My sister is a medical doctor (MD) and she has learned that the older patients know what they are talking about with some supplements and vitamins and such.
She's also the one who recommended Airrosti for rehab...but
I don't think she's all about a lot of the other stuff. I told her about a supplement that supposed to help from getting sunburned and when she researched it, she found it failed FDA approval but could be sold as a supplement. It failed because in some cases, it increased cancer chances. YIKES.
Perhaps tried and true is the right answer?

I'm not sure if I'd look for a doctor based on his/her beliefs in treatments although I've had a couple who recommended or combined.
I appreciate the doctor being open minded enough as long as is is not shoved down my throat.
I'd also want to know the number of patients that had success with alternative treatments. If a doctor recommends it they should have some feedback on it from patients.

Both times alternative was recommended to me it was because I failed to respond to traditional treatments.
Then again the new patient form I filled out for the new RA doctor inquired about all methods of treatment & if & how successful they were.
I did use craniosacral therapy as an alternative to your normal PT it did help some, as much if not a little more then traditional PT.
Just did not do enough. Also went osteopathic route recommended by another traditional doc. It also helped but not enough. Then again I was going in blindly with no solid diagnosis.
So I'm open minded to a degree as long as it's combined treatment or they have the data to back it up.
Now any doctor hinting it's in my head or I'm the cause I'd hit that door like a marathon runner who ate my wheaties daily.
Sammy

money money money money money

interesting thread.

thanks.

my rheum is traditional, and did not even care that I went vegan. it was like have fun, it won't work. and it did not. but I did have fun with it she was right. so it became a compensating factor, for the disease. since 6 years later I am still having fun with it.

whole body life. what would you being doing non traditional IF you did NOT have the disease?

that's how i think of voo doo. it compensates for the disease.

and i think a lot of it is market driven. so I will do it for the same reason as going to the movies. It will distract me and serve as a compensating factor.

bring on the massage - NON scented cream please.

distract me and enrich my life. make healthy some other aspect other than my damn RA. yeah that's OK as long as I don't have to take out a second mortgage to support the voo doo. yeah.

depot

Interesting replies so far.

I admit it: I'm a masochist. I downloaded and waded through much of the link to Buddhacat's ex-doc's website. 18 pages. Two introductory, four about their products, the remainder about how much money is to be made. Lots of words like "superfoods", "support" for this or that system, "anti-aging" and "detox", none of which actually mean anything. If you use the full product line, it's almost $400/month for one person. (For an extra $50 or so you can include a supplement for the pooch. Nothing for cats.) Autoship is highly recommended. BUT, since it's multilevel marketing, it will make you rich. If you read the fine print, their average associate makes about $42/month. 10% of what the damn stuff costs. There, I just saved the rest of you wasting 15 minutes of your lives on that.

Any office that tried to sell me any sort of supplement would lose my business immediately, not that they'd care.

My first rheumy suggested turmeric. As Sally says, it is on the list of possibly helpful solutions for inflammation. I bought and ate a bottle, but didn't notice any difference. That was about a year before this article http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/02/03/new-york-attorney-general-targets-supplements-at-major-retailers/ appeared in the NYTimes. Lord knows what actually was in those golden yellow capsules. Say what you like about Big Pharma, but they do have to prove that their products are reasonably safe and effective, and contain what they claim in the amounts they say. No such restrictions on Big Herbal.

I live in one of the biggest New Age enclaves in the US. At least two acupuncture schools, a couple of massage & natural healing schools, and a woomeister on every corner, offering everything from past life healing to homeopathy to psychic surgery, whatever the heck that is. Sounds scary. If anyone isn't too familiar with homeopathy actually is- or isn't- this article https://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/should-the-fda-crack-down-on-homeopathic-remedies/#more-36638 is a good place to start reading.

Living where I do, I wonder if some of the suggestions I go see this or that woo provider comes from a supposition that people who live in the gorgeous but misguided town want these suggestions. Let's face facts here: I don't color my grey hair, don't do makeup, prefer natural fabrics, and have owned Birkenstocks. They're really good for messed up feet. I probably look like someone they think would welcome an MD's suggestion to go see an acupuncturist. It also, they hope, gets me out the door with the next step in hand.

What they don't realize is that it makes me distrustful of them. Either they are pandering, they're trying to get rid of me, or they actually haven't read the studies comparing acupuncture to sham acupuncture (equally effective). They wouldn't, I would hope, recommend a faith healer at a Pentecostal church, but are OK with acupuncture's theory of energy travelling along meridians, none of which can be seen or proven scientifically? Laying on of hands, laying on of needles, Reiki, call it what you will, but to me, it's all a matter of faith. If it speaks to an individual, if it seems to ease symptoms or bring you peace without bankrupting you, I'm all for it. Happy you have found something that helps you cope.


