Rheumatoid Arthritis Support Group
Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic, inflammatory, multisystem, autoimmune disorder. It is a disabling and painful condition which can lead to substantial loss of mobility due to pain and joint destruction. The disease is also systemic in that it often also affects many extra-articular tissues throughout the body including the skin, blood vessels, heart, lungs, and...
Like many of you I have gone from one medication to the next trying to find something to make me feel "normal" again. I've been dealing with RA for a few years now. Thank God I am feeling much better than the onset but believe me when I say I have had days when the pain was so crippling I felt like my life was over.
I believe that the trigger of this was from a HPV vaccine that my GYN convinced me I needed. (ALWAYS DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH before getting any vaccine or shot.)
Once diagnosed with RA I was put on different medications trying to find what would work. We started with prednisone which of course helped the swelling and fatigue immensely. In addition to that I've tried Methotrexate, Plaquenil and a couple others I can't recall the names. I now am on Enbrel along with other supplements. I am trying to come off Enbrel and plan to discuss at my next doctor appointment as my Rhuem said I could try this.
Here's the important part. I believe the main reason for my health incline is through the major change in my diet. I started on the AIP (auto immune paleo) diet and this is when I really noticed a difference. Just google it. It seems difficult in the beginning. But once you get to the point where your pain is unbearable you don't care what you have to do you are willing to try. I will say there are days when I still have waves of fatigue but you just have to learn how much your body can do. Also you have to learn what foods your body can't handle. I read something that had stuck with me that said the food you eat is either feeding your disease or fighting it.
Along with this diet I believe other supplements are key like Turmeric, Magnesium, Selenium, Ginger, Co-Q 10 to name a few.
My question now is have any of you had any luck with completely coming of off biologics or have a similar story.
Wishing you all the best as I know this isn't for the weak.
Glad it is working for you, but just be aware, some forms of this disease don't respond from the inside out. My RA is more like "hit it over the head with a club till it stops" kind of disease. Two DMARDs, Orencia and prednisone right now! Sigh!
Since I found out that I had RA and experienced some massive flares due to food intolerance (Beef, Egg, and Shrimp), I completely changed my diet and life style. I did not follow any well-known diet plan out there. I just cut all sugar, processed food, nightshade veg, fried food, all types of meat, bottom feed (crab, shrimp .. ect), caffeine, alcohol, and cigarette. I only ate steam vegies, fish and rice.
It is illogical to boost immune system while taking immune system suppression drug. It’s also illogical to suppress immune system that God give to man to protect and fight disease.
I was lucky for not taking any biologic and completely off Prednisone and Methotrexate.
I took Eastern medicine to boost my immune system, and cleansing/detox my liver and kidney. This helped to improve blood flow and detox my blood.
Right now I only take Vitamin D, Turmeric, and Magnesium. I don’t take any medicine for RA even Eastern Medicine (I completed 4 months treatment plan)
I don’t know I am in remission or I am cured but I feel very good that I’m back to normal. I don’t feel any more pain, stiffness or affected by the weather, and slowly regain all the weight that I lost during the battle with RA.
Good Luck to you
That is what I started out with. I was not given meds, told to tough it out. Because 50% of all cases spontaneously resolve completely and forever with Palindromic Arthritis. I met a woman on DS, who lived close to me. We became good friends, were going to meet for tea. Then one day, she sent me a pm saying she wasn't having flares, her doctor did X-rays, there was no damage. Told her she had been misdiagnosed, she was good.
Well, I belong to the other 50%, I just got severe RA, instead.
I often wonder how many people who change their diet or take such and such quack nostrums, and suddenly they are symptom free, really had Palindromic, not RA? And how many people who spontaneously are symptom free, think it was the herbal cure or the special diet that made them normal, when in fact, they just had Palindromic that resolved itself, and never came back?
Just thinking out loud here!
We're all different, we all react differently to so many things. I tried paleo, gluten free and a few others without results improving flares/pain. No, Merea, I am not able to stop MTX or the Biologic Actemra. Wish I could, had to come off all of it last summer in order to clear mrsa infection and BAM flares began.