Rheumatoid Arthritis Pain Relief and Cure

Living with the pain is the most difficult thing to accept among patients with rheumatoid arthritis, but this is not necessarily true for those people who seek ways for pain relief.

There are traditional and natural treatments as rheumatoid arthritis pain relief. Short-term relievers are drugs such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and cortisone-type medications. The use of drugs in the long-term medication has shown negative results among patients as certain complications developed over time.

Examples of these complications are the development of osteoporosis and gastrointestinal problems in the long-term use of aspirin. Side effects such as headaches, vomiting, nausea and gas problems are also among its known negative effects. Cortisone, usually given through injections are harmful in the long run because it promotes dependency as one of its side-effects.

Taking control of the situation is the first step towards rheumatoid arthritis pain relief. It should start with knowing what type of arthritis it is, its causes, symptoms and how to treat it. Get to know the medical terms that are used to refer to the condition and the other terminologies associated with it.

There have been books which are available in the market written by those who have suffered from rheumatoid arthritis and who found ways on how to eliminate the pain. A detailed outline about the condition and its causes are well explained in the books. These people have found the effective treatments by studying and experimenting on the different methods that help cure arthritis.

Natural rheumatoid arthritis pain relief includes losing weight, proper diet, fish oil, exercise and the use of natural food supplements. Alternative pain relief treatments are hot and cold treatments, positive thinking, relaxation techniques, massage, electrical stimulation, topical lotions and lastly, a good sense of humor.

Heat applications are useful for chronic pain suffered by those with rheumatoid arthritis. There are a lot warming techniques you can experiment on. Sometimes, the use of cognitive behavioral therapy is called for in cases where the physical pain has greatly altered the lifestyle of the patient by affecting his or her emotional and psychological health.

Food supplements are known to be the most effective pain relievers because they actually work on the main cause of the pain to relieve the symptoms such as swelling, redness and pain. Chemicals known to draw fluid to the cartilage to enable the mobility of joints are present in these food supplements such as chondroitin and glucosamine sulfate. One food supplement is available in the market that combines these chemicals to better repair the affected joints.

Naturally Treat Arthritis - The Link between Nutrition and Arthritis

Is arthritis literally draining the life out of you? If you answered 'yes', you should pay close attention to this next sentence. What you eat and drink is determining how much your joints ache! Let me explain.

Over the past centuries, arthritis has been a plague for most civilizations. However, in recent decades arthritis cases have sky rocketed, particularly in developed countries. You would expect just the opposite, right? But still today, in some indigenous, primitive tribes there is NOT one case of arthritis. Even more amazing for these indigenous tribes, men and women live to almost 100 years of age and go on working (planting, gathering, harvesting) up till their dying day. Why is this? The answer to this question is also cure to arthritis.

Arthritis has been denoted as the 'incurable disease' but is it? Hundreds of natural health experts say arthritis is curable and is determined by your diet. In fact, you could naturally treat arthritis with a simple 70/30 nutrition rule!

Arthritis-Free Nutrition: A New Way to Eat

Imagine what life would have been like 500 years ago? Now picture what kind of foods you would be eating. It doesn't take too much time to discover how our diets have changed in the past 500 years. And as we live in this age of McDonalds and fast foods, arthritis cases skyrocket like never before! Could you be arthritis-free by changing your diet? This information might surprise you!

If you are to prevent arthritis from destroying your life you must refrain from processed foods and other acid forming foods. Normally, a healthy diet should be 70% alkaline and 30% acidic. Alkaline foods are typically foods which are still in their natural state (raw and fresh). And acidic foods are typically foods which have been altered through processing, frying, and high-fat cooking.

Therefore, instead of eating acidic foods (cooked and processed), you should be eating mostly raw, fresh vegetables and fruits. Also, reducing the consumption of meats could also be helpful to your arthritis. By eating less meat and more fresh fruits and vegetables, you would be allowing your body to receive more nutrients and keep your acidic levels low. The result of your new diet could change the pain and inflammation affecting your arthritic joints.

The following is a list of alkaline foods (70%) and acidic foods (30%).

