Rheumatoid Arthritis – When Your Body Mistakes Itself as the Enemy

  Whereas osteoarthritis is a degenerative joint disease, primarily caused by "wear-and-tear" on your joints, rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic inflammatory autoimmune disease that activates your immune system to attack your joints, causing them to break down.

  It tends to be bilateral and symmetrical, meaning it affects both sides of your body to a more or less equal degree. It also tends to affect your middle joints, especially your hands and fingers, which causes the joint deformities that are a hallmark of this disease.

  RA can be both crippling and lethal, so it's definitely not something you should ignore.

Toxic environmental factors that can trigger rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases include:

  * Certain medications, such as birth control pills
  * Second-hand smoke
  * Food chemicals
  * Air pollution
  * Jet fuel fumes
  * Chemicals in personal care products such as lipstick and hairspray

Most likely, you're exposed to countless substances that could trigger this illness on a daily basis. For one person, it could be lipstick; for another it could be living near an airport, or eating chemicals in processed food…
This underscores the importance of living your life as purely as possible, avoiding as many toxic chemical exposures as you can on a daily basis, no matter where you are.
In addition to avoiding toxins, integrating a few simple lifestyle changes can dramatically lower your risk of developing RA as well.

Emotional Health Matters – Especially when it Comes to Rheumatoid Arthritis

  One important underlying cause of RA, which is nearly universally present in most all autoimmune diseases, is some kind of severe, traumatic emotional insult. The emotional trauma often occurs before the age the conscious mind is formed, which is typically around the age of 5 or 6, though it can occur at any point in your life.

  If that specific emotional insult is not addressed with an effective treatment modality, then the underlying emotional trigger will not be removed, allowing the destructive process to proceed.
Therefore, it's very important to have an effective tool to address these underlying emotional traumas. In my clinic, the most common form of treatment used is called the Meridian Tapping Technique/Emotional Freedom Technique (MTT/EFT).

If you already have RA, the emotional trauma is best treated by a professional.

The Importance of Vitamin D

Results from the Iowa Women's Health Study, published in the journal Arthritis and Rheumatism in 2004, found that vitamin D intake is inversely associated with rheumatoid arthritis. The results showed that postmenopausal women who consumed at least 400 IU of supplemental vitamin D daily had a 34 percent reduction of risk, and that's just taking a measly 400 IU's! The current recommendation by most experts is 35 units per pound per day, or 5,000-10,000 IUs for most adults.

Your Diet -- Another Key Component Against RA and Other Autoimmune Diseases

There are some general dietary principles, however, that seem to hold true for ALL nutritional types and these include:

  * Eliminating sugar and most grains
  * Eating unprocessed, high-quality foods, organic and locally-grown if possible
  * Eating your food as close to raw as possible
  * Getting plenty high-quality animal-based omega-3 fats, such as krill oil

Following these general guidelines alone will go a long way to dramatically reduce your risk of developing any kind of problem with chronic inflammation.

Drug-Free Pain Relief

For the treatment of RA, turmeric in particular has been shown to be effective against both acute and chronic pain. In experiments on rats, turmeric appeared to block inflammatory pathways associated with rheumatoid arthritis.

Boswellia, also known as boswellin or "Indian frankincense" is another herb I've found to be particularly useful against arthritic inflammation and associated pain.

Ginger also has anti-inflammatory properties and can offer pain relief. Fresh ginger works well steeped in boiling water as a tea or grated into vegetable juice.

Article by Dr. Mercola