More than 45 million Americans suffer from some form of arthritis, a large percentage of whom are women. By 2020, the number is expected to reach 60 million, or one-fifth of the population. We know the kind of discomfort this can mean: swollen joints and excruciating pain. It can be so bad it prevents a person from having a quality life.
With so many millions suffering from arthritis, maybe we should be thinking of something by way of treatment other than simply dulling the pain with drugs or performing dangerous and expensive operations. As you will see in reading this chapter, alternative medicine practitioners have been thinking this way for years with quite astounding results. Finally, over the past decade, after the Journal of the American Medical Association concluded that two popular nutritional supplements, glucosamine and chondroitin compounds, are safe and effective in treating osteoarthritis, there have been signs that natural therapies are starting to gain some of the recognition they so rightly deserve.
The word arthritis means pain and “swelling of the joints.” A joint is the place where two bones meet. Cartilage covers the end of each bone and prevents the bones from rubbing together. The joint capsule surrounds and protects the joint, and special membranes cover it with a fluid that lubricates it. Muscles and ligaments around the joint provide support and make it move. When all these parts are working right, the joint moves smoothly and easily, but when something is wrong with the joint, arthritis may develop.
There are many types of arthritis. Some of the most common are described below.
Osteoarthritis, also known as degenerative joint disease, is the most common form of chronic arthritis. It is estimated to affect more than 20 million Americans, three-quarters of whom are women. In osteoarthritis, the cartilage is worn away so that the bones rub against each other. When the cartilage breaks down, the joint may lose its shape. The ends of the bone may thicken and form spurs.
Adds Dr. Jason Theodosakis, whose treatment program is profiled later in this chapter, “At a biochemical level, the breakdown of cartilage is happening more rapidly than the buildup of cartilage. That brings up an important point. Cartilage on the end of the bones is not like a pencil eraser, which, once it is rubbed off, is gone. It is constantly breaking down and being replaced.”
Osteoarthritis most often affects middle-aged and older women. Many people consider it a part of the aging process. The joints of the fingers, neck, low back, and legs are usually involved. Symptoms include joint pain, tenderness, stiffness, loss of function, and restricted mobility. Diagnosis is made by physical examination, X-rays, and ruling out other types of arthritis.
Rheumatoid arthritis, one of the most destructive forms of arthritis, is a severe inflammatory condition that affects the joints as well as other body organs. It is an autoimmune disease in which the body attacks its own tissue. More than 60 percent of the two million Americans with rheumatoid arthritis are middle-aged women. Symptoms include pain and swelling in many joints, morning stiffness, afternoon fatigue, and low-grade fevers. Significant joint deformity and disability may occur.
Rheumatoid arthritis can be difficult to diagnose. It often begins gradually and may resemble other types of arthritis. The condition is unpredictable, marked by episodes of remission and exacerbation.
Gout is a form of inflammatory arthritis caused by excess uric acid in the body. This excess can result from overproduction of the acid by the body itself, decreased elimination by the kidneys, or increased consumption of foods containing purines, which are metabolized into uric acid. Foods that are particularly high in purines include meats and seafood. Alcohol also increases uric acid levels. Acid crystals, which build up and congregate in the joints, are identified as invaders by the body’s white blood cells. The cells attack the joints, creating painful episodes of inflammation.
Acute gouty arthritis is a sudden affliction that may last a few days to a few weeks and then disappear temporarily. Usually just one or a few joints are affected. In most cases, the big toe is the initial target. Often a person is awakened from sleep with intense pain. Gout tends to run in families, and more commonly affects overweight men in middle age. Gout may also result from blood disorders or cancers, or from the use of certain drugs. The symptoms of gout may appear following periods of excessive eating or drinking, or physical or mental stress.
A host of factors are triggers for people who are genetically susceptible to arthritis. As the late Dr. Ray Wunderlich explained, “We talk about inadequate repairs, inadequate defenses for our body. As we go along with inadequate food, digestion, metabolism, and porosity of gut, we develop increasing levels of immune disturbance, and the joints are a major place where this manifests. That may be because of their movement or because of the tremendous amount of connective tissue around them.”
Joint disorders are very common in our society. Connective tissue needs high amounts of vitamin C, glucosamine, and appropriate minerals such as silica, magnesium, zinc, and pantothenic acid. “Without these,” said Dr. Wunderlich, “there will be a decline of the connective tissue, which is the glue that keeps our bodies together. As the body sails along through space in our journey through life, we get bombarded with more and more toxins. Rachel Carson was right. It’s a toxic planet, and it’s not getting any better.”
Environmental stress is central to arthritis, as it is to so many other illnesses. There has been an intellectual blind spot on our medical, health, and legislative screens. We look out there and we see herbicides, pesticides, genetically engineered foods, pollution in our water—so much new pollution that government regulators cannot even abide by the old standards, so they keep raising the allowable amount of toxins in the body.
Typically, arthritis is diagnosed on the basis of a patient’s symptoms, which most commonly include pain or swelling in the joint areas or some limitation of movement. Some diagnostic tests and X-rays may show abnormalities in the joints, but often these tests are not accurate. Thus, the patient’s symptoms are the central factor in determining the diagnosis.
Because medical students have been taught that there is no cure for arthritis, as doctors they look less for the cause of the disease but instead focus on alleviating the symptoms. This approach can be very dangerous because many of the drugs used to counteract pain and swelling can have serious side effects. Even aspirin, which is ordinarily considered one of the least toxic medications and normally constitutes the first line of attack in the traditional treatment of arthritis, is not without side effects. In the treatment of arthritis, aspirin is given in large doses on a constant basis. Consequently, arthritis patients have consistently high levels of aspirin in their systems; this can result in dizziness, ringing in the ears, intestinal tract bleeding, kidney damage, and death.
When aspirin does not work or when an arthritis sufferer develops adverse reactions to it, other medications called nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as the widely advertised Motrin, are used to control inflammation. Since these drugs are nonsteroidal (i.e., do not contain cortisone), they are less toxic than some medications commonly used to combat inflammation, but they nevertheless do have side effects.
NSAIDs came onto the market as effective alternatives to aspirin, which had caused internal bleeding in many long-term users. Ironically, while the NSAIDs are less effective than aspirin as anti-inflammatories, they also have side effects that include gastrointestinal bleeding and peptic ulcers. Other side effects include dizziness, nervousness, nausea, vomiting, and ringing in the ears. If these drugs are unsuccessful, doctors often prescribe cortisone-derived drugs such as prednisone. These drugs are notorious for their severe toxicity. They interfere with the immune system, leaving the patient defenseless against infection and other diseases. Cortisone-type drugs also interfere with the body’s healing ability, and it is not uncommon for a person taking these drugs to have bone fractures or wounds that do not heal for long periods.
Some rheumatologists (doctors who treat arthritis patients) use injections of gold. This method of treatment was abandoned years ago because it was considered too dangerous, but today gold treatments are finding their way back into medical practice. Another technique finding acceptance among arthritis doctors is the use of chemotherapy drugs. The theory behind this drastic measure is that when a patient’s immune system is knocked out, the patient’s body is no longer able to form the antibodies that may be causing the inflammation in her joints. Other techniques include radiation therapy in the area of the inflammation, again with the intent of destroying the patient’s immune response, and plasmapheresis, a procedure by which a patient’s blood is drained, filtered to remove antibodies, and then reinjected into the patient.
While the traditional medical approach to arthritis is undeniably becoming more sophisticated, it also appears to be missing the mark. Not only do these treatments fail to get at the cause of the disease, they are becoming more expensive, invasive, and toxic, leading to the inevitable question, Do the ends justify the means? When traditional medicine begins to turn to anticancer therapies to treat arthritis—therapies that are often cancer-causing themselves and result in side effects ranging from nausea and hair and weight loss to depletion of the immune system—this question becomes even more pressing.