Alkaline and Acid Foods

Alkaline foods include: all vegetables (except peppers and beets); all fruits (except blueberries and prunes); flax, millet, quinoa, and amaranth; almonds, pignoli, fresh coconut, chestnuts; alfalfa sprouts, radish sprouts; unsalted butter; eggs; milk; honey; fruit and vegetable juices; herbal teas; most herbs and whey.

Acidic foods include: processed foods; fast foods; all meat and fish (eat sparingly); rice; oats; wheat; cornmeal; popcorn; pasta; most breads; grains; beans; cheese; seeds; nuts; sodas; alcohol; coffee; tea; most yogurts; and most condiments.

Cure Your Arthritis Today!

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What Are Palindromic Rheumatoid Arthritis Symptoms

Palindromic rheumatoid arthritis disease is whereby you experience periodic episodes of pain, swelling, warmth, and stiffness of joints. You have recurrent attacks of transient inflammation in and around the joint. The pain is usually focused on two or three joints. The pain can be very severe and it is difficult to find relief.

Palindromic Rheumatoid Arthritis Symptoms

Palindromic rheumatoid arthritis is usually characterized by episodic articular, or periarticular pain. Joints that are affected are usually your fingers and knees. The pain may be intense but it does not stay for more than two or three days. The attacks can end as fast as they begin.
You can easily spot the specific pattern in these recurrent episodes of pain. In 60% of the cases of palindromic rheumatoid arthritis, pain-free periods may last for several weeks or months. In some cases, these attacks recur after years.

Rheumatoid factors in Palindromic Rheumatoid Arthritis

There are certain rheumatoid factors that may be present in some of the Palindromic rheumatoid arthritis patients. Some these rheumatoid factors include:

* It is the large joints that are most commonly afflicted in the recurrent episodes of attack.

* However, in the swelling of the periarticular tissues such as heel pads and finger pads, soft tissues are also involved.

* Aside from pain and swelling, the Palindromic rheumatoid arthritis patient may feel nodules just below the skin in subcutaneous tissues.

* Blood tests: If they indicate an elevation of the ESR (Erythrocyte sedimentation rate) and CRP (C-reactive protein) level, it is a rheumatoid factor.

Treatment for Palindromic Rheumatoid Arthritis

It is difficult to treat palindromic rheumatoid arthritis. One of the main reasons is attributed to the transient nature of the episodes of pain and attack.

Even the anti-inflammatory medicines may not be very effective. However, what is usually prescribed are disease-modifying drugs such as hydroxyxhloroquine or methotrexate for Palindromic rheumatoid arthritis patients.

In all these cases, the treatment is symptomatic. As such, they do not address the root cause of palindromic rheumatoid arthritis. More research is now being conducted for this special form of rheumatoid arthritis disease. Hopefully, with more light shed on this disease, there can be a cure some day.

The Effect of Smoking in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients

Most of us know that smoking would lead to lung cancer. Not just lung cancer, but also, various other cardiovascular diseases as well. Apart from these two life threatening complications, smoking has been proven to be a risk factor for rheumatoid arthritis. This very factor has led to many clinical studies to establish the connection between this chronic autoimmune disorder and smoking.

Ironically, it is not known to date, what causes smoking to increase the risk of rheumatoid arthritis, neither it is clear why even treatment in patients is affected if they are smoking during the course of it.

Rheumatoid Factor in Smokers: The Journal of Rheumatology published a report in its March, 2000 issue regarding the effect of smoking in rheumatoid arthritis patients. This report was the theory proposed by Dr. Frederick Wolfe, a specialist in Rheumatology and this also details the results of his research. The smoking effect was studied on the clinical, radiographic and laboratory fronts in the patients.

According to Dr. Wolfe's theory, the effect of smoking can be clearly studied provided the rheumatoid factor in these patients was studied separately.

Rheumatoid factor is not present in all the people. These are antibodies that bind themselves to other antibodies and trigger an autoimmune response. This factor is not present in all the people. Mostly aging people (about 20 percent) are known to contain elevated levels of this antibody that is responsible for a rheumatoid arthritis attack.

According to Dr. Wolfe, this factor would definitely have to be more in smokers and less in non-smokers to prove that smoking is a major risk factor of rheumatoid arthritis.

