by
Ada Kulesza
on July 18, 2015
More
than 20 percent of American adults suffer from arthritis. Joint inflammation is
painful and sometimes debilitating. Most people looking for relief from doctors
get medicines that temporarily stop the pain, but don’t really address the
cause — or stop the disease progression.
Arthritis is a
condition that shows the flaws in the American medical system, and the standard
American lifestyle. On the personal level, it starts with choices at grocery
stores, kitchens and restaurants, and on the collective level, with toxic
environments and harmful farming practices.
Chronic
pain leads to stress, weakness, and depression. Does one-fifth of America have
to suffer with pain, immobility, and the frustration that comes with arthritis?
Are one in five people doomed to take painkillers every day, or get steroid
injections to manage the condition?
Reset.Me
interviewed five natural health experts about treating the most common types of
arthritis, rheumatoid (or gout) and osteoarthritis. We’ve compiled natural and
gentle treatment options that alleviate pain and swelling without the side
effects of chemical meds.
More
importantly, the experts share herbs, supplements, and lifestyle changes that
can halt, and possibly reverse, the disease progression.
A Behind-The-Scenes Disease
Rheumatoid
and osteoarthritis share joint inflammation and pain in common. Osteoarthritis
often affects older people, where the cartilage between bones deteriorates and
eventually bone meets bone, limiting movement and creating pain. Rheumatoid
arthritis, on the other hand, can be caused by an injury, or as a result of an
autoimmune condition.
Scientific
literature shows that both types of arthritis are linked with lifestyle. Diet
is a big factor when it comes to arthritis onset and progression. Once someone
has arthritis, a healthy diet becomes the most important and effective way to
alleviate pain and slow down the disease.
“The
first thing I look at is diet,” says Dr. Matthew Brennecke, a naturopath based
in Colorado. “I always give patients a diet diary to keep track of everything
they eat for a year. It’s very important to get a real idea of what patients
actually put into their mouths every day.”
Food allergies
often cause inflammation because the immune system flares up to fight what it
mistakes as a harmful substance. Brennecke tests for allergies with food
allergy panels to get “a lab result of what foods we should take out of the
diet and what we should add. Most people have problems with dairy, wheat, and
eggs.” Meat is also known to create inflammation.
“Then we
increase anti-inflammatory foods, such as heavy vegetables, and dark leafy
greens,” he says. “By eating an anti-inflammatory diet, we see pretty good
improvements.”
The
Standard American Diet (SAD) compromises health in a number of ways. Often, it
lacks the vitamins and minerals needed to keep bodies in balance. Too much
meat, starch and processed food also result in weight gain, which makes arthritis
worse.
Much
food is produced with chemicals that create health problems. Nearly all corn,
soy and cotton fields in the United States are sprayed with herbicides, namely
Roundup, which contains glyphosate, a chemical shown to have a serious impact on
health. Its use has outpaced research, but the World Health Organization says
it’s likely carcinogenic.
Common
cosmetics such as shampoo, lotions, and soap often contain chemicals such as
parabens and phthalates, preservatives that may interfere with the body’s
hormones. Although these chemicals are commonly found in products millions of
people use everyday, their long-term effects haven’t been extensively studied.
How Modern Medicine Treats Arthritis
As we
age, our bodies get stiffer. Circulation slows. We get weaker, and cartilage
degenerates. Skin loses elasticity, muscles deteriorate, and hair turns gray.
It’s a natural process.
“Arthritis
has basically three stages,” says Brennecke. “Stage one is breakdown of
cartilage. Stage two is abnormal cartilage repair. But at stage three, the
breakdown products in stage two induce inflammation, and then you get joint
degeneration.”
Symptoms
arise when arthritis has progressed far enough to make reversal difficult.
Often patients
visit a medical doctor and get a prescription or injection for
the pain and inflammation.
“Modern
medicine uses anti-inflammatories and steroids, drugs that slow down the immune
system, so people are more likely to develop infections,” says David Foreman, a
pharmacist and author.
“With decreased immunity, you’re more likely to get
colds, flu and infections.”
“With
non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs we have the potential for gastrointestinal
upset, negative effects of liver and kidneys, and sodium retention,” he says.
“Steroids have the same effects, but will often contribute to problems with the
adrenal system, so you’re more likely to burn your body’s energy out. Fatigue,
altered mood, and depression result. They also negatively affect the blood
sugar, so weight gain is a big thing. Bones become thin and brittle.”
“Steroids
are significantly more evil to the body than non-steroid anti-inflammatories,”
he says. “You just can’t keep taking cortisone for the rest of your life.”
Foreman
says that undernourished people develop arthritis when the body takes minerals
out of bones and those minerals deposit in joints, creating a situation akin to
fine sandpaper rubbing slowly over
time.
“Too
much refined food, such as pasta and bread, alter the pH of your body, and so
the body will take minerals out of bones to adjust the body’s pH. Too much or
too little protein will make this happen,” he says.
Green
vegetables are essential to preventing, and slowing, arthritis, by nourishing
the body with minerals and stabilizing the body’s pH.
“Eat a rainbow
every day — a food from every color of the rainbow. Colorful food is rich in
antioxidants, and antioxidants go a long way in preventing all diseases,”
Foreman says. “Make your food your medicine. And add more omega-3, such as chia
seeds. Omega-6 can cause more inflammation.”