“The way I treat arthritis is probably quite different from the approach of most physicians,” says Dr. Peter D’Adamo. “As a naturopath, I was taught that we should not always think about treating a disease but about treating a person. Arthritis is a very good example of a disease that is highly individualized. Not only are there different types of arthritis, but people get it and express it in different manners.”
It’s a good idea to try to listen to the body and realize that it has an intelligence. In other words, if you are following a certain lifestyle and your problems are the result of that lifestyle, a change in lifestyle may change the illness.
People say that as the body gets older, the most natural thing in the world is for it to get decrepit. But give the body credit for the intelligence it has. When the body tells you something, if you listen and follow what it says, you will improve.
Dr. Peter Agho of the Healing Center says, “I do diet. Not just for arthritis. The thing about the whole diet is this: Change the diet, and the arthritis—along with obesity, high blood pressure, and other problems—will get better. The diet should include fresh fruit, including fresh fruit juice, and vegetables. You should eliminate animal fats and cut high-fat foods.”
Dr. Howard Robins outlines his treatment: “We use a complete vegetarian diet, including a lot of green, leafy vegetables. These are important because of all the phytochemicals and phytoestrogens that help in all the chemical processes that are necessary to getting well again. We give them juices, six to eight fresh green juices a day—the best way to take in these chemicals.”
Dr. Luke Bucci, author of Pain Free: The Definitive Guide to Healing Arthritis, notes that part of the reason people get arthritis is the lack of essential nutrients in a highly processed, refined diet. Sure, you get plenty of calories, protein, and fat—usually the wrong kind of fat. What you do not get is just as important—the minerals: magnesium, zinc, copper, manganese, and boron. Many people are not aware of boron as a nutrient, but boron may turn out to be essential to our joints’ health. These are what you do not get with the current, typical American diet. We lack the substances that enable the joints to repair themselves from the damage they sustain. That is why you want to start eating a whole-food diet that is rich in organic vegetables, fruits, and nuts.
Dr. Rich Ribner tells this story: “Recently, a woman came to the clinic with a terrible case of arthritis. She was in terrible pain and had been taking anti-inflammatory medication and tranquilizers. She was miserable. She said she thought about killing herself. I said, ‘Stop this nonsense. I’m going to ask you to do something. You may not even want to do it.’ She said, ‘Anything.’ I said, ‘Between now and next week, I want you to drink six to eight glasses of water a day, but it has to be distilled or spring water. And eat nothing but brown rice, just brown rice.’ ‘But, but . . .’ she began. ‘Wait,’ I said, ‘you were talking about killing yourself. So listen, I’ll add a few green vegetables to that.’
“You have to make sure there is a cleansing. Make sure they drink the water. Have a bowel movement daily.
“Well, this woman was so desperate that she stayed on the diet one week. When she came back, there was marked improvement. She still had a long way to go, but there was a change.”
Vitamins, minerals, and nutritive substances can play important roles in the treatment and prevention of arthritis. There is some evidence that the essential fatty acids furnished by substances such as cod liver oil, linoleic acid, and marine lipids, by replacing missing fatty substances in the joint-lubricating synovial fluid, can be important in treating arthritis. When the joint surfaces become irritated and undergo degeneration, some of the fat from the joint itself is lost. This fat acts as a lubricant and keeps the joint surfaces apart so that the cartilage-covered bone ends are protected and can move smoothly. When a person takes extra cod liver oil or other essential fatty acids, the oil goes to the joints and provides more lubrication.
Vitamin A, which is found in large quantities in cod liver oil, is also important for the maintenance of the mucous membranes, which manufacture mucus to cleanse the body of infectious bacteria and toxins. Without adequate supplies of vitamin A, infection and accumulation of toxic materials can set in around the joints. Furthermore, a vitamin A deficiency can lead to insufficient production of synovial fluid; when this occurs, the joints lack proper lubrication, the cartilage becomes subject to drying and cracking, and movement becomes difficult and painful.
Because lubrication is vital to the smooth functioning of the joints, vitamin E, whose primary role is to protect against the destruction of the essential fatty acids by oxidation, is also an important antiarthritic nutrient. Both vitamins E and C, which generally act as free radical scavengers within the body, can be especially important in the treatment as they can “clinch” the free radicals present at the site of inflamed or irritated joints, thereby decreasing pain, swelling, and inflammation.
Many symptoms of arthritis are alleviated by establishing a proper balance of calcium and phosphorus in the body, since these are the two minerals most responsible for bone formation and healing. This can be one of the most confusing aspects of arthritis, because X-rays of arthritic joints often show excessive calcification. Afraid of further calcification, patients mistakenly believe that they must avoid calcium-rich foods. Actually, the calcification is due not to an excess of calcium but to malabsorption of existing supplies caused by an imbalance in the ratio of calcium to phosphorus. This imbalance is caused by two major factors: (1) excessive consumption of foods containing high levels of phosphorus, such as meat, dairy products, and soft drinks; and (2) the process of joint degeneration, which releases high levels of phosphates. This excess phosphorus at the joint site binds with calcium and results in calcification. Taking extra calcium orally does not contribute to this localized calcification. Rather, by increasing calcium levels in the blood, it draws the excess phosphorus away from the joints to bind with the blood calcium so that both are eliminated; this in turn inhibits calcification around the joints.
It should be noted here that soft drinks are the number-one source of phosphorus in the American diet today. These drinks contain more phosphorus than most other foods or beverages, and the typical American consumes nearly 100 gallons of them a year. According to Dr. David Steenblock, excess phosphorus is one of the major contributing factors to the development of osteoarthritis. He says, “We see this clinically in many people, who come with osteoarthritis in their early forties who are large consumers of soft drinks, who also consume excess quantities of meats and other high-phosphorus foods, and who do not eat enough of the green, leafy vegetables which contain calcium.” The other problem associated with soft drinks is that most contain citric acids, which bind calcium and cause it to be excreted. “So,” says Dr. Steenblock, “not only is there extra phosphorus in the soft drinks, they contain the material that takes calcium out of the body. If you want to develop osteoarthritis, that’s a very good way of doing it.”
Other useful supplements include glucosamine and chondroitin. According to Dr. Luke Bucci, these substances act to “convince” your joint tissues to repair the damage caused by arthritis. (See “Specific Alternative Treatment Approaches” later in this chapter for more information on glucosamine and chondroitin.)
Several studies have shown that a small supplemental dose of boron, about 3 to 6 milligrams a day, can reverse the symptoms of osteoarthritis. Magnesium is also helpful.
Arthritis may be caused or exacerbated by allergies to foods and chemicals. Dr. Warren Levin says that removing offending substances from the patient’s environment can produce dramatic changes.
Some doctors believe that arthritis is caused by the foods a person eats most often. Dr. Morton Teich stresses that the food the patient wants the most may be the problem. Studies have shown that milk, for example, can cause severe allergies and arthritis.
Dr. Teich also warns us about the glycoproteins in milk, wheat, corn, and cinnamon, as well as inhalants such as dust, mold, and pollen. Chemicals and food additives are also potential contributors to allergies and arthritis.
Letha Hadady, an herbalist, tries to eliminate the toxins that result from poor digestion and poor circulation. She shares some of her herbal remedies.
In dealing with arthritis, one thing you must have every day is alfalfa. You could chew ten tablets a day with a little water to eliminate much of the uric acid that can build up to create joint pain. Rhubarb also eliminates acid. It is a laxative, but it also breaks apart the painful crystals that form around your joints.
Dandelion greens are full of vitamins and minerals. Dandelions break down pain-giving acid, too.
Star fruit is a sweet, delicious fruit you can find in the grocery store or at the vegetable stand. Juice it. Add a cup and a half of cold water per serving of six star fruits. Taken three times a day, it can eliminate inflammatory joint pain, bleeding hemorrhoids, and burning urine. It is cooling and cleansing.