The Research Objectives: The prime objectives of Dr.Wolfe's study-

- determine elevated rheumatoid factor levels in smokers
- determining the quantitative effect of smoking

As part of the study, 640 patients who have been suffering from rheumatoid arthritis patients (consisting of both men and women) were taken into consideration.

Among the 640 patients, while 18 percent of them were current smokers, 28 percent were found to be past smokers.

The study found that smoking rheumatoid arthritis patients had a higher rheumatoid factor when compared to their non-smoking counterparts.

Also, the rheumatoid factor was found to be increasing in smokers of longer durations.

These elevated rheumatoid factor levels were increasing or elevated irrespective of the gender.

Thus, smoking definitely proves to have a negative impact on rheumatoid arthritis patients.

Effect of Smoking While Treating Rheumatoid Arthritis: Not just increasing the risks of arthritis, but smoking can also diminish the benefits and effects of treatment in rheumatoid arthritis patients.

The 2011 January issue of the American College of Rheumatology's journal, Arthritis and Rheumatism has published the results of a ten year long study which suggests that smoking can lessen the impact of drugs like methotrexate inhibitors of Tumour Necrosis Factors in Rheumatoid Arthritis sufferers.

As part of the study, 1430 patients were studied at the Karolinska Institute of Stockholm, Sweden.

The study revealed that patients who smoked while on treatment were having either diminished effects of the drugs or were not responding to them. At the same time patients who smoked in their past and have given it up were not affected in any way.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has estimated that around 0.8 percent of the adults across the world, aged over 15 are victims of this dreadful autoimmune disorder which leads to severe joint swelling and degeneration along with pain. Even the healthiest of persons with no vices whatsoever can be affected by this arthritis condition.

Thus, it is better to avoid any external risk elements (like smoking) that can trigger this disease.

Psoriasis - Emu Oil and Indigo Are a Great Healing Combination

Drugs can help some people with psoriasis, but drugs are not the answer for everyone and drugs are not always the best idea, either. Psoriasis sufferers who've tried the drug route unsuccessfully are learning that they don't have to live with psoriasis any longer. There is a natural product that, with daily application, regulates skin cell growth and takes away any itching at the same time, and with no side effects. That natural wonder is Emu Oil.

This amazing oil works because it is a powerful anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant. Your skin will return to it's normal state because it helps your skin regenerate new, healthy cells. Because of its' very fine particle size, it is quickly absorbed deep into all layers of your skin to regulate the cells' growth. The oil is odorless, tasteless and anti-bacterial and it is trans-dermal. There is no oily residue unless you've used too much.

And now, scientists have discovered something that gives this healing oil a double whammy against psoriasis. There is an herb that researchers in Taiwan thought might help psoriasis, so they had volunteers willing to try it on half of their bodies, with a control on the other half.

The herb is indigo (indigo naturalis) and the researchers mixed it with petroleum jelly and spread it on one arm of the psoriasis suffers. They spread plain petroleum jelly on the other arm. Seventy-four percent of the participants in the study experienced significant clearing of the psoriasis on the arms treated with indigo.

Now, we would recommend that you mix the powdered indigo with Emu Oil instead of the petroleum jelly because this oil, in and of itself, is excellent for returning psoriatic skin to health. It nourishes your skin with omega-3 and -6 essential fatty acids and is composed of forty-three percent omega-9 fatty acid, a very powerful anti-inflammatory agent. This wonderful oil also relieves any itching you might be experiencing and the omega-7 in it is an anti-oxidant that promotes the regeneration of healthy tissue.

We do not recommend using petroleum jelly on your skin at all, because it is a chemical and a significant portion of it is absorbed into your body. Some people are allergic to it.

Powdered indigo is available from health food stores, Chinese herbalists or online. We would caution you against taking it internally as it can cause liver and gastrointestinal problems when taken long-term.

People who want to continue taking drugs should know that Emu Oil can enhance the effectiveness of topical medications by carrying those creams deep into their tissues, along with the benefits that the oil itself carries.

Are you also suffering from psoriatic arthritis? If so, this versatile oil is an excellent pain reliever for arthritis because it penetrates deeply through all the layers of your skin down to your muscles and bones and lubricates and gives relief from pain. You can buy Emu Oil products mixed with natural botanicals to enhance the beneficial effects of the oil, at [http://EmuOilNaturals.com/] Check out the Pain Relief and Arthritis pages for products made from the oil.

