Rheumatoid and Osteoarthritis Pain Management and Cure by Eric EH Buddhadharma - HTML preview

Introduction

For your information there are over hundred different types of arthritis. The popular types are Rheumatoid arthritis (RA), Osteoarthritis, arthritis and Gout. The most common among them is, Osteoarthritis (OA), which could be due to low calcium and overuse of the joints and with age. Here in the first part we shall discuss Rheumatoid Arthritis due to which, joints which bear our body weight, such as, hip, knees and spine are affected. This disease comes on very gradually with mild to moderate pain, very unassuming, in course of time. Only after a few months or years the symptoms matures and surfaces.

What is Rheumatoid arthritis?

This is an auto-immune disease, meaning the immunity defense mechanism of your body attacks mostly the body joints itself thinking it to be an alien. This is the cause for inflammation, swelling and pain in the joints. The lining of the joints thickens and swells gradually.  In course of time there is damage and loss of the cartilage. This results in a loss of the fluid and spacing of the joints making it stiff and immobile. This damage cannot be repaired and therefore, early diagnosis is recommended in order to stop further damage to the joints.  In severe cases joint deformity may occur. Since it is systemic disease, it affects the joints, eyes, cardiovascular, respiratory and other body parts and organs. Mostly, it affects women and older men. People with a parental history of RA could also be affected. The exact cause of this disease has not yet been established. Unhealthy lifestyle is the major cause so is the genetic factor.

With a proper medication, change in lifestyle and exercise one may find some relief. Some promise and headway has been found in alternative medicines, homoeopathy and herbal remedies which put the disease in remission and symptoms may disappear permanently. None of these are clinically proven 100% but case studies show a remarkable improvement in otherwise chronic and non-reversible RA.

Causes of Rheumatoid arthritis

Decades of research could not exactly pinpoint the causes leading to RA.  It is understood environment and genetics and maybe hormones play an important part in introducing RA in human body.

People who smoke are on high risk for RA. Certain other causes are mosquito repellent sprays, smoke, pollution and living in rooms without much ventilation. People who eat red meat and live on high protein diet may also be susceptible to RA. Otherwise, logically, one or more factors, naturally is responsible for an RA onset. People, who eat right, exercise, live an active life, refrain from smoking and live in lesser polluted environment may, in contrast, reverse their ageing process leave alone  inviting RA or any other disease in their body.  In RA we rarely give a thought to intestinal health. We pay our attention to the pain and discomfort of the joint inflammation and the drugs we are taking on a regular basis and spend most of our time in improving our RA conditions.

Doctors are busy finding cure by administering different stereotype drugs available in the market. The most common ways are some NDAIDs with DMARDs, Biologics, supplements and recommending exercises. The RA is hibernating in the body due to strong doses of such medicines; it fools us to believe the sufferings are over. Over a long period of time, taking strong drugs surfaces other symptoms, this compels the doctor to eliminate some medicines and add another; with the elimination of some medicines appear that old chronic pains.

If you turn your focus to digestive process you will realise the underlying cause. The underlying cause of RA is not in your limbs or muscles; it is in your gut. It is established now the cause leading to RA is an enzyme formed in your gut. Poorly digested food and all unhealthy gut conditions ultimately cause RA. Gut conditions, such as, yeast, bad bacteria, a perforated intestinal wall, hyper-acidity, unhealthy mucosal barrier and low digestive enzyme are all causes leading to RA. Undigested or poorly processed nutrients ultimately find its way in your blood stream triggering this autoimmune response. With poor digestion we generate lesser friendly bacteria, also called Probiotics or Micro flora. These are responsible for destroying the harmful bacteria, yeast and a host of unfriendly microbes and harmful fungus that grows within our gut. They are part of our defence mechanism and also responsible for producing enzymes; strengthen our immunity system, keeping   round the clock interaction with our internal body via the gut. Fluoride and chlorine in our municipality water is one cause to destroy these friendly bacteria. Taking Probiotics supplement is one way to improve your gut health. Also eating some fibrous food also improves the gut health.

The only protection that you have between all the items that enter your body through your mouth and what enters your blood stream is the single cellular layer of your intestinal wall. Problems arise when infections and toxins cause gaps in your intestinal wall, which is referred to as a ‘leaky gut’. As we discussed above, it is possible for these perforations in your intestinal wall to allow large foreign proteins to pass through the ‘leaky gut’ and enter your blood stream. These foreign proteins, which may be either undigested food particles and/or microorganisms, are referred to as ‘antigens’.

These antigens escape the confines of your intestines and end up in your blood stream, where they are successfully identified as foreign bodies, in the same way your body identifies other foreign proteins of bacteria, viruses and parasites. To combat the antigens, your body makes an antibody and attaches it to the antigen to form a large complex in the blood. Normally, this antibody-to-antigen process is easy to undertake and also easy to remove from the body. However, if there are simply too many of these antigen-antibody complexes for the body to handle then some of them may survive. The complexes are attempted to be filtered out but may get stuck in the small capillaries of the body found in the joints, skin and kidneys. Stuck in the capillaries these complexes cause an inflammatory reaction.

Over time, this prolonged process can trigger a state known as ‘molecular mimicry’. This is when your body begins to mistake these invading antigens with the proteins in your own body and begins to attack your joints, in a state of innocent confusion.

The correct diet will allow the intestinal wall to heal, whilst also minimizing the amount of antigens entering the bloodstream. This, in turn, reduces the load on your immune system which is continually making antibody-antigen complexes.. The ideal diet will also allow the defence system in the intestines to work at its full capacity to remove antigens that enter the system.

Everything that you swallow will either help you or hurt you. One guideline as to which way it will go is a measure of the acidity levels of the food after it has been digested. Only alkaline foods and fruits  needs  to be considered in RA conditions.