It is important to realize that not everyone’s arthritic pain is the same. Do you wake up in the morning with your joints feeling stiff and sore? Do they feel better after you move them around and after you exercise? If so, you need to take warming, tonic herbs that build vitality, increase circulation, and warm joints. Add a pinch of turmeric to your stews. Turmeric and cinnamon are a good combination for achy shoulders. If you have rheumatism that gets worse in cold weather, add 1/4 teaspoon of turmeric and cinnamon to a little water and drink it as a tea.
Asafetida is a spice that is available in Indian stores. A little asafetida added to cooking beans or other hard-to-digest foods will help cleanse the body and warm the joints.
Also useful is the resin myrrh; a few drops added to your tea will make your joints feel warm and your blood move, thus improving the circulation.
Hadady says that Asian medicine uses many herbs that can be added in cooking. For example, dong quai increases circulation and warms joints. Another classic Chinese remedy, one that Chinese doctors have used for generations, is du huo jisheng wan. Hadady’s favorite—guan jie yan wan—is translated as “walk as smoothly as a tiger.” Other Asian remedies include raw Tienchi ginseng, Efficacious Corydalis, tien ma, Three Snakes Formula, Mobility 3, Clematis 19, du zhong, leigong ten pian, and rinchen dragjor-rilnag chenmo.
Many arthritis sufferers interviewed for this chapter said that of all the things they tried in their efforts to eliminate the pain, going to a chiropractor helped the most.
Dr. Mitchell Proffman, a chiropractor formerly at the Healing Center, showed me two X-rays. The first showed bones that were nice and clean and square in shape; the second showed degeneration of the bones.
He showed what arthritis looks like in the human body: thinned disks and a little lip or spur, the body’s defense mechanism to heal or shore up the area so that it does not totally disintegrate. He said a woman might have a pinched nerve somewhere in the body, in the neck, for example. He administers a gentle push with his hand, which is not painful, to move the bone back into position. The nerve energy comes through, and the joint can start to heal.
The noted physician Dr. Arnold Blank has used reconstructive therapy to treat arthritis. Reconstructive therapy, created in the 1920s by the osteopathic physicians Gedney and Schumann, works by stimulating the body’s ability to heal itself. The doctors found that by injecting substances that caused a slight irritation to tissues, they could help blood vessels grow into a region, thus bringing more oxygen, vitamins, and minerals into the cartilage and promoting tissue growth.
Dr. Blank says this therapy is most effective in patients who are in an optimal nutritional state. “Vitamin and mineral levels are important in our healing response and ability. The injection consists of a variety of different liquids. Primary liquids I use are calcium, lidocaine, and saline. They take a moment and really aren’t painful. The majority of patients feel improvement after the first three or four treatments, developing some strength and feeling less pain, even increasing the range of movement.
“The nutrients we may use, natural ones, include substances that have an antiinflammatory effect, such as vitamin C, shark cartilage, sea cucumber, glutathione, and glucosamine sulfate. All these substances are used once reconstructive therapy has begun because the new blood vessels going to the tissues will enhance healing. These nutrients may not work well when there are no blood vessels going into the area, so they should be administered after the therapy has begun its work.”
Acupuncture has been used by countless people throughout the world to help alleviate the pain and suffering of arthritis. Dr. Yuan Yang of the Healing Center explains briefly how this works. “We put the needle around the joint to create circulation, taking the pain away. There may be cold, blocked blood and low energy, so I apply the needle for smooth blood flow. Moving blocked energy takes the pain out.”
Shmuel Tatz typically works with people who have arthritic problems from overuse syndromes or accidents. He works directly on the joints. For example, for a pianist who has problems with the hands, he will try to move the bones, separating the joints to make more space.
As Tatz explains, “Today in physical therapy we use many modalities. One of these is magnetic pulse therapy. We know of the positive effects of magnetism on the body. Scientists have developed a machine with different programs so that we can adjust for every different situation.
“We put electrodes on the body, for example, on the hip joint, and we leave them on for fifteen to twenty minutes. Usually patients report a very mild relaxing sensation, and the pain decreases.
“Many people with pain from osteoarthritis are afraid to be touched. People with a swollen knee, for instance, can do reflex therapy. For the knee we touch an acupuncture point on the ear, which gives relief.”
Once this manipulation has had an effect, they start to exercise the knee by putting the legs in slings, relieving the pressure on the joint and making it easier for the patient to move the body. Trying to open the joint and make more space around the bones allows for better circulation. Movement is very important for people with arthritis.
One patient, Lori, speaks about her improvement: “Here at Medical Arts I was able to receive physical therapy, which has enabled me to avoid surgery and has greatly improved the quality of my life. I’m still dancing.”
Molly McBride, a yoga instructor, believes you do not have to stop working on your health simply because you may have some physical limitations. Even by working with something as simple as a chair, it is easy to stay fit and help yourself with the problems of arthritis.
The basis of yoga is breath and breathing practices, she says, which help circulation and also help flush the body out by collecting toxins so that they can be exhaled. Breath is the foundation of all the yoga stretches.
“We start with just taking a simple breath; the basic beginning exercise is a three-part breath. Let the air fill the abdomen, then the rib cage, then the upper chest. Exhale, letting the breath exit the upper chest, then the rib cage, and then abdomen. Inhale, exhale.”
It is important to take time every day to do these breathing exercises. A really good time to do them is first thing in the morning, when your stomach is empty; if you have eaten, wait a few hours before you start. These breathing exercises can be combined with some simple joint lubrication exercises. To regenerate the body and increase the flow of oxygen through the system, to help release all the toxins that build up in the muscles and the protective cartilage around the joints, try simple yoga exercises.
In the following pages, we discuss some specific alternative approaches to treating arthritis. Although there are many other approaches, these have had a consistently high success rate, are not toxic or expensive, and may get to the cause of the disease rather than merely masking its symptoms.
Traditional medicine treats gout symptoms with drugs to relieve pain and decrease uric acid levels in the body. These drugs include colchicine, cortico-steroids, analgesics, uricosuric agents, and allopurinol. They may be beneficial but they do have side effects. More important, they’re reactive, not proactive.
An alternative approach starts with maintaining a healthy weight, drinking adequate amounts of water, avoiding alcohol, and eliminating or limiting foods that contain high amounts of purine (beef, goose, organ meats, mussels, herring, mackerel, yeast). Moderate amounts of purine are found in other meats and fish, as well as spinach, asparagus, lentils, mushrooms, and dried peas.
Helpful nutrients include berries, vitamin C, and folic acid. Cherries, hawthorn berries, and blueberries all contain anthocyanins, a class of natural dyes that have been found to reduce inflammation and enhance the quality of collagen. They also act as antioxidants. According to Dr. Muraleedharan Nair from Michigan State University, the anthocyanins in tart cherries are ten times more effective than aspirin in reducing inflammation. As an added benefit, they don’t irritate the stomach like aspirin does. Half a pound of cherries per day for two weeks has been found to lower uric acid levels and prevent episodes of gout. Also beneficial is cherry juice, 8 to 16 ounces daily.
Eight grams of vitamin C per day have been found to reduce uric acid levels in the blood. Caution must be noted, however, as gout symptoms will get worse in some people with this amount of vitamin C. In terms of folic acid, 1 to 3 milligrams daily are recommended.
A good herbal remedy for gout is bromelain, 125 to 250 milligrams three times a day during an attack. Also recommended is devil’s claw, which can be taken in the following dosages: 1 to 2 grams three times daily of dried powdered root, 4 to 5 milliliters three times daily of tincture, or 400 milligrams three times daily of dry solid extract. Both bromelain and devil’s claw act as anti-inflammatories.