You can also take this healing oil internally, in the form of supplements, and the healing properties of the oil will speed up recovery from psoriasis and other ailments, the list of which is too long to list here.

Effective Arthritis Pain Relief - Tips And Treatments

I got rid of my arthritis and arthritis pain forever by doing one single thing - read on. There is a little-known natural solution to curing oneself of arthritis pain that I discovered several years ago.

Arthritic joints appear to be larger, are stiff and painful, and usually feel worse the more they are used. Arthritis is usually found in the joints of the fingers, feet, knees, hips, and spine. Unlike some other types of arthritis, such as rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis is not systemic - it does not spread through the entire body.

Joints are designed for normal and painless movement and are primarily supplied by the synovium and cartilage. Cartilage contains chondrocytes, water, proteoglycans and collagen; chondrocytes are the basic cartilage cells and are necessary for balance and function. The combination of the collagen meshwork and high water content tightly bound by proteoglycans creates a resilient, slippery pad in the joint, which resists the compression between bones during muscle movement.

Aging cells may be a factor in the development of arthritis. It's generally thought that inflammation plays a minor role in osteoarthritis and is more likely to be a result, not a cause, of arthritis. As chondrocytes (the cells that make up cartilage) age, they lose their ability to make repairs and produce more cartilage; this process may play an important role in the development and progression of osteoarthritis.

Nutrition experts say it takes a combination of supplements, that no one supplement can relieve arthritis pain, build cartilage, etc. Try massaging your fingers or other affected joints with coconut oil twice a day. One natural treatment method involves avoiding all inflammatory foods.

If your osteoarthritis is affecting your load-bearing joints, keeping your weight within a normal range is important. Make smoothies with fruit only using a base of two bananas, adding a cup of frozen or fresh blueberries and mango chunks or substitute any other fruit and add an energy boost of two tablespoons of coconut oil; add one or two leaves of kale for another highly nutritional boost -- no one will ever know. Dried Montmorency tart cherries seem to be helpful for arthritis pain also.

A study in Great Britain touted the beneficial effects of cod liver oil on osteoarthritis; relieving pain and stiffness, and reversing the destruction of joint cartilage within 24 hours. Watch your diet closely - load-bearing joints are affected by excessive weight; they are the hips, knees, feet and spine.

I eat a diet of living foods (fruits, raw veggies, raw nuts and raw seeds) to relieve my arthritis pain and this should be tried for at least 30 days, thus eliminating any foods that might be culprits. If you're not already doing so, make a big effort to watch your diet.

To be on the safe side always seek your doctor's advice before starting or changing your exercise program. Whatever you do, keep moving; don't sit when you can stand, don't stand when you can walk. For arthritic fingers, a good exercise is to put your finger tips together and press hard and release, then repeat several times. Use Taiji health balls, with the chimes, to strengthen the finger joints: hold two balls, move in a clockwise circle with your fingers to rotate them, then try counterclockwise and do throughout the day.

Try to keep painful joint areas in motion, even in a limited manner. Keep a bedside basket of arthritic aids for arthritic hands (Theraputty, hand grips, Taiji chime balls, etc.) to be used at bedtime or while watching television. Stretching and warming up the joints should always be the first step in your exercise routine to make your joints more flexible.

Be aware that the use of NSAIDs or Cox-2 inhibitors do not halt the progress of osteoarthritis and may even hasten the onset. If you're planning to take any of the non-prescription NSAIDS for arthritis, make sure you understand what bad effects they can have on the stomach, liver and/or kidneys and discuss this with your doctor. At the very least, understand what the side effects and adverse reactions are for any drug you take.

Knowing more about arthritis and how it works will ultimately help contribute to your relief of arthritis pain. One should not only search for relief of arthritis pain but work on preventing it. Your treatment plan should include an anti-arthritis diet, exercise, and a positive mental attitude.

Who Else Wants General Information on Arthritis?

Today there are about 70 million Americans with arthritis...that's one person out of every four who suffer both pain and the expense of this crippling disease. In one year alone, arthritis will be responsible for over half a billion dollars in lost wages. The economic consequences of arthritis are important to review because each year, arthritis takes a devastating financial toll on our society.

