alternative therapy for RA???????? BIN THE DRUGS??

karinak
karinak Member Posts: 113
edited 14. Aug 2009, 15:58 in Living with Arthritis archive
Hi all,
I expect to get losts of posts with this subject!, sorry i have no information of alternative drug free therapy but hope someone has herbal remedies or advise, i really dont want to be drugged up so hoping there is just a glimmer of a miracle cure for RA!!, Am i asking to much?(probaby so), Got 1st hopital appt next week so really trying to grab as much info i can before i see them :D
Thanks Karina x

Comments

  • woodbon
    woodbon Member Posts: 4,969
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    HI, I think 'miricule cures' unfortunatly, are not availible for RA or most things. Personally I don't think any of the so called 'natural medicines' are for me, and I worry that they may be untested and some of them, harmful. Their are good natural suppliments around, and its a chocie that you and your health care provider have to make, all I would say is to be careful of people who promise the earth and charge large sums of money. Sorry, I'm negative, but I like to be careful. Love Sue
  • karinak
    karinak Member Posts: 113
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Hi Karina

    Hope it goes well at your appointment. Like many people have said already, if there was a miracle cure for RA, we'd all be queuing up for it.

    Just be careful. You can trawl the internet and see all kinds of "cures" - you just have to filter out the rubbish as best you can. There is some info on the AC website about alternatives for RA, which you might find useful.

    I've always tried to avoid drugs - but fortunately I've never really needed them. I'm not taking methotrexate prescribed for me, not yet anyway. Basically I'm terrified. But I've given myself a time limit, and in the meantime, I'm just waiting to see what happens (the eternal optimist).

    I take high strength fish oils and rosehip capsules. I take milk thistle to help support my liver whilst taking anti inflamms and painkillers (a month on, a month off for that). I also see a homeopath, who has helped in the past with various ailments, but it's very early days for that. Most supplements will take a while to have any effect usually. I also have a pomegranate concentrate, which his high in antioxidants, in case I don't get enough in my diet (you need those if you take fish oils).

    The problem with supplements etc, is that they can be quite expensive. I'm fortunate that we can manage it just now.
    At the moment, I'm much, much better than I was a few months ago, but I know that could change tomorrow. I do take NSAIDs and painkillers if I have a bad day (usually from overdoing things).

    At the end of the day, it's down to personal choice.

    Good luck anyway.
    Lynn xx

    Thanks lynn, I have started taking rosehip a few weeks back and also lipped greem mussel extract, eating more oily fish (yuk!) and grinning and bearing with morning stiffness. I et garlic daily and have heard ginger is good natural inflammotory but dont fancy eating it raw unless cooked(could do with some recipe with it in instead of dhal or stir fries but will share if i can find a good ginger recipe book. Glad to hear you dont always need to take the med and as you say it does show if you overdo things as i have experienced already.
    Thanks Lynn and take care x
  • livinglegend
    livinglegend Member Posts: 1,425
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    karinak wrote:
    Hi all,
    I expect to get losts of posts with this subject!, sorry i have no information of alternative drug free therapy but hope someone has herbal remedies or advise, i really dont want to be drugged up so hoping there is just a glimmer of a miracle cure for RA!!, Am i asking to much?(probaby so), Got 1st hopital appt next week so really trying to grab as much info i can before i see them :D
    Thanks Karina x

    Taking necessary medicine does not make you 'drugged up', it makes you sensible. Some people don't take their prescribed drugs and suffer for it. They have a choice, same as we do.

    Very few people have side effects from taking the right dosage of arthritis drugs. Initially the dosage may need adjusting up or down to get the right balance or a different drug to help. There is NO miracle cure, NO miraculous herbs or supplements that cure arthritis. I took double dosages of fish oils and supplements for 30 years and still went down with RA, a complete waste of hundreds of pounds for nothing.

    That's the bad news. Now for the good. Many people continue to do normal things, but adjust their lives to accommodate their disability. I had to give up work due to stress which seriously aggravated my RA. I still go weekly shopping, limp around the place, getting underfoot. I can still drive and still think. I have learned new skills, (I am now an expert on our TV's remote controls), made new friends via this website. Just as happy as I have ever been, but different. Being happy is a state of mind. I guess I am lucky.

    Joseph 8)
    Josephm0310.gif
  • lesleygraham
    lesleygraham Member Posts: 91
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Hi folks
    I agree with Joseph, I have taken many drugs (and still do) to combat my RA, the alternative is unthinkable. Unfortunately my RA is so severe that many of the drugs haven't worked or stopped working after a short period. My rhummy calls me a 'conundrum'. Without the 8 drugs I take I would be bed bound for the rest of my life and in agony. However, when I was first diagnosed 5 years ago, I tried all sorts of concoctions including drinking vinegar, mollases, suplements etc but to no avail. I'm not so optamistic now. Most rhummys are good and many of us couldn't function without their support and prescriptions, our 'miracle cures' are in their hands.
    Take care and be careful
    Les
  • karinak
    karinak Member Posts: 113
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    karinak wrote:
    Hi all,
    I expect to get losts of posts with this subject!, sorry i have no information of alternative drug free therapy but hope someone has herbal remedies or advise, i really dont want to be drugged up so hoping there is just a glimmer of a miracle cure for RA!!, Am i asking to much?(probaby so), Got 1st hopital appt next week so really trying to grab as much info i can before i see them :D
    Thanks Karina x

    Taking necessary medicine does not make you 'drugged up', it makes you sensible. Some people don't take their prescribed drugs and suffer for it. They have a choice, same as we do.