Among the homeopathic remedies used for gout are the following:
ACONITE, recommended for burning pain, anxiety, and restlessness that comes on suddenly.
BELLADONNA, recommended for intense, throbbing pain that increases with motion and decreases with pressure.
BRYONIA, indicated for pain exacerbated by motion and decreased by pressure and heat.
COLCHICUM, suggested for pain that increases with motion and weather changes.
LEDUM, for swollen, mottled joints that respond better to cold than to heat.
In addition, hot and cold compresses and bed rest may help.
Dr. Theodosakis is the author of The Arthritis Cure and Maximizing the Arthritis Cure, and board-certified in preventive medicine. He is a lecturer on preventive medicine, a clinical associate professor at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, and the former director of its Preventative Medicine Residency Training Program.
“I’ve come up with my arthritis program out of necessity, both to treat patients and for personal use,” he says. “I see a lot of patients mainly with osteoarthritis but also with the other types of arthritis.
“My program is an integrated, comprehensive approach to creating a situation that optimizes the buildup of cartilage. I will basically use anything—diet, exercise, even medicine when it’s called for. We hit it from all angles, including the psychological aspects.”
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), he remarks, are part of a $37 billion worldwide market that involves such huge corporations as Whitehall-Robins, which makes Advil and Motrin; other NSAIDs are Aleve, which is naproxen sodium, and aspirin. According to Dr. Theodosakis, these drugs may cause serious problems, such as bleeding ulcers, kidney dysfunction, and adverse drug interactions. “At a rheumatology conference I was at, it came out that none of these anti-inflammatories have been studied long term,” he says. “Studies have suggested that they may even worsen the condition.”
Dr. Theodosakis’s program can be broken down into the following components: diagnosis, supplementation with glucosamine and chondroitin, a change in biomechanics, exercise, diet, and medical approaches.
“The very first step is getting an accurate diagnosis and working with the physician,” Dr. Theodosakis explains. “Be up front with your doctor. In my book, I lay out what you should be telling your doctor and what your doctor should be asking you, the tests you should be getting for a diagnosis, and so on. Even if you are in a managed-care setting where you get only five or ten minutes with your doctor, you have to know what information to get to use that time optimally. Getting an accurate diagnosis so that you’ll know what you are treating is step one.”
Glucosamine and chondroitin are natural supplements from seashells and cow’s cartilage, respectively. When taken orally, they improve the balance between breakdown and buildup of cartilage. Recent scientific studies support their use. “These supplements are a part of the treatment,” Dr. Theodosakis cautions. “Alone, these supplements are not the answer; they need to be part of a complete program.
On his website (www.drtheo.com), Dr. Theodosakis lists the studies on glucosamine and chondroitin. Further, he states, “I also set up a national reporting center for drug side effects related to glucosamine and chondroitin to see if any negative effects have been noted. So far, although millions of people are using these supplements, I’m not aware of any side effects. And I would be the first person to be aware of them if they were occurring.”
The one problem with these supplements is that there are about one hundred different brands on the market. In Dr. Theodosakis’s opinion, “maybe as many as 30 percent do not meet the label claims. In other words, you are not getting what the bottle says. This is a very big concern of mine.”
Biomechanics refers to the way the body absorbs shock from everyday movement. “You have different forces on your joint,” Dr. Theodosakis says, “and if you learn to dissipate these forces throughout your body, there is likely to be less damage to your cartilage. People can learn to improve their biomechanics. They certainly do in the sports arena, which you will see if you look at athletes as well as performers in such disciplines as ballet. They have wonderful biomechanics and can absorb and dissipate tremendous shock. So my patients are taught how to alter their own biomechanics.”
Exercise is absolutely necessary for arthritis sufferers, but the wrong kind of exercise can worsen the condition. You need a specific program for whatever ails you, Dr. Theodosakis says. If you have a hip problem, for example, you will need to do the appropriate exercises for that.
Another component of Dr. Theodosakis’s program is diet. He remarks, “The fasting in order to detoxify the body, the juicing, the vegetarian diet are all things I agree with 100 percent.
“Diet has a tremendous impact on arthritis for several reasons. One is weight control. A major risk factor for getting arthritis is being overweight. For example, women in the highest fifth of weight are eight times more likely to get arthritis of the knee than are women in the lowest fifth. Another factor is that different foods will either aggravate or alleviate arthritis. Some of the fish oils, omega-3 fatty acids, can help, while certain components of meat, such as arachidonic acid, can worsen the condition. You also need to eat a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, making sure you get a wide variety of nutrients and also taking supplements. With these nutritional elements, we are making sure your body has the optimal environment to win this cartilage battle.”
Dr. Theodosakis also incorporates medical approaches into his program. This may include prescription drugs, surgery, and treatment for depression associated with arthritis.
Dr. Theodosakis describes what he calls “one of my most remarkable cases,” that of one of his nurses. “She is about forty years old. She had terrible arthritis, to the point where she was going to have her knee cartilage scraped off, she had so many crystals in it. She used my program for about four months and saw tremendous improvement. She was taking the supplements at that time, and then she stopped taking the supplements—that was about two years ago. Now she’s become a runner; she did a half marathon. But she would have been crippled if she had had the surgery.
“I have had a number of patients who were scheduled for joint replacement therapy and after going through this program were able to avoid the surgery. Many are pain-free. It won’t reverse the bony changes that occurred in the joint, but it gives them the opportunity to exercise and do some of the things they want to do.”
Holistic Balanced Treatment (HBT) is derived from the work of the physician Dr. Robert Liefman (1920–1973). Dr. Liefman first used this treatment in 1961, after twenty years of research. Since that time more than 30,000 arthritis sufferers have received the treatment, and many of them are living pain-free, normal lives.
HBT is based on the results of Dr. Liefman’s research, which showed that many arthritis sufferers, especially those with rheumatoid arthritis, have specific hormonal imbalances. Within the body there are naturally occurring hormones called glucocorticoids whose role is to reduce inflammation and raise the level of simple sugars in the blood. One of the ways these hormones raise blood sugar levels is by converting nonglucose molecules such as protein into glucose. If unchecked, these glucocorticoids can be responsible for the collagen breakdown of cartilage in joints, which may be a contributing factor in the development of arthritis. The glucocorticoids are balanced within the body by other hormones, such as testosterone and the feminizing hormones, which include estradiol; these hormones induce tissue building and hence balance the tissue-wasting effects of the glucocorticoids. If the body is not regulating these hormones, there are therapies to correct these imbalances. Dr. Liefman developed formulas consisting of varying amounts of three basic ingredients: (1) prednisone, an anti-inflammatory steroid, (2) estradiol, an estrogenic hormone, and (3) testosterone.
According to the proponents of HBT, the anti-inflammatory property of the steroid prednisone and the healing properties of sex hormones can be used to treat arthritic conditions with minimal side effects because of the balancing action between the different components. The anabolic, or building, quality of the sex hormones acts to control the catabolic, or destructive, effects of the steroidal drug therapy (these effects include infection, decreased immunity, improper healing, suppression of pituitary and adrenal function, and fluid retention). The feminizing and androgenic activities of sex hormones are kept in check both by the catabolic nature of the glucocorticoids and by careful adjustment of the concentration of the sex hormones in accordance with the specific requirements of the individual patient during treatment.
Dr. Liefman developed four basic formulas to account for the different requirements of each individual using HBT: (1) White Cap, which contains prednisone, testosterone, and estradiol, (2) Black Cap, which has only prednisone and estradiol, (3) Red Cap, which contains prednisone and testosterone, and (4) Green Cap, which contains only prednisone and is used only to allow women to shed the endometrium proliferation caused by the intake of the estrogen-containing preparations. In turn, the proportions of these different compounds may vary from individual to individual and may be altered for the same person during the course of treatment.