Over the course of ten years, arthritis related work loss has been associated with a 37% drop in income for arthritics - all those without arthritis had a 90% rise in income over the same period of time!

If you...a friend...or a relative has arthritis, it's important to know that early treatment can help sufferers continue with their normal daily lives and remain productive members of the community.

The term "arthritis" is derived from the Greek: "arthron" meaning "joint" and "itis" meaning inflammation. Arthritis is a word that describes over 100 different conditions, some involving inflammation and others not.

Arthritis is not a single disease. It encompasses about 100 different conditions, that affect joints and that pose unique problems for diagnosis and treatment.

Some common types of arthritis include osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, gout, pseudo-gout, ankylosing spondylitis, polymyalgia rheumatica, psoriatic arthritis, Reiter's disease, systemic lupus erythematosus, and fibromyalgia.

Most types of arthritis involve joint inflammation. Inflammation is the body's natural response to injury or infection.

For an example of inflammation, take a simple scratch...your body automatically releases chemicals that cause fluids to accumulate and white blood cells to gather around the area of the scratch. As your body fights foreign substances and bacteria, inflammation...redness...heat...swelling...and pain occur at the sight of the injury.

In arthritis, unfortunately, this natural defense mechanism goes awry. Elements from the blood designed to fight infection and repair injury attack the body instead.

And, unless this inflammatory process is halted, it will continue to attack the body and cause joint destruction.

So you can begin to see how treatments that just relieve the pain associated with arthritis - but that do not reduce inflammation - may not adequately treat this disease.

Getting proper treatment early on is important...because proper care can help arthritis sufferers lead more active and comfortable lives.

Yet many people with arthritis delay going to a physician. Either they have fear about going to a doctor or they feel that nothing can be done for arthritis. Other reasons include the notion that all arthritis medicines are harmful or arthritis is just a normal part of aging.

Some people try unproven remedies which also delay proper diagnosis and treatment.

Since arthritis may evolve gradually, people often ignore its early warning symptoms or signs. These include persistent pain, tenderness, or swelling in one or more joints...symptoms that should not be dismissed as signs of age.

Other warning symptoms are joint pain and stiffness...especially when they appear in the morning.

Low back pain is one of the earliest symptoms of arthritis. For people over the age of 60, arthritis is the most frequent cause of low back pain.

The activity of arthritis varies unpredictably. Symptoms are cyclic in nature and seem to come and go.

Therefore, it is important to remember that any symptoms or signs of arthritis that last for more than six weeks - no matter how mild - should be checked by a physician. And, if symptoms are severe, then even waiting six weeks might be too long.

The two most common types of arthritis are osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. Joint inflammation is involved in both.

But, these types of arthritis differ in terms of...age of patients who are affected...the joints involved...the pattern of stiffness...and the potential for disability.

Close to 16 million Americans have osteoarthritis - the most common type of arthritis. Although osteoarthritis can occur at any age, it most often begins in people in their 50's and 60's.

Osteoarthritis or degenerative disc disease is a disorder of cartilage - the gristle that covers the ends of long bones. Cartilage is made of cell called chondrocytes which sit inside a framework made up of collagen and proteoglyens. Under normal conditions, chondrocytes make collagen and proteoglycens - in other works - they make the framework they sit inside. With osteoarthritis, chondrocytes behave abnormally and begin to make destructive enzymes such as collagenasese, stromelysin and others. These enzymes degrade cartilage...these enzymes also attract inflammatory cells which secrete substances called cytokines which cause further inflammation and damage to cartilage, underlying bone, and the joint lining.

This process results in progressive pain, stiffness, and loss of function.

Joint pain and stiffness are the most noticeable symptoms of osteoarthritis. Morning stiffness is usually brief lasting less than 15 minutes. Osteoarthritis usually affects weight bearing areas particularly the neck, low back, hips and knees.

It may also affect the fingers and hands and bony knobs may appear at the finger joints. The base of the thumb may also be affected. The typical pattern of osteoarthritis in the hands involves the distal and proximal interphalangeal (DIP and PIP) joints of the fingers, and the carpometacarpal (CMC) joint of the thumb.

