Guest guest Posted November 7, 2005 Report Share Posted November 7, 2005 Not sure if I spelled that right but...my stepmother has been diagnosed with RA. The medicine they have given her to take (which she has not touched) would make her hair fall out, her blood go haywire and all kinds of other things as we all know. She is in so much pain sometimes she cannot move her fingers and she is not that old-not even 50 yet. Are there any herbal remedies or natural things that she can use to help her with the pain of it all? If anyone could help she would really appreciate it. She said she's willing to try just about anything at this point. Marci Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 7, 2005 Report Share Posted November 7, 2005 Marci, my sister was diagnosed with RA when she was 35. She is now 45. She has taken every meds her doctors have given her. When I suggested a more natural approach, she dismissed it, saying her doctor knows better. She is still in pain and is going downhill but refuses any new information or approaches. I don't know if this works or not.. but I have done some reading on MSM. (too hard for me to spell it all out! <G>). It helps replace natural "sulfer like" chemicals found in cartilages between bones and more. I found a way to make lotions/creams with it (fiddly at best.. <G>) and a friend of mine got some relief from her OSTEO arthritis (NOT RA.. but there are some people out there who claims it helps them with RA, too). I believe RA symptoms are stress related as well, so anything you can do to help her alleviate stress would help. Meditation, reading favorite books, listening to classical music, etc. might help. Also, anything to boost the immune system since it is an autoimmune type disease . I know there are files on the list website that explain how to boost immune systems so I won't go into that. I always use aromatherapy. Chamomile tea is good <G> and helps relieve stress, calms the body down so it can do what it needs to do to repair and be sure she gets plenty of rest - napping as necessary. Exercise the affected parts of her body.. even though it is a systemic disease, certain joints hurt more than others and need to be used gently and frequently to keep them from atrophying. Beware of repetitive motions though... can cause more stress! For what it is worth, my sister was first diagnosed with carpel tunnel in both hands/wrists (the doctors convinced it was due to her job typing so much for her job). After her operations (both hands/wrists), she didn't get relief... she was finally diagnosed with RA. One of the things that stand out to me about our early conversations about her disease was the fact that a few weeks/months before getting the symptoms, she had her first series of shots for Hep.B. I read somewhere that in some cases, HepB shots have been related to people getting RA and other autoimmune type diseases as well... may want to see if that was the case in your mom. I wish you luck in finding what would help her. It helps that she is willing to try different methods of healing. My sister went for years unable to go shopping, visit friends and relatives, etc due to the meds she was on and the risk of catching the slightest sniffle... the meds had destroyed her immune system that much. Terri Version: 7.1.362 / Virus Database: 267.12.8/162 - Release 11/5/2005 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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