The following paragraphs detail a drug-free approach to the management of psoriatic arthritis. Alternative medicine or natural cures have always been a particular interest of mine. I think that modern medicine handles medical emergencies of things like stitches and broken bones very well. Where it comes up short in is the management of chronic conditions and diseases and promoting health. The modern medical approach really is just symptom based with no real desire to discover or treat the root cause of the problem. I have never been a big fan of painkillers for headaches or antibiotics for sickness. I loved trying out new alternative cures for a sore throat or skin condition. But this love for natural remedies was really pushed to the edge when I was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis.
Of course it is one thing to help a common cold with some garlic and vitamin C, but can you really help an auto-immune disease such as psoriatic arthritis? In all theory you should be able to. It is famously quoted 'you are what you eat.' Certainly diet and nutrition are a sound starting point, there are some other key factors as well. This article will briefly cover the diet aspect for more information in that regards please see my other article on the psoriatic arthritis diet. This article will also go on to cover the mental and emotion aspect of the disease and which are the nutritional supplements that you should be taking to help your psoriatic arthritis.
In brief your psoriatic arthritis diet should have a focus on fruit and vegetables. Start adding these to your diet. Use good organic sources of chicken, beef, eggs and fish for your protein. Learn about fats and the truth about saturated fats and cholesterol. Do not use artificial products like margarine or vegetable oil, ever! Cook in stable fats like butter and lard. Use coconut products such as the oil. Eliminate wheat and diary from your diet as these foods promote inflammation and auto-immune responses in the body. This is a brief introduction, for more explanation see my article on the psoriatic arthritis diet.
They say that stress causes 90% of all diseases. That statement is probably right. The body is an amazing invention, capable of adapting and handling almost anything we place on it. Think about drug addicts, alcoholics and morbidly obese people. The body doesn't just cave in, it adapts and puts up with the toxins and everything.for a while. But eventually it will reach a breaking point. The same is true for stress, mental or emotional. It can handle it for a while, but long term stress will manifest somewhere in the body. It may result in headaches, poor digestion, a skin rash or an auto-immune disorder. Learn to manage your stress. Yoga and meditation are great, make them part of your daily schedule for the rest of your life. Your yoga may need to be modified because of your joints, that is initially what I had to do. Get some perspective on the situations that cause you stress and realize that being stressed probably does not accomplish anything or help the situation at all.
Lastly as part of your psoriatic arthritis cure I want to discuss nutritional supplements. The last few years has seen great advancements in anti-inflammatory supplements and this is great for psoriatic arthritis. With supplements I believe you pay for what you get and I highly recommend getting your supplements through a qualified practitioner who can supply you with practitioner only supplements which are a lot more potent and powerful in the quantity of active ingredients they can provide because they are being used under supervision. High doses of fish oil, this goes without saying, even the mainstream medical association are recommending fish oil as anti-inflammatory. I suggest a good probiotic to help restore normal gut flora. And find a good herbal anti-inflammatory mixture. Look for products like turmeric, cat's claw or devils claw. There are some really good ones available now full of all the best anti-inflammatory herbs.
The goal of this article is to present an alternative to the mainstream medical approach for the management of psoriatic arthritis. I do not feel this type of information is readily available and I hope this may open people's minds up to the possibility that drugs are not the only choice. After reading the above recommendations, some folks might think 'gee, that seems very different to how I am currently living'. My reply is that is should be very different. If you were following anything close to the above you probably would not have an autoimmune disease and you wouldn't be reading this article. Start with one step at a time and take each day as it comes. Try to do a little bit better than the day before.
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