If, for example, a female patient begins to exhibit an adverse reaction to the treatment, such as the growth of excess body hair, the testosterone level in the medication will be reduced to eliminate those reactions. Patients who exhibit some of the typical side effects of cortisone-type drugs will have the amounts of prednisone in their medication decreased, or appropriate increases in one of the sex hormones will be made to counterbalance the negative effects of the steroids. Generally, the adverse reactions to any of the elements in the compounds disappear within a short time once the proper balance among the hormones has been attained.
HBT also incorporates principles of nutrition and stresses the importance of regular exercise. The diet recommended in HBT eliminates junk foods such as sugar and sugar products, and salty and processed foods such as luncheon meats and canned goods, fried foods, and refined foods. The diet is essentially moderate in protein and emphasizes high-fiber complex carbohydrates in the form of fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and legumes. Vitamin and mineral supplements are used to bolster the patient’s immune system and enhance the body’s natural healing abilities. For instance, vitamin D is important for strong and healthy bones because it regulates the absorption of calcium from the stomach into the bloodstream, which carries it to bone tissue. Vitamins C and A are important for the maintenance and repair of collagen, the gluelike substance that holds the tissues together and is essential for joint and muscle stability. Vitamin E and the Bcomplex vitamins are important for bone growth. Among the minerals, adequate supply and absorption of calcium, phosphorous, and magnesium are essential for the formation of healthy bones, while zinc and selenium are important immune system nutrients.
Exercise is also an important adjunct to HBT and is recommended to restore joint and muscle mobility and function as well as muscle mass lost during periods of inactivity. However, patients generally are told not to exercise until they are free of pain, swelling, and stiffness and feel confident enough to engage in it. Walking may be the first exercise; then, as patients improve, they can be given specialized exercises for the hands, knees, fingers, shoulders, and other areas that may have been affected by arthritis.
The medical establishment has basically ignored, attacked, or criticized HBT therapy even though its basis is drugs already widely used by physicians. All Dr. Liefman did was combine certain commonly prescribed drugs to maximize the benefits and minimize the side effects of each component drug. The balanced hormonal approach to arthritis did, however, do one unorthodox thing: it challenged the rigidly held position of the medical establishment that arthritis is an incurable disease.
Here are some of the results arthritis patients have had over the years from using HBT:
At age nineteen, Cynthia began to experience the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis. Initially the arthritis was confined to her jaw and elbows, but over a period of two and a half years, while she was undergoing treatment by a traditional physician, the arthritis spread to nearly every part of her body. Five years later Cynthia was so crippled with pain and stiffness that it took her a half hour to get out of bed in the morning. The morning after she started HBT, her pain had almost disappeared except for some stiffness and soreness, which also went away during the following three days.
About her condition and her subsequent treatment at the Arthritis Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale, which administers HBT, Cynthia says, “I was getting worse and worse. When I first went to my doctor, I had it just in my jaw and elbows. After two and a half years, I had it in just about every place except my hips and knees. I couldn’t turn my head at all.
“The doctor actually told me once that he felt really bad, that he had tried everything and didn’t know what else to do, and that I had better go to the crippled children’s center in Palm Beach. To tell a young woman that . . . I just wanted to drive off a bridge. But I thank him for saying it because if he hadn’t, I don’t think I ever would have tried this place. I did it in desperation.”
At the time Cynthia started HBT she was taking thirty aspirin tablets a day, which were causing headaches, ringing in her ears, and ulcers. She was spending approximately $1,000 a month on painkillers alone. While Cynthia found that she bruised and bled more easily after starting HBT, she notes that she had the same symptoms while taking large doses of aspirin. However, while the aspirin and other treatments did nothing to arrest the progression of Cynthia’s arthritis, a day after she started treatment with HBT, her pain virtually disappeared, and it returned only when she forgot to take her medication. At present Cynthia is painfree and works out three times a week at a health spa. She continues on her medication, but in much smaller doses than when she started treatment with HBT.
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June suffered from severe crippling arthritis for two years before starting treatment with HBT. Over that two-year period June received almost every form of traditional arthritis treatment available: gold injections, penicillamine, Butazolidin (phenylbutazone), small doses of prednisone, and 16 aspirins daily. June says that she was spending more than $100 a week for medication alone. In the meantime she kept getting worse, and when she started HBT, she says, “I was immobile in my hands and shoulders. It was at that point that I thought, What’s the use of living? I couldn’t even turn my head.” Additionally, her liver, stomach, and kidneys were damaged by the large doses of medication. She was forced to give up her business because she was too weak and in too much pain to work. Her medical bills were ruining her financially. The second day after June received HBT, her pain disappeared. June says about her progress with HBT:
“I woke up and I could move my ankles, I could move my hands and my feet. When I stood up, the pain wasn’t there. I said to [my husband], ‘My God, there’s been a miracle.’ It got better and better, and I guess within two months I didn’t even know I had rheumatoid arthritis. I got a bicycle, and I started dancing again and going to the beach again. It used to be if I lay on the sand, I couldn’t get up again.”
June continues to be pain-free, leading a normal life, and her medication has been reduced by more than half the initial amount.
Environmental medicine, also called clinical ecology, was developed by Dr. Theron Randolph in the 1940s and 1950s when he observed early in his medical career that food allergies and sensitivities to environmental chemicals were a major contributing factor in a wide range of diseases, including arthritis. Dr. Randolph also noted that the causal relationship of allergy to disease was a very individualized phenomenon: One person could eat beef every day and never have an adverse reaction, while another person could develop a food allergy to beef even when consuming it only on rare occasions. Similarly, people with an allergy to the same product did not necessarily manifest the same symptoms. One might break out with hives, while another developed depression, and still another became arthritic. Dr. Randolph also found that seemingly innocuous chemicals found in the home, workplace, or school could in certain individuals trigger symptoms ranging from mental problems to aching joints to chronic fatigue.
The work of Dr. Randolph was applied to arthritis by the late Dr. Marshall Mandell, a physician from Connecticut and one of the country’s leading environmental medical specialists. He found that a considerable number of patients who come to him with arthritis or arthritislike symptoms are in fact suffering from a form of environmental allergy such as the ones outlined by Dr. Randolph. According to Dr. Mandell, “The basic process that underlies many cases of arthritis is a completely unrecognized or unsuspected allergy or allergylike sensitivity to substances that are part of daily life, including the food we eat, the liquids we drink, including the water supply, the chemicals that are deliberately or accidentally introduced into a diet, and the various forms of chemical pollutants in the indoor and outdoor air that get into our bodies.” From his clinical experience, Dr. Mandell found that more than half the patients he treats who would be confirmed arthritics by standard medical diagnostic techniques can be helped by means of simple dietary or environmental changes.
“My approach and that of my colleagues in the field of environmental medicine and clinical ecology, supplemented by the benefits of nutritional therapy, begins by looking at the person who is predisposed to having arthritis to see if there are identifiable substances in the diet and environment that can trigger or cause the episode of illness,” said Dr. Mandell. “We deal with demonstrable cause-andeffect relationships. What we do is study the patient.
“First, we take a carefully formulated history that is designed to help identify people who have problems with foods, with various chemicals, with pollutants, and perhaps with seasonal airborne substances. From this, we are able to get a fairly good idea of what we’re dealing with.”
Before patients are tested for food or environmental allergies, Dr. Mandell often had them fast or go on a restricted diet for four to seven days to rid the body of any residue of substances suspected to be responsible for the symptoms.
“Next,” said Dr. Mandell, “we test these people using a technique known as ‘provocative testing’ to determine their response to extracts prepared from all the foods in their diet. The most commonly ingested foods are often the culprits, so it shouldn’t come as any surprise that wheat, corn products, milk, beef, tomatoes, and potatoes are leading offenders.