Someone with an MD recommending it or selling high-priced supplements out of the office? Inappropriate at best, unethical perhaps.

alto

what would you being doing non traditional IF you did NOT have the disease?

what brings you distraction that you like?

I like EATING tumeric. i don't buy ANY food supplements. but my kitchen looks a freakin' garden all the time.

I don't have cash for acupuncture. if it was free I would do it.

I have a massage table at home, I find that others like to use it. that's free. it works out.

i don't meditate in a church but I meditate to jazz. i find the same outcome. peace. stilling is free.

i agree with you there should be NO PYRAMID SCHEMES BEING SHOVED via someone with an MD, period. but then I think every diet book on the market is a quasi pyramid scheme (hawk my crap kind of deal, ultimately by telling everyone else about my miracle)

depot

After years of trying to treat epileptic seizures of my brain which were bad enough to cause massive migraines for 3+ years, numerous specialists, drugs, etc, my Mom took me to an MD that had been to China and studied acupuncture for years. She did this without the knowledge of my two great uncles both MD's (Allergist, Pediatrician). I've not had a migraine in 40 years. 40 years, no that is not a misprint. I've tried to find one in my area that has the training and experience but the closet that I can find is a three hour drive one way and after having a phone conversation the Acupuncturist said that RA can be helped but it's a deep change and takes minimum three, four is best, treatments a week for about a year and a half.

To answer your questions, chiropractics does help to reset vertebrae/hips which is helpful to me concerning pain/numbness but it does not stop the disease. Diet (naturo and homeo) has lessened the swelling/pain/inflammation greatly for me but it has not stopped the disease. Acupuncture, as I stated, 40 years without a migraine. That's over 6,240 severe headaches that I have not had. There is a significant push in our immediate area to bring significant Chinese business and it's beginning to move quickly. I hope that someone moving here because of that will be the spouse of an executive and has practiced acupuncture for years in China. 40 years, no migraine ...... maybe 40 years coming no RA. Maybe, hopefully.

Oh, watch out for those "practicing" acupuncture as an aside, could do harm instead.

A couple of you have asked which alternative modalities I might use if illness was not in play. I have to say, honestly, none of them. I tried acupuncture 30 years ago for chronic pain. Got nowhere. Used to enjoy massage, but the last one I had made the muscle spasms I was having many times worse. Homeopathy I find patently ridiculous, same with Reiki. Herbs, you can't tell what you're getting, unless we're talking pharmaceutical grade aspirin, tamoxifen, digitalis, belladonna, morphine, etc., etc., etc. Chiropractic can help lower back pain, but if a chiro says they can cure your diabetes, thyroid disease, or RA, get the heck outta there.

I haven't eaten red meat or poultry for almost 40 years. Partly for environmental reasons, partly health, partly animal issues. Works for me, may not for you. While not a gym rat in the least, I walk daily, come hell or high water. With turmeric, I'm with you Depot: lunch at India Palace is fine with me any day.

Sally, haven't had time to listen to the podcast. There is interesting research going on in the field of the intestinal microbiome. It will be interesting to see what answers emerge.

Here is a link to an article on the history of acupuncture: http://rheumatology.oxfordjournals.org/content/43/5/662.long This article is more positive towards its potential than others I've seen.

So much of the so-called natural healing plays into the idea of the prehistoric noble savage who live a pure life and knew how to cure anything with sticks and fire. I tend to go for the opposite theory, that early life was nasty brutish and short. Give me antibiotics for strep, insulin for diabetes, surgery for appendicitis, and biologics for RA and PsA, any day.

I like the intentional peacefulness of some of the stuff. and i am not talking the marketing stuff.

i look at it this way. forget the marketing of natural healing. there are a lot of FREE healing groups where you can chant, for free, mediate for free. I find my in person rheumatoid support group to be almost like a healing thing. it's free. we support each other. sometimes we sit in silence.

distraction, visceral life enjoyment, stilling, peace, community, faith based traditions, extended family.

i have a friend who does reiki at a big city area teaching hospital with a hospice group. i bet to them, it just feels good. i don't think it has to have any other greater meaning.

maybe if your massage sucked the last time and triggered spasms you could confine it to one area like your hands or your feet only or some such thing?? i think the beauty of touch is something that can not be under valued.

this also goes for sex, good food, good music, laughter and a good book. thank god those are not considered new age.

do not think most of these things are harmful when entered into as complementary as Sally seems to put. and I think doctor's should have more support groups like the in person RA one that I have as part of their practices, offering free space. they need to validate that instead of hawking crap.

depot