rhematoid arthritis

[BRIGHT SPARK]

our friend is suffering from RA, it came on very suddenly just before christmas, and now he is quite poorly, the doctors have already prescribed some drugs to combat this condition but they made him worse. is there natural treatments that can help the condition, or any advice that anyone can post, that i could pass onto him.

[sqad617]

Firsr of all there are no medically tested and approved "natural" treatments.

Secondly , not enough information is given.

Is it definately RA and are there any other concommitant medical conditoins that your friend has?

What treatment have the Drs prescribed?

[luxury]

Hi Bright Spark,

There is a drug called Low Dose Naltrexone, it has no side effects that I know of, and I have been taking it for a year now. He may wish to do lots and lots of research and there's plenty out there, I decided after 3 months of reading that I had nothing to lose.

Some GPs will prescribe it, some won't but that doesn't matter because you can get it privately at not great cost.

Here is the research trust, they are about multiple sclerosis for the most part but will help any one interested in LDN.

http://www.ldnresearchtrust.org/

There are lots of scholarly articles on RA and LDN

http://autoimmunedisease.suite101.com/article. cfm/low_dose_naltrexone

and this book is well worth the read...

Up the Creek with a Paddle: Beat MS and Many Autoimmune Disorders with Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN): Mary Anne Boyle Bradley: Amazon.co.uk: Books.

Mary Annes uncle was treated with LDN for RA.

I wouldn't be without the stuff myself, I started on 1ml liquid and built up to 3 ml and I wake up feeling human now instead of wishing I was dead.

Best Wishes to Your Friend.

L. x

[sqad617]

BS...be very very careful........LDN is controversial in MS and the results of properly conducted therapeutic trials are inconclusive.

The are no therapeutic trials that show the LDN plays any part in the treatment of RA.

Try and answer my original post.

[luxury]

Hi Sqad and Bright Spark,

There are several thousand people taking LDN in this country that are very very happy with it :)

My recent MRI has shown excellent results with the lesions not active.

As I stated, nothing to lose.

RA is a very painful and degenerative disease, and people in pain SQAD, will look for anything that will help.

I am extemely happy with LDN as is my doctor, and if Neurologists prescribe it then they do believe it may work, I don't do Interferons as they really do cause damage, nor did I want to go down the chemo route.

BS, there is another drug that is on private license called AIMSPRO, it is �180 a shot but has proved it's worth. It is currently on trial in London atm but is available through private script. It reduces inflamation significantly.

The LDN trials are about to start btw SQAD, and I'd be very interested in any articles you may like to post to Dr Gilhooey, or on the Reasearch Trust site for us to read.

L.

[luxury]

oooh BS, just another link to have a little read of.

http://www.lowdosenaltrexone.org/ldn_and_ai.ht m

This drug has no profit in it for the pharmaceuticals btw

Trust no one but yourself and research everything!!!

[sqad617]

Luxury...for me the jury is still out on MS as I can find no reputable scientific studies.

We do not know the medical details of BRIGHT SPARKS's friend, so it is impossible to comment further.

[shaneystar2]

Not much to add to luxurys excellent info BRIGHT SPARK but I do sympathise with your friend .It does come on suddenly and is very debilitating .I've had it now little or much since I was fifty and I've got me bus pass now :).
I was given cocktails of various drugs too which had awful side effects. It has gradually burnt itself out over the years but I still get flare ups from time to time and it has left me with severe osteoarthritis.
Have a look at this link
http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/QAA153653/rheumato id-arthritis.
I've gone down the route of looking at my diet ,pacing what I can and can't do ,and at all costs try and keep moving .It's a thing you learn to live with .I also take supplements .
Has your friends GP referred him/her to a rheumatoligist or a pain management clinic ? They can give good advice on how to cope .
Hope they soon feel better .

[marval]

Hello Bright Spark

I was recently diagnosed with RA, not very pleasant I know. I have it mainly in my hands, swollen, painful and difficult to do some things. My specialist has put me on something called Methotexate, along with Folic acid, so far I have had no bad side effects. My dose has just been increased slightly, so I will be keeping an eye on the situation. I don't know of any natural treatments, but he does need to talk to someone if things are getting worse. I am lucky there is a specialist nurse at the hospital, who I can talk to at any time.

I have an information booklet, with some website addresses, your friend can always contact them for advice.

www.arc.org.uk
www.rheumatoid.org.uk

Both are specifically for RA sufferers.

I hope your friend can find a better medication, and I wish him well.

If he does want to try a natural remedy, he needs to make sure it is perfectly safe, there are too many false meds on the internet that promise much and deliver nothing or make things worse.