“The most common technique used for provocative testing is to place a few drops of the test substance under the tongue of the patient, where it is almost immediately absorbed. This is called ‘sublingual’ provocative testing. When we test in this manner, only small doses are used, so the effect is brief, but since the solution enters the bloodstream, the entire body is exposed. Symptoms can show up in the joints, muscles, brain, skin, or any other part of the body.
“If we are able to produce joint pain, stiffness or swelling, or redness within a few minutes after placing the solution under the tongue for absorption into the bloodstream, we know that we’ve found something that must be important, because we have flared up the patient’s familiar symptoms—we have actually precipitated an attack of the patient’s own illness.
“Many people will have what we call ‘polysymptomatic illness,’ meaning that many bodily structures, organs, or systems can be involved at the same time. The arthritic person’s whole body may be sensitive, and this is why such patients may have a headache or fatigue or asthma or colitis, although they may not actually have any of the well-known allergies such as hay fever, eczema, or hives.
“We also find that many people react to chemicals. We have some people whose arthritis may be due in part or exclusively to the chlorine that is in the water supply, or perhaps to an artificial flavoring or coloring which is used very frequently, or perhaps to a preservative. We have people who have trouble because they are inhaling fumes such as tobacco smoke. We have people who in heavy traffic have trouble because the exhaust fumes will travel, along with the oxygen, through the walls of the lung into the circulation; once again, the whole body is exposed.”
After Dr. Mandell determined the substances in the patient’s overall environment that he suspects are responsible for arthritic symptoms, he double-checked with test meals of the specific substances.
He explained, “If we’re able to reproduce that patient’s specific symptoms, if we can actually turn the symptoms on and off like a switch, we know that we have nailed it down, because we have demonstrated a cause-and-effect relationship that can’t be questioned. Should food be the primary causative factor, we will design a diet that eliminates all of those foods. Then, depending on how well they follow the diet, the patients will be either well or sick.”
Sarah was a rabbi’s wife who began to have arthritis in her hands, but the flareups would take place only on Saturday mornings and then disappear during the course of the day. Using Saturday as a starting point, Dr. Mandell began to explore the possible sources of Sarah’s “Saturday arthritis.”
“Since she woke up with the arthritis in the morning,” Dr. Mandell explained, “we knew it was not caused by something she was doing in the morning. So we went back twenty-four hours to explore Friday. What did she do on Friday? What did she eat? Drink? Breathe? What came into her system? Could it be, perhaps, the paraffin fumes from the candles on the table that were lit ceremonially every Friday night? Or could it be something they ate? Was it caused by something she was exposed to when she went to temple on Friday night, perhaps from clothing just taken out of the dry cleaners? Or was it hair spray, perfume, cologne, or men with aftershave lotion? Was it that the temple had had the rug shampooed the day before the services or that the furniture was polished? I had no way of knowing, but I retraced all her activities, and then I tested her systematically.
“This actually turned out to be an easy one, and it was humorous, because the great ‘Jewish penicillin,’ chicken soup, was the thing that was undoing her. When I placed a few drops of chicken extract under her tongue, within minutes the knuckles that were affected by arthritis swelled up and became painful and red. I did this on a few occasions, so we were able to demonstrate this. It is rare to find a patient in whom a single substance is the factor, but it does happen now and then. So here is a rabbi’s wife with chicken-and-chicken-soup arthritis—Friday-night ingestion, Saturday-morning appearance of arthritis.”
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This example not only documents the dramatic effects that can be achieved by eliminating an offending food from an arthritic person’s diet, it also shows the degree of resistance orthodox arthritis doctors have to accepting this even when it has been unequivocally demonstrated.
Back in the mid-1970s Dr. Mandell sent out a mailing to rheumatologists in the northeastern part of the country, indicating that he was studying the relationship between food allergies and arthritis and was interested in studying some of their patients free of charge. Out of ninety letters, he received six responses, of which three said yes and three said no. Through one of the doctors who agreed to send patients, Janet eventually saw Dr. Mandell. He discussed her testing and the results:
“I want to emphasize that we never tell the patient what the test material is, so we completely eliminate suggestion. When we tested her with pork, she had pain almost immediately in one finger on her right hand, and this was her arthritis joint. We caused the joint to swell up and become red and painful.
“This test was repeated three times, once a week, and after the last test I told her to stay off pork for at least a week and then have a large portion of it one morning as a feeding test. Once again the same thing happened. However, when she told her rheumatologist, the man who was willing to have her come to me, he said he didn’t believe it because we didn’t have any controls. This is . . . more than pathetic, it’s almost a medical crime! Here the patient had her symptom reproduced . . . and the doctor says he doesn’t believe what has happened to her.”
The ironic thing about this skepticism on the part of the orthodox medical establishment is that many of the treatments it prescribes for arthritis have never been proved either safe or effective. Gold injections are a good example. This treatment is extremely costly, has very high toxicity, and is only rarely of benefit to arthritis sufferers. Furthermore, in cases where gold does provide some relief, rheumatologists are unable to offer a scientific explanation of how it operates within the body. Nevertheless, gold continues to be endorsed by the arthritis establishment while something as simple as eliminating a food from a patient’s diet, even if that food has been demonstrated to cause the patient’s symptoms, is ignored or criticized as being unscientific.
Homeopathy is based on the idea that the cure for an illness is similar to its cause. As a result, treatment consists of administering small doses of a very diluted natural substance that would cause the symptoms of the condition being treated if it were taken in larger amounts.
Dana Ullman of the Foundation for Homeopathic Education and Research is the author of several books on homeopathy, including The Consumer’s Guide to Homeopathy: The Definitive Resource for Understanding Homeopathic Medicine and Making It Work for You and Discovering Homeopathy: Medicine for the 21st Century. Ullman explains the homeopathic viewpoint:
“There are estimated to be two hundred types of arthritis. I’m glad that [the medical establishment has] increased that number from before. [In the past,] it’s been . . . about ten or twenty. From the homeopathic point of view, every person with arthritis has his or her own species of arthritis. Homeopaths see disease as a syndrome.
“The British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, a major pharmacology journal, published a double-blind, placebo-controlled study on the homeopathic treatment of rheumatoid arthritis; this was way back in 1980. This study showed that 82 percent of the patients given an individualized homeopathic medicine got some degree of relief, whereas among those given a placebo, only 21 percent got that similar degree of relief.”
Ullman describes some of the homeopathic approaches: “One approach is the use of single remedies to treat the acute exacerbation of the problem. Acute exacerbation of the problem means an immediate problem of a short-term nature, like a flare-up of some sort. Homeopathy and homeopathic remedies can be used to allay and relieve some of the pain and discomfort that a person is having.
“A better approach, however, is using the single remedy prescribed by a professional homeopath. This provides what we call constitutional care. It’s a more highly individualized remedy, not just for the acute flare-up but also for the person’s overall genetic health and entire health history. For the homeopath to do this, it requires a detailed interview, lasting at least one to sometimes two hours. And sometimes a homeopath doesn’t prescribe on that first interview but needs more information. This type of care is probably, in my estimation, one of the more profound ways to augment the body’s own immune defense system, to not just relieve a person’s condition but to really initiate a healing and curative process.”
Dr. Laurie Aesoph is a naturopathic physician as well as a medical writer. She has authored more than two hundred articles on topics ranging from nutrition to herbs and homeopathy.
Dr. Aesoph describes her views on the relationship between food and arthritis prevention and treatment:
“Many, many studies tell us that what I call restorative foods, which merely are the good foods we should be eating anyway, [such as] whole grains, fruits, and vegetables, are what we need to insert into our diet. The studies show not only that good diets help out with arthritis but also that specific types of food seem to have healing qualities. For example, the oils from different fish have an anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving benefit for arthritis patients. Many fruits, vegetables, and even spices double as herbs. You can use those specifically for different arthritis symptoms.