Osteoarthritis is considered to be a degenerative joint disease. Along with inflammation, there is wear and tear on the inside of the joint.

This causes damage to the cartilage (the substance that forms the surface of the joints and works as a shock absorber). As the cartilage wears thin, the underlying bone is damaged. This process results in progressive pain, stiffness, and loss of function.

Osteoarthritis does not need to be disabling and with the proper medical care can be managed easily.

Rheumatoid arthritis is the other most common type of arthritis. It is more common in women and affects 7 million Americans...or one out of every five arthritis patients. It may affect any age group, although onset is most common in middle age.

Rheumatoid arthritis is usually characterized by heat, swelling, and pain in multiple joints in both the right and left sides of the body, including the hands, wrists, elbows, hips, knees, ankles, and feet. Spinal involvement also occurs on occasion.

The typical pattern of rheumatoid arthritis in the hands involves the proximal interphalangeal (PIP) joints, the metacarpal phalangeal (MCP) joints, the wrists, and the elbows.

Unlike osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis can affect the entire body. People with this disease may feel sick all over...tire easily...lose their appetite...and lose weight.

In rheumatoid arthritis, the tissue that surrounds and nourishes the joints is attacked by the body's immune system. The body mistakenly perceives its own tissue as foreign, and it reacts by sending special white blood cells and toxic chemicals called cytokines to destroy the foreign material. (The cytokine abnormalities that cause the damage in rheumatoid arthritis are different from the abnormalities seen in osteoarthritis.) This process of white cell migration and cytokine release damages the joint.

Although we do not know the cause of rheumatoid arthritis, researchers are investigating several possibilities.

Another interesting point about rheumatoid arthritis is that this disease can affect the internal organs including the lungs, skin, blood vessels, spleen, heart, and muscles.

If rheumatoid arthritis is not well controlled it can damage the joints irreversibly and cause serious disability.

To diagnose rheumatoid arthritis, the rheumatologist establishes the presence of joint pain and inflammation lasting at least six weeks and then looks for signs of the course of the disease that are characteristic for rheumatoid arthritis.

There are also blood tests that aid in the diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis.

Patients with rheumatoid arthritis have a series of flare-ups followed by a period where there are mild or no symptoms. Usually, the pain and disability of rheumatoid arthritis progresses gradually.

Morning stiffness generally lasts longer than half an hour and may last several hours depending on the severity of the condition.

Most forms of arthritis persist for the patient's lifetime. Medication cannot usually reverse the bone and soft tissue damage caused by arthritis.

However, new methods of measuring inflammation and its response to medication and other treatments offer valuable information to physicians...and can help to evaluate the arthritis sufferer's discomfort.

Magnetic resonance imaging is one such technique. This method using the effects that strong magnets have on water molecules to provide exquisite images of the interior of the body. MRI has been used to diagnose and also assess the degree of damage within joints of patients suffering from arthritis. It is also helpful for evaluating the effect of new drugs.

Although there is no cure for arthritis, proper treatment can help tremendously. The goal of arthritis treatment is to relieve the pain and stiffness due to the progressive destruction caused by inflammation, and to maintain or increase freedom of movement.

Among the advancements that have taken place in the medical treatment of arthritis are various disease-modifying medications that not only relieve symptoms but also help slow down the progression of disease.

Other advances include various cartilage sparing drugs, cartilage growing drugs, and also biologic remedies. These drugs act by blocking the destructive effects of enzymes such as metalloproteases in osteoarthritis and cytokines in rheumatoid arthritis. By targeting specific processes, relief of symptoms and healing of damage can take place with presumably fewer side effects.

What can you do if you think you have arthritis?

First, you can consult your doctor. This is important because medical issues are complicated and your doctor, who understands your health needs, can prescribe the best treatment for you.

The type of doctor who can best evaluate arthritis is called a rheumatologist. These are physicians who have completed four years of medical school, three years of internal medicine residency, and three years of rheumatology fellowship.

While arthritis can be a serious disease that can progress and cause disability, science has come up with some new answers for arthritis sufferers. It is now up to the arthritis sufferer to recognize early warning signs and symptoms and to see a rheumatologist. With proper medical care, the course of this crippling disease may change and people can help to be returned to fully active lives - without pain and crippling disability.