[luxury]

Hi Sqad,

Thankfully there are doctors and neurologists that are studying it and are doing research (try Italy and USA) and the UK trials are imminant.
I thank god there are those doctors thinking outside their box and trying to help people like myself and BS' friend to find alternatives to poisonous side effect chemicals that generally cause more harm than good.
As I have already stated...

What does Bright Sparks fiend have to lose???

You can't find any negative reports can you SQAD????

[luxury]

lol...

Friend :D

[sqad617]

luxury...so many imponderables here..........and it is always more dufficult to prove a negative than a positive.

This thread is not about MS it is supposed to be about RA and if you read my initial post, we are markedly devoid of facts.
There is one scientific website which as an after thought, descibes the improvement in pain in TEN PATIENTS, hardly a well constructed and impressive study.

[luxury]

It is being used with positive results in RA which is why I have posted up, aswell as the book I have also mentioned has excellent findings for RA sufferers. It may be partly anecdotal, but there are too many thousands taking it to be wrong.

Just because it's being used in m.s doesn't mean it's exclusive. It is being trialed in Crohns, HIV, Cancer, Fibromyalgia and RA.

I am just making an informed suggestion to a poster who is enquiring about a friend.

and that study is significant, if you have a medical opinion by all means write your findings to the study, and please come and have your say on the Research Trust site aswell because there are several RA sufferers on there, and 2 neuros that would, I'm sure give you the info you require.

L. :D

[luxury]

last post lol

another support group for RA:

http://www.dailystrength.org/c/Rheumatoid_Arth ritis/forum/2502026-anyone-try-low-dose-naltre xone

It does go on on another thread and well worth joining Daily Strength for lots and lots of different group supports from actual sufferers.

Of course, this thread could be semi wasted if your friend actually doesn't have RA.... but always good to get info out there lol xxx

[Eve]

A good rhumatology support person is well worth it. There is a specialist arthritis nurse at my clinic and she is absolutely fantastic.

I had to go get some bloods done the other day to make sure my immuno-suppressants I take (sulfasalazine though i have inflammatory arthritis and fibromyalgia) and ended up sitting chatting to her for ages and she gave me some great advice and they are brilliant on the phone if I need any help and advice.

She tailors the advice to me personally as well and remembers things personal to me. She is great with medication too and gives me loads of advice esp with me being younger.

It might be worth asking as I guess you never know the support there unless you ask for it.

[shaneystar2]

And just a PS for those obsessed with clinical studies and scientific facts
There was scientific study into the drug Vioxx which I was on for quite a while .Dreadful stuff and freely prescribed for RA and associated conditions .It has now been withdrawn.
So the clinical trail of that particular drug wasn't much cop was it ? Many litigation cases over it's effects on people .

Bright Sparks friend has nothing to lose by trying alternative remedies to some of these drugs some of which can do more harm than good .
Clinical studies are are well and good ,but it's horses for courses and what suits one doesn't suit another .
Believe me, if you are in severe pain from this rotten condition you will try anything .
I can't see what is imponderable .
Friend is diagnosed with RA .
Treatment prescribed .In all probability Arthrotec or some such such drug .
It isn't helping
What else can they do ?
Quite a lot, and there a lot of people out there to help without being condescending and not open to alternative opinions .

[BRIGHT SPARK]

wow - thank you all so much for your comments, i'm going to print your responses and pass them onto my friend for him to digest. thank you all so very much.

[mamasaurus]

I am currently being monitored to the potential onset of RA. I have an ilnness that tends to lend itself to the development of RA. My mother-in-law, who is an aromatherapist, suggested eliminating anything chocolate from my diet. I don't quite understand why, but apperently, there is something in it that causes the pain to increase. It won't cure you, but it wil decrease the pain felt. Give it a try! You never know and it isn't a medicine that could harm you.

[Fileo]

Hi i am bright sparks friend, I was diagnosed with RA on Christmas Eve. My GP referred me to the Rheumatology Centre at the local hospital, all of the staff are very helpful. The consultant intially prescribed a steroid injection followed by sulfasalizine.However just three weeks into the programme I was takken ill with the "Nora" virus which ment all of the drugs had to be stopped for a month while the infection was still in my system. I restared the sulfasalizine in mid March but by the end of April the side effects were proving unbearable. These included mouth ulcers, blistering hands and worst of all my nervous system has been disturbed, to the extent that my wife thought I had Alzheimers disease. I have now stopped the drug, at the request of the RA consultant, but i have already lost my job since this. The consultant is now going to try Methotrexate, which hopefully will have an effect on the RA as it is getting worse by the day, Only the support of the Rheumatology Centre, my wife and friends like Bright Spark have kept me going over the past few months

Fileo

[marval]

Hi Fileo,

I am sorry you have suffered so much. I am on Methotrexate, I have had no bad side effects.

I wish you well.