“In an article printed in The Lancet, a British medical journal, researchers put their patients on a cleansing diet. But eventually what they did is switch them over to a lacto-ovo-vegetarian diet in different stages, and they had a group that was their control, their placebo, that just ate as normal. They found that even on the lacto-ovo, where people are eating vegetarian diets but also eating eggs and dairy, the benefits continued throughout that year and at the end of the year. So here’s evidence where we know that diet is helping.
“There are enough studies that they are taking notice. They have always said that of course, if you’re overweight, there is stress on the joints, so if you have something like osteoarthritis or what we call degenerative joint disease, that’s going to aggravate and wear out your joints. But they are also looking at studies involving food allergies and cleansing and fish oil, and of course the purines are involved with gout. And diet has always been a large part of treating gout.” The diet should be 100 percent plant-based organic, eliminate all meat, wheat, dairy, processed sugar, coffee, alcohol, refined foods, and fried foods.
Dr. Aesoph asserts that it is equally important to minimize what she calls stressor foods from the diet: “Basically, the stressor foods are what set the stage for joint degeneration and breakdown to occur. And just to give you an example of what these foods are, look at the fat category. I want to remind [people] that fats per se are not bad. In fact they’re essential, and there’s something called essential fatty acids that we need to have—the fish oils fit into that category. But the transfatty acids—hydrogenated vegetable oils, for example, and margarine—[contain] too much saturated fat. Those are the sorts of things that are stressor foods and that we should be avoiding. Alcohol doesn’t do us any good, nor does caffeine. Refined carbohydrates, such as sugars, flour, white rice, the different sweeteners, the artificial sweeteners such as aspartame and saccharine, processed foods, of course, and the additives and chemicals that are added to our foods are other things that we should also be avoiding.
“When you eat stressor foods, a lot of them really deplete the different nutrients: vitamins, minerals, and all the other phytochemicals and nutrients that we’re discovering are in our foods. These, of course, are essential for general body function. Now, arthritis isn’t just restricted to the joints. We’ve discovered that there is a link between the joints and different body systems, and so the immune system is involved. Rheumatoid arthritis is actually what we call an autoimmune disease, where the immune or defense system of your body is attacking yourself. So if you don’t have the vitamins and minerals, your immune system isn’t going to function as well as it can. Also, with regard to the intestinal tract, it’s also vital that it function properly for all sorts of different conditions. When that isn’t functioning right, it will aggravate an arthritic condition. I mentioned that if you are overweight, that will stress the joints. If you tend to eat stressor-type foods, that tends to play into or add to conditions of obesity. Also, we talk about stress in our lives, and I really believe that foods that are not complete in nutrition and aren’t as whole as they should be are a stress on the body. So that doesn’t help your body function any better.
“Also, if you are eating a lot of cooked or processed foods, they tend to be lower in the enzymes that help us digest our foods. There have been numerous studies done where when people eat a diet that is largely composed of cooked foods, their digestive systems, the pancreas, different organs that contribute digestive enzymes to the gut, have to work a little harder, which makes it harder to digest, and then that adds to your gut being a little thicker than it should be, and then that aggravates the arthritis down the road. So, you can see that there are direct and indirect effects that these stressor foods have.
“When you use natural medicine and conventional medicine, it doesn’t need to be an either-or situation. You can also use nutrition to cut back on the medication that you’re using. You can think of it as a compromise and perhaps gradually get away from the drugs. Also, if you happen to be on steroids, [such as] prednisone, if you plan to cut back and use nutrition, you need to work with your doctor on that. That’s something you don’t want to cut out cold turkey. The nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are not as much of a problem. But when going off any prescription drug or steroids, talk to your doctor first.”
Dr. Aesoph outlines her nutritional program:
1. Cut out all the stressor foods. You want to eliminate anything that is harming your body or undermining your body’s functions and really setting the stage for joint problems to develop. These foods not only weaken the joints but impinge on their ability to repair themselves as well. These are also the foods that add to excess weight, which can overburden the joints. Some of these foods are also high in purines, which tend to aggravate gout.
2. Cleanse the body with a real whole-foods diet and start to add the restorative foods. This helps repair the gastrointestinal tract, which is an imperative part of healing arthritis. At this point you should be starting to learn how to incorporate healthy eating habits and what foods to choose.
3. Test for and then begin to cut out allergy foods.
4. Rebuild damaged joints and overall health by refining your choice of restorative foods. Sea cucumber at 1,000 milligrams may help, as can manganese at 25 milligrams and the bioflavonoid complex at 500 milligrams. Glucosamine sulfate and chondroitin sulfate, both at 500 milligrams, can also produce phenomenal results. Flax at 1,000 milligrams from the omega-3 fatty acid group reestablishes normal fluid and osmotic pressure, the synovial fluid in those joints. Taking an alpha lipoic acid, the best all-around intracellular antioxidant, actually fights free radical damage inside the cell. Then you have a very powerful healing mechanism to get your joints circulating nutrients and oxygen and expelling carbon dioxide and waste products as they should. There are many supplements: minerals, vitamins, and herbs. Other ones that you can add are ginger, cumin, and cayenne. Cayenne cream can be rubbed on arthritic joints because it depletes substance p, which in turn decreases pain.
5. Decrease weight, if that’s a problem, because it is a stress on the joints.
6. Eliminate any stress by learning to eat properly, such as by chewing your food properly and eating in a relaxed way.
Because of the susceptibility of the joints to the accumulation of toxic material that can scratch and irritate the inner linings, leading to the pain and inflammation that characterize arthritis, an analogy has been made between arthritis and atherosclerosis (degeneration of the arteries). In both diseases corrosive substances scratch the inner linings of the body part involved, causing irritation that can lead to degeneration. These substances can come from toxic material in the bowel that gets into the bloodstream. They can also come from food. In the case of atherosclerosis, these foods include cholesterol, fats, and fried foods, which, when they get into the blood, scratch and irritate the very sensitive inner linings of the blood vessels. The same substances can also pass from the blood into the joint space and irritate the inner linings of the joints.
According to Dr. David Steenblock, this correlation between arthritis and atherosclerosis is one of the reasons why a low-fat, low-cholesterol, high-fiber diet has been useful in treating arthritis. “Many patients on this type of diet,” he says, “show substantial improvement because the fiber cleanses the colon and removes many of the toxic bacterial waste products, which frees up the blood system and makes it more pure. This in turn allows the toxic materials to be eliminated from the joints, and so the joints themselves can begin to heal.”
Dr. Steenblock also explains how a diet that eliminates processed foods and focuses on the consumption of high-fiber natural grains, fruits, and vegetables works specifically in the treatment of arthritis:
“We want to eliminate white sugar and white flour products and processed foods and foods which contain food additives because these processed foods cause abnormalities in the state of health of the intestine. When you eat processed foods with little fiber, the bacterial content of the colon changes from the socalled good bacteria, which are Lactobacillus bifidus and L. acidophilus, to organisms that are anaerobic such as anerococci and streptococci and organisms that generally are not healthy and produce many toxic substances themselves. When these toxic substances are present as a result of eating a diet high in refined food and lacking fiber, these toxins pass through the bowel into the blood. Also, refined foods, because they are so easily digestible and do not require work by the intestine, cause the muscle wall of the intestine to atrophy, or become thinner. This thinness of the wall allows more toxic material to pass through the bowel into the blood. Once it is in the blood, it can pass easily into the joints and cause more problems.
“The use of the high-fiber natural diet counteracts this trend because the fiber changes the bacterial content of the colon back to normal, and this eliminates many of the toxic materials, the carcinogens, and the mutagens that are formed otherwise, which are well-documented causes not only of osteoarthritis but also of cancer of the colon and atherosclerosis. The fiber also strengthens the bowel wall, making it thicker and healthier, and this creates more of a mucosal barrier between the colon’s interior and the blood. Thus the diet should be more of a natural-and raw-foods diet if you want to get a good result.”
