My Arthritis Is Not Your Arthritis - One Symptom, Many Causes

Joint inflammation is painful, and when you're suffering with it you're highly motivated to find out what will stop it!

To realize that goal, address the two following elements covered in this article: symptom control and finding the cause (or causes) so that a healing direction can be revealed.

Symptom Control: This means two things - reducing inflammation and managing pain.

The primary herb used around the world for reducing inflammation is Boswellia. Years of clinical research has revealed that boswellic acids reduce the formation of inflammatory leukotrienes.

Pain management is often achieved with White Willow Bark, which is the natural herb that contains salicin, flavonoids and other phenolic compounds that reduce inflammation significantly along with promoting joint health.

With arthritic symptoms under control, the next step is finding causes. The following are six of the top common causes health practitioners find:

1. Food intolerances.

A food intolerance results from the inability of the body to completely metabolize (i.e., 'break down' ) any particular food. This leaves undigested food particles floating around where they can cause inflammation, and one of those target organs is the joints.

Food intolerances are different than food allergies. One can be intolerant of a food but not allergic to it, or allergic but not intolerant or both. This means that just because a blood test for antigens shows no antigen for a particular food does not mean an intolerance does not exist. In other words, a food intolerance will not show up in a blood test for antigens.

Four of the most common food intolerances are wheat, gluten, lactose and foods from the nightshade family (tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, peppers, etc.)

2. Toxic metals.

Toxic metals are those that poison the body and have no benefit for humans. Four of the most common ones that affect modern people are mercury, aluminum, lead and plutonium. The sources of these contaminants are varied and depend on the metal itself. For example, two of the most common sources of mercury contamination are from dental amalgams, which are over 50% mercury, and vaccines containing Thimerosol, a preservative containing mercury. Other, less common toxic metals include antimony,uranium, arsenic, cadmium, barium, nickel and bismuth. Any of these can be deposited in the joints, stimulating inflammation.

3. Synthetic Chemicals.

Modern people are exposed to a growing number of toxic chemicals in daily life. In fact it's been estimated that the average person is exposed to well over 100,000 synthetic chemicals! This results in a massive body burden way to significant for the liver to detoxify and eliminate on its own, and the chemical back up can result in joint inflammation.

4. Generalized acidity.

The human body is meant to run on a relatively neutral pH - not too acid, not too alkaline. When the body is consistently acid over a length of time, the acidity can etch away the lining of joints, resulting in an inflammatory arthritis. One such source of this acidity is toxic emotions - unresolved personal issues that are replayed but never resolved.

5. Immune challenges.

These are classic cause of joint inflammation, and can include all manner of bacteria, yeast, fungi, viruses, parasites, even spirochetes. Any one or more of these can cause joint inflammation.

6. Autoimmune reaction.

An autoimmune reaction results when the immune system gets confused in its functions and begins attacking its own bodily tissue - in this example, joints. The immune system's job is to separate 'me' from 'not me' and attack and eliminate the 'not me.' In an arthritic autoimmunity, it has mistakenly identified the joint tissue as 'not me', resulting in an attack that produces arthritis. Many practitioners believe this confusion is set up initially by immune challenges in which the invading organism contains DNA very similar to the body's joint tissue DNA.

Each of the above represents a cause that may be at the root of the symptom of arthritis. Working with your practitioner to discover the cause (or causes) is a key to reducing - even eliminating - the symptom itself, often permanently.

In this respect, it's important to remember that 'my arthritis is not your arthritis'. In other words, you may have one or two of these causes, while the next person with the same symptom - joint inflammation - has totally different causes. That's why it's important if you wish to recover, not to get stuck in 'cookie cutter' approaches, but rather to find out what's going on in your unique body.