/page7.htm#what_is_the_prognosis_of_lupus_what_does_the_future_hold_for_people_with_systemiclupus