Dr. Steenblock does warn, however, that people who have spent an entire lifetime eating refined, fiberless foods must approach a change to a raw, high-fiber diet with caution (excess dietary fiber can, for instance, cause calcium and zinc to be washed through the system so that calcium and zinc deficiencies result) in order to give their intestinal tract time to strengthen. A good physician with a solid background in nutritional therapy should be consulted before any drastic dietary changes are made.
While atherosclerosis and arthritis often exacerbate each other, treatments other than diet that are directed at one condition often are beneficial in treating the other. For example, Dr. Steenblock discusses how chelation therapy, an intravenous chemical treatment commonly used for atherosclerosis and heart disease, can also benefit arthritic patients:
“One of the problems with osteoarthritis is that the capillaries of the synovium have become rigidified, or more rigid than they should be, as a consequence of the aging process and of atherosclerosis. This limits the blood flow through these joints; therefore, the heat that is produced when the joint is put in motion cannot be taken away because the circulation is poor. As a result, pain occurs when you exercise, and conversely, when you are resting, the blood flow through that tissue is poor and toxic materials accumulate and can cause pain. Anything that increases the diameter and the blood flow through these capillaries will aid in the restoration process. This is where chelation therapy is very valuable because it actually gets into these small blood vessels and capillaries and removes the cross-linkage of the collagen and elastin. This makes these small blood vessels more pliable and elastic, gives them more diameter so that more blood can pass through them, and thus helps in the healing process.”
Dr. Steenblock also uses chondroitin sulfate as part of his treatment. “Chondroitin sulfate appears to be one of the best treatments for both arthritis and vascular disease,” he says. “When you take it orally, it actually enters into the body through the intestinal tract and will selectively go to the joints and all the areas of damage in the blood vessels. It not only acts preventively but also will help reverse the diseases that are present.”
Dr. Steenblock says that while chondroitin is a promising treatment, it is not a miracle cure. “The treatment is not the sort of miracle-drug type of treatment where you give the person one pill and get immediate results. What we are dealing with is a natural substance, and it takes time for these natural substances to create the result we are looking for, namely, healing of the injured areas.” He says that it may take from two to four months to see results.
Dr. Steenblock adds, “There is another substance, which is derived from the New Zealand green lip mussel. There are a number of trade names for it. This substance is also a mucopolysaccharide, and it is effective in treating osteoarthritis as well as rheumatoid arthritis. It is available in most health food stores.
“These mucopolysaccharides can also be used preventively to heal the small nicks and irritations that occur routinely in the blood vessels and joints. They immediately seal these little cracks and crevices so that they do not get larger. Our bodies are not really capable of doing that on their own, and we need to help them along.”
Start with an overall dietary cleanse, and eliminate all allergens. Drink filtered water. Get tested for candida, food allergies, and heavy metal toxicity, as any of these may contribute to arthritic pain.
Salads, beans, nuts seeds, vegetables
Grapefruit, lemon lime aloe (3 oz.),
a capsule of cayenne, and wasabi
mustard in a juice
Pure grape juice (blue, black, or red)
| Fish oil | 1 tbsp. per week |
| Flax seed | 1 tsp per day |
| Garlic | all day |
Raw sweet onion (Vidalia)
in juice or in salad
| Avocado | |
| Olive oil | |
| Olive | 1 cup daily |
| Tempeh, tofu, seaweeds | |
| Vegetable juices | 4 glasses daily |
| Berry juice | 1 glass daily |
| Cabbage juice |
Take the following daily in divided doses:
| N-acetyl-D-glucosamine | 1,000 mg |
| Chondroitin sulfate | 1,000 mg |
| Nettle leaf extract | 500 mg |
| NAD glucosamine | 500 mg |
| Ginger | 100 mg |
| Fish oil (EPA/DHA) | 1,000 mg |
| Boron | 5 mg |
| Vitamin B complex | 50 mg twice a day |
| Vitamin E | 600 IU |
| Calcium citrate | 1,200 mg |
| Magnesium citrate | 1,200 mg |
| Coenzyme Q10 | 200 mg |
| DMG | 150 mg |
| TMG | 150 mg |
| SOD | 500 mg |
| Beta-carotene | 25,000 IU |
| Folic acid | 1,000 mcg |
| DLPA (pain relief) | 250 mg |
| Zinc | 25 mg |
| Digestive enzymes | individualized dose |
| MGN 3 | 1,500 mg |
| GLA | 1,000 mg |
| Vitamin C | 5,000–20,000 mg daily |
| MSM | 1,000 mg daily |
| Green-lipped mussel | individualized dose |
| Garlic | individualized dose |
| Cayenne | individualized dose |
| Turmeric | individualized dose |
| Cat’s claw | individualized dose |
| Pomegranate juice concentrate | 1 tbsp |
| Bone set | individualized dose |
| Boswellia | individualized dose |
| Burdock | individualized dose |
| Devil’s claw | individualized dose |
| Yucca | individualized dose |
| Vitamin B5 | individualized dose |
| Grapeseed extract | 100 mg |
| MSM | 500 BID |
| Vitamin K | individualized dose |
| Silica | 50 mg |
| Manganese | 25 mg |
| SAMe | 400 mg |
| L-cysteine | 500 mg |
| L-glutamic acid | 200 mg |
| L-taurine | 200 mg |
| Proprietary and patented blend of natural citrus and palm fruit extract containing nobiletin and tangeretin |
300 mg |
| Bromelain proteolytic enzyme extrac from pineapple (Ananas comosus) (stem) |
500 mg [2,000 GDU per gram/5,000 FIP per gram activity] |
| Vitamin D3 (as cholecalciferol) | 3,000 IU |
| Silicon (from horsetail herb, Equisetum arvense) |
5 mg |
| Curcumin | 900 mg daily, with 5 mg of piperine |
| Green tea extract | 725 mg daily of green tea powder, yielding at least 246 mg of EGCG |
| NAC | 600 mg daily |
| Black cumin seed oil | 1 tsp twice daily |
| Naturleaf (enzyme-enhanced) / Plant-Sprout sterols / sitosterolins (go to www.LEF.org) |
500 mg four times per day |
Acupuncture or AMMA™ therapy with Chinese herbs
Hot Epsom salt baths
Hot castor oil packs
Massage therapy
Sauna
Chiropractic adjustments
Hyaluronic acid. A number of studies have examined the benefits of intra-articular
injections of hyaluronic acid. This treatment is effective in treating osteoarthritis
of major joints. Discuss hyaluronic acid therapy with your physician.
An increasing body of evidence is showing the benefits of natural modalities to overall health and well-being. Following is a sample of recent peer-reviewed scientific studies in the area of arthritis.
In a 2015 report published in Inflammation, pyrroloquinoline quinone (PQQ) was shown to slow the progression of osteoarthritis by inhibiting nitric oxide production and metalloproteinase synthesis. The investigators noted that PQQ is expected to be a new pharmacological application in the near future. The Chinese herbal remedy Tripterygium wilfordii Hook F (TwHF) was found to be comparable with methotrexate in treating rheumatoid arthritis, according to a 2015 study in Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. A 2011 Life Extension Magazine report cited evidence from the scientific literature that 40 milligrams per day of undenatured type II collagen, derived from chicken cartilage, can decrease the immune response to exposed collagen, and therefore alleviate pain and loss of function related to arthritis. At Harvard’s Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, researchers reported a drop in joint swelling and tenderness in people with rheumatoid arthritis who supplemented with a proprietary form of the collagen for three months, and complete remission in 14 percent of the sample. Eight out of ten patients with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis who supplemented for twelve weeks had reductions in numbers of swollen and tender joints, with no adverse effects noted.