Immunity And Arthritis
Rheumatoid
arthritis has the stiffness, pain and inflammation of osteoarthritis, but is
caused by injury or an autoimmune condition.
“When
people come in, I address the immune system and stabilize it, until we can
boost it,” says Dr. Jennifer Burns, a naturopath based in Arizona. “So first, I
use herbs that are a little weaker. After we build up immunity, we use stronger
ones. I use Myers’ Cocktail intravenous nutrients.”
The
gentle herbs Burns recommends for the immune system include Siberian ginseng
and elderberry. She also uses licorice in combination with other herbs, as an
immune booster and anti-inflammatory. Echinacea also helps the immune system.
“Echinacea
has cannabinoids for pain,” she says, “but it’s also anti-inflammatory,
antibacterial and antiviral. And licorice supports the adrenals.”
She also
recommends adaptogens, herbs which stabilize the whole system, such as oats,
rosemary, and Chinese astragalus.
For
rheumatoid arthritis, devil’s claw in a cream or salve works well to alleviate
inflammation and pain topically. For osteoarthritis, salves containing
capsaicin, the active ingredient in cayenne peppers, also bring fast relief.
Toxicity And Arthritis
Dr.
Susan Kolb is a plastic surgeon and author of the book The Naked Truth About
Breast Implants: From Harm to Healing. Most of her patients develop arthritis
as a result of toxicity from ruptured or leaking breast implants, but she says
that for most people, allergies and toxicity contribute to arthritis.
She uses
kinesiology, a somewhat controversial method of diagnosis, to test for
allergies and reactions to such things as wheat, intracellular infections, and
toxicity. Then she treats symptoms with supplements like curcumin, green-lipped
mussel extract, and evening primrose oil.
Most
importantly, patients need to remove the cause of the arthritis, whether that’s
a food sensitivity or infection. She also uses artificial joint injections to
rebuild cartilage.
Traditional
Chinese Medicine
“Chinese medicine views the body, our
vitality and our health, as measured in qi. It’s not a thing —
 |
| Tony Burris, L.Ac. |
you can’t see
it. It’s a representational term for vitality in the body,” says Tony Burris,
an acupuncturist and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) practitioner. “As we
age, qi diminishes.”
Traditional Chinese medicine is a
philosophical system that views the human body as part of its environment, and
sees the systems and organs as intrinsically interlinked. As the body ages and
qi diminishes, outer forces can invade more easily. “Cold, wind, damp and heat
cause arthritis when they get into your joints,” Burris says. “They block the
flow of nutrients.”
A TCM practitioner would look at weak
teeth, hair and bones as a deficiency of the kidneys, and degenerated cartilage
a symptom of a poorly functioning liver. “The liver lubricates, nourishes and
keeps muscles supple,” Burris says. “As we age they become more brittle and
dry. Cartilage has less blood supply than muscle so it’s harder to keep plump
and moist.”
Chinese medicine assigns different
flavors different qualities, so people can easily discern what kinds of foods
and herbs can offset certain conditions. Being a result of growing older,
osteoarthritis is characterized by cold, so warmer, spicier foods and herbs help.
“Turmeric and cinnamon, which are warm
and penetrating, are good for gnarled, closed-up fingers, and will help
straighten them out,” Burris says.
Rheumatoid arthritis has a hot quality,
so cooling foods and herbs would be more helpful.
“Food can have hot or cold qualities,
but they also have flavor. Bitter is good for rheumatoid arthritis because it
has a draining quality for edema. In the West we don’t eat a lot of bitter
food, except perhaps coffee, which bears this out because it’s a diuretic and
certainly does have a draining quality,” Burris says. Other bitter herbs and
food include dandelion and bitter gourd.
Other helpful foods are acrid and
pungent, such as garlic, onions, and ginger.
The Truth About Arthritis And Aging
Aging is
inevitable and bodies deteriorate. Sadly, the American lifestyle quickens the
process — stress, sedentary work, processed food heavy on meat, toxic
environments, and a reliance on chemical pharmaceuticals to treat symptoms but
mostly ignore the cause of illness.
In a
catch-22, people who suffer from arthritis may find it difficult to exercise
and stay active, but it’s essential for managing and slowing the disease.
Overweight people are also more likely to have arthritis, so exercise is doubly
important.
Arthritis
also has links to depression, since losing range of motion can be disheartening
and frustrating. Managing arthritic pain and removing the cause of inflammation
can be key to maintaining happiness and ease in daily life. As Dr. Jennifer
Burns says, “You’re okay. You’re still a whole person, even if you need help
with simple things, even if you can’t open a jar.”
When it
comes to emergencies, allopathic medicine is amazing. But when it comes to
chronic diseases like arthritis, it’s woefully inadequate. “The word doctor
means teacher,” says Brennecke.
“When you go the conventional medicine route,
you have seven minutes with a practitioner who writes you a prescription. As a
naturopath, I spend over an hour trying to get at the root of the condition.”
Doctors
are human beings, and the medical system is a business. People who suffer from
arthritis can take their health back by changing the one habit that many people
do without thinking — eating. As Brennecke points out, “If you take anything
from me, it’s that 90 percent of all chronic illness is due to what you put in
your mouth.”
For
more information about acupuncture, herbs and Traditional Chinese Medicine,
contact Tony Burris L.Ac. at Eagle Acupuncture in Boise, Idaho at (208)
938-1277 or mailbox@eagleacupuncture.com.
Visit his website at EagleAcupuncture.com.