If we consider cancer for the moment, we might recall that cancer thrives in an acidic environment, and can’t live in an alkaline environment. This was established in 1931 when Dr. Warburg won his first Nobel Prize for work proving cancer is caused by a lack of oxygen respiration in cells. In keeping with these findings, it has been my personal experience, via trial and error, that alkaline-forming foods are also helpful for Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Under normal working conditions, a mucosal barrier exists over the lining of your intestinal wall which absorbs and digests nutrients, using enzymes to break down complex molecules into smaller, simple molecules. These simple molecules are then able to pass through the wall of your intestine, absorbed into your bloodstream and used as nutrients.

Without this protective mucosal barrier, the intestinal wall is left exposed, making it more likely that larger particles are able to pass through the intestinal wall and wreak havoc on the immune process.

No plant, animal, or human could exist without enzymes since they are responsible for every activity of life. During every living moment, millions of enzymes within each and every cell of your body are working, causing reactions to occur in numbers beyond comprehension.

The enzymes involved in the digestive process are called ‘digestive enzymes’, which help us to break down, assimilate, utilize and eliminate our food. Digestive enzymes act like tiny scissors, ‘snipping’ the larger food molecules into their most basic constituents so that we can absorb nutrients in our small intestine.

Unfortunately for us, we all have a limited capacity to produce enzymes, in the same way an engine of a car that has a limited capacity to produce horsepower. Further to this, our capacity to produce enzymes declines with age. It is this general decline in enzyme activity in our body that is a fundamental cause of aging. The presence of enzymes in young adults is 30 times greater than that of older individuals.

One of the first indications that enzyme activity is waning in your body is a reduction in the efficiency of your digestive system. Virtually all of us have a rapid deterioration in the efficiency of our digestive system as we grow older due to a decrease of digestive enzymes. So serious is this that around two-thirds of all hospitalizations are for problems of the digestive system. Medicines for the digestive system are the number one selling class of drugs. As we age, we lose the ability to produce adequate hydrochloric acid while 35 per cent of people over 65 produce none at all. While the digestive system is deteriorating, the enzyme activity throughout the rest of your body is also in decline. Enzyme is produced with the right quality of food we eat.

Symptoms and damages to the body

In early RA, symptoms may not surface exactly. In fact, it may seem to be the cause of another less severe disease. However, only later it may surface as a chronic RA. This is why with an early symptom warning, one needs to get many tests done for RA. This may save the person from undue damage to the body.

Some of the redline symptoms are:

Dull and severe aching pain,

Discomfort in lifting the hands to comb one hair, holding things, bending over, sitting or climbing stairs. One or more of these,

Joint inflammation, (joints warm to touch),

Stiffness of the joints on waking,

Swelling of the joints (maybe with redness in chronic cases)

Some joints could be with lesser motion.

Seek medical help quickly and be serious about the symptoms.

Pain during walking, swelling of the feet

Stiffness on rest,

Fatigue,

Depression,

Nodules may be small little bumps, under the joint skin, which are painless.

Joint deformities,

Cervical spinal stiffness and bone fusion (very serious),

Inflammation of the lungs called Pleurisies,

Anemia,

Inflammation of the blood vessels called rheumatoid vacuities,

Inflammation of the heart lining tissues called Pericarditis,

Inflammation of the heart muscles called Myocarditis,

Heart failure,

Diabetes,

High fever associated with joint pain,

Numbness of the extremities,

Red eye, due to swelling of the blood vessels, it could be painful and very troublesome.

Sometimes, RA could lead to osteoporosis, making the bone weak and brittle. Broken bone may be attributed to the RA symptoms too.

Weight loss, in spite of no change in the body size could be logically attributed to bone loss. Bone loss could lead to many severe and major bone diseases, most common being Osteoporosis. A slight stress on the bone could lead to fracture. So, people with RA need to be careful in bathroom, walking and moving about anywhere. Bone density test may reveal the true condition of the bone, especially if the patient has reached her menopause stage.

Dry mouth and gum, in spite of keeping oneself hydrated, could also be a very alarming symptom.

With RA hidden in your system, you could get cataract in the eye earlier than you should have gotten it. For instance, if you were supposed to get cataract at the age of 70 or 80 and you got it at 30’s or 40’s, it is an alarming sign of RA. Corticosteroids are the cause of your eye problem. With the medication over a long period of time such a condition could develop.

Sometime, dead tissues due to RA, there could be red or brown spots on your fingers and toes around the nails.

RA is different for different people; people with certain antibody in their blood may have faster onset of RA.

In very old and chronic cases, the cartilage, bone and ligaments of the joints may erode, causing scars to form within the joints, helping it to deteriorate very quickly.

The Possible Complications of Rheumatoid Arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis can be both a disfiguring and debilitating disease. Joint damage can make it extremely difficult, and sometimes impossible to perform daily activities. Most patients initially find that daily tasks become tiring; eventually some people cannot do them at all. Fortunately, new therapies are more effective in slowing down or halting joint damage.

Rheumatoid arthritis is often unpredictable; the patient never knows when his/her next flare up will occur. Some days are better than others. This unpredictability raises the risk of developing depression, heightened anxiety and feelings of stress.

Patients with rheumatoid arthritis have a higher risk of developing the following conditions:

Carpal tunnel syndrome - a type of nerve damage (neuropathy) caused by compression and irritation of the median nerve in the wrist. There is a bony canal in the palm side of the wrist that provides passage for the median nerve to the hand - it is called the carpal tunnel. Carpal tunnel syndrome is a common condition in people with rheumatoid arthritis. Typical symptoms include aching, numbness and tingling in the fingers, thumb, and part of the hand.

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