    Very few people have side effects from taking the right dosage of arthritis drugs. Initially the dosage may need adjusting up or down to get the right balance or a different drug to help. There is NO miracle cure, NO miraculous herbs or supplements that cure arthritis. I took double dosages of fish oils and supplements for 30 years and still went down with RA, a complete waste of hundreds of pounds for nothing.

    That's the bad news. Now for the good. Many people continue to do normal things, but adjust their lives to accommodate their disability. I had to give up work due to stress which seriously aggravated my RA. I still go weekly shopping, limp around the place, getting underfoot. I can still drive and still think. I have learned new skills, (I am now an expert on our TV's remote controls), made new friends via this website. Just as happy as I have ever been, but different. Being happy is a state of mind. I guess I am lucky.

    Joseph 8)

    thank you Joseph, that has helped and i wish you well.
    Take Karina x
  • jeannie2
    jeannie2 Member Posts: 135
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Hi Karina,
    I went throuugh this anti-drug phase for 3 years. Went to a chinese herbalist. It was going great but he needed blood tests and nobody would do them. He wouldn't treat me anymore. Incidentally, he was also a conventional ortho surgeon. I now wish I hadn't.

    The only thing I can say to you is please go see the rheumy, get all the advicie you can from them and put your head round it. I had to come off my meds 18 mths ago and am now going through endless tests. My new rheumy - who is superb - said to me 'untreated RA can be horrendous'. There is no miracle cure ..... sadly.

    If you go to these people, as the others say, you will be monitored and looked after very well. I wish you well with your clinic appointments and the meds.
    Jeannie S
  • jackie1955
    jackie1955 Member Posts: 632
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Hi Karina,

    Joseph (livinglegend) is absolutely right in what he says, couldn't have put it better myself.

    Read, and re-read, his posting.

    Understand what he is saying - there is NO miracle cure.

    Accept that, and then work with your Rheumatologist in getting the optimum treatment for you :)

    Jackie x
  • elnafinn
    elnafinn Member Posts: 7,412
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Hi Karina

    Quote:My new rheumy - who is superb - said to me 'untreated RA can be horrendous' quote Jeannie


    I do not have RA but that is one thing that I have learnt from reading most of the threads over the past 2 years from people who have posted on this site.

    By all means try alternatives but should your health begin to go down hill, do not dilly dally too long and never feel "a failure" for taking conventional meds to be able to feel much better and get on with you life.

    I wish you well
    Elna x
    The happiest people don't have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything.

    If you can lay down at night knowing in your heart that you made someone's day just a little bit better, you know you had a good day.
  • hedgepiggle
    hedgepiggle Member Posts: 2
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    jackie1955 wrote:
    Hi Karina,

    Joseph (livinglegend) is absolutely right in what he says, couldn't have put it better myself.

    Read, and re-read, his posting.

    Understand what he is saying - there is NO miracle cure.

    Accept that, and then work with your Rheumatologist in getting the optimum treatment for you :)

    Jackie x

    I have to agree with this couldn't have put it better myself. Work with your Rheumatologist to get the best out of life.
  • elnafinn
    elnafinn Member Posts: 7,412
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Hi hedgepiggle :D

    :D Welcome to the site. :D Hope to see your name around the forum. We all try to help each other and always offer lots of sympathy.

    Take care,
    Luv
    Elna x
    The happiest people don't have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything.

    If you can lay down at night knowing in your heart that you made someone's day just a little bit better, you know you had a good day.
  • hedgepiggle
    hedgepiggle Member Posts: 2
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    elnafinn wrote:
    Hi hedgepiggle :D

    :D Welcome to the site. :D Hope to see your name around the forum. We all try to help each other and always offer lots of sympathy.

    Take care,
    Luv
    Elna x

    Hi Elna Thank you for the welcome. been reading lots of the posts here. :)
  • roczko
    roczko Member Posts: 92
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Have a word with your doc.

    Mine was very reassuring and understanding when I talked to him about what I called "drug fatigue".

    I think sometimes when we see all the drugs lined up and realise they're needed just to get through the day, it can have a more than sobering effect. Don't keep it in though - it does help to talk.

    All the best.

    Patrick
  • page35
    page35 Member Posts: 1,081
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    HI
    I can understand your worries of taking all the meds, none of us would chose to take these drugs if we didnt have to.
    i know they have side effects and taking any drug for a long time can make us prone to other illnesses, but without the meds i am useless and cant even think straight.
    So i take the meds and live as best as i can today and today is a good day so i am gratefull for that.
    i wish you all the best and lots of good days. :D
    page
  • woodbon
    woodbon Member Posts: 4,969
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Hi, Scotslass, I agree one hunderd per cent. My o/h was a biochemist working on plant physiology, but politics have caused the work to be mainly done in the States and the big companies have shut down in this country.
    What I don't like are the ads that encourage people to spend large sums of money on products which are either useless or can be dangerous, as they have no proper scientific testing.
    Jutst a personal band wagon of mine!!! :oops: :wink:
    Love Sue
  • tweedie
    tweedie Member Posts: 70
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Hi,
    Asked my Rhumy if there was anything I should be taking , apart from the drugs he prescribed for RA/OA -- he got very shirty !!!' He said " I do wish people wouldn't take these other things like suppliments -- it can confuse test results !!!!" also he thinks most are a waste of money AND if he thought they were approriate he would prescribe them -- so I just stick to his advice -- he has been my life saver , no point in going if I am not going to listen
    Joanna
    (tweedie)
    xxx