Rheumatoid Arthritis
RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS is an autoimmune arthritic disease that often causes crippling deformities, loss of motion, and pain in the joints, most commonly the hands and feet, but generally spreads to all joints over time.
A couple years ago, I met a young woman in her 20’s, just getting ready to begin her life…but her body had other ideas. When your body decides to attack your joints, it tends to take all your attention. Your focus on a cup of coffee is distracted by the inability to tighten the muscles of your hands securely enough to lift the cup. Or as you try, the movement of the inflamed joints activates such an intense pain that you drop the cup.
Just like everyone, she had good days and bad days. But her good days was a lower grade ache, and her bad days were disabling pain. On those (BAD) days she could barely move her hands at all. This began her search for help.
Her first doctors prescribed Naproxen, an anti-inflammatory similar to advil. This took the pain down a notch, but was clearly not curing the problem. Finally, she was referred to the “specialist.” She was hopeful for some intense detective work, revealing ANSWERS to why she was having this severe pain.
She carefully explained her history and symptoms…expecting next to hear the battery of tests that would lead to the cause of her pain, and her eventual cure. Instead, her specialist simply looked at her and stated matter of fact, that she HAS Rheumatoid Arthritis, (which carries a life sentence of PAIN) and gave her a prescription for Humira.
She was devastated.
“Wait…your job is to find the CAUSE of my pain…” But…what most people don’t understand until they sit in her chair…is that finding CAUSE is NOT the purpose of your doctor. Your doctor’s job is to CATEGORIZE your symptoms, leading to a named disease. That named disease does NOT have a known cause, therefore does it have a known cure. What you leave that chair with, if they are able to name you something, is a pharmaceutical agent (drug) that controls the symptoms of the disease, and, if you are lucky, slows the progression.
Humira is an immune suppressing drug that blocks your immune cells ability to signal to the rest of the defense team for help. Imagine our military unable to radio for support when Pearl Harbor was attacked. Only the troops in direct fire are ever aware of our countries devastation, leaving Pearl Harbor in total overwhelm and ruin.
Our internal defense system is designed to control fungal, bacterial, and viral infections, as well as cell mutation. With the defense unable to rally, the side effect of this drug is increased risk of deadly infections and cancer. Overwhelm and Ruin. But your hands and feet feel better.
She was so disappointed at the lack of real inquiry into her problem…a diagnosis based on symptoms and a short “look”…that she began investigating alternatives.
She found True Health (our clinic) through a friend at church…and I didn’t disappoint her. If you ever need us, don’t freak out when you are at the lab and she pulls 12 vials for your blood draw. We order 3 pages worth of tests, which gives us a thorough look at all systems and organs. It points us directly to the source of inflammation, stress, and imbalance.
In her case, she had a bacterial infection in her intestines and liver, causing her inflammation markers to be 25 TIMES the optimal level. We also discovered that she was anemic, not from iron deficiency, but from her immune system also attacking red blood cells (It just keeps destroying if you don’t meet the NEED). She rated her energy levels at 3 out of 10 on her intake forms!
You are probably wondering how a team of medical doctors missed that she had a chronic infection!? I can only offer my guess, as I am not part of that team. I imagine they saw the elevated white counts, SED rate (identifying infection)…but their only play is antibiotics, and she didn’t have upper respiratory symptoms, so maybe they thought it was part of the autoimmune process. I doubt they tested C-Reactive Protein (systemic inflammation) because they don’t have any resources to treat it.
But…it was to the patient’s benefit that they didn’t. Here’s why…when you treat an infection with an antibiotic, your immune system fails to develop the maturity / memory of identifying and responding to that invasion. That leaves the immune system IMMATURE, and more likely to succumb to another invasion.
Here’s the difference in approach. Instead of fire-bombing the invasion (and countless civilians…our GOOD bacteria), or suppressing the immune system (Humira), we provided NOURISHMENT to the system (immune) in NEED. We used thymus and spleen glandular extracts to FEED the immune system, plus Vitamin C from mushrooms, and Vitamin A from carrots (concentrated in a supplement for therapeutic use). We also used Echinacea, a plant that further powers the immune system to defend against bacterial invasions.
Think of it this way. Your son gets in trouble at school. You could call the principal and smooth it over, fixing the problem for your youngster. And because he didn’t have to deal with the problem (and consequences) he causes more trouble (greater immaturity). But if you hold him accountable to deal with the problem, he matures and takes a step closer to adulthood (maturity, responsibility).
By supporting and nourishing her immune system THROUGH this problem, it developed a maturity and stopped causing trouble. In 3 months, her energy was rated at 10 out of 10 and she reported feeling “AWESOME!!”
Now, I try to head this off, but only experience teaches true wisdom. She returned to habits of old. Rushing through life, not caring for her SELF…skipping meals and eating fast food.
Have you ever heard of the book entitled “Fast Food Nation?” It is a reporter’s documentary of how fast food gets to your plate…or bag, in this case. I encourage you to check it out, and will share just one discovery. The author found that the meat is laced with poop. Factory farming and slaughter is disgusting. The author also discovered that the FDA, our representatives in Washington, made a law to limit the amount of feces in a burger, but the limit was far above zero.
I can’t say for sure that her fast food was the cause of her result, but the result was re-infection with bacterial invaders…her inflammation spiked higher than her first test…and her symptoms returned as bad or worse than before!
I had an autoimmune disease by age 1. Yup…I’m an overachiever! That’s pretty unusual…even more unusual than a young woman getting RA (most are over 40). I have learned to live with, and even appreciate my sensitivities. I can’t do what some people can get away with because my immune system LEARNED autoimmunity…and a good immune system never forgets! My primary reminder is allergies, and it keeps me walking a pretty straight line. But…I too…push the limits with regularity. I have learned to notice the symptoms early on, and self correct using nourishing plants and glandular…sooner rather than later. But…I too…have pushed too far and found myself out of control with infection and inflammation, which took months to recover from.
So…I hope…I was kind and understanding…with her discovery of “too far.” We responded to this exacerbation with what worked before…and we added multiple natural anti-inflammatories. Ginger, turmeric and another plant known as Gogi. The reality is that the only certainty is results…even with all the testing we do, we have to make our best choices/decisions, and still…we wait for the results!
Gogi seemed to drastically improve her symptom flare when we added it. It has 3000 years of documented history…and listen to this…among the noted benefits…builds up red blood cells, balances immune function, decreases inflammation, and relieves joint pain. Dang…it was like Gogi was made by God for her imbalances specifically!
It took her a little longer to recover…almost like her body was saying…”I want you to remember this!” She is still learning the balance of stress, diet, and health… (as am I) but she is keeping SELF in the CENTER more than ever, and having more” AMAZING ACTIVE” days! How’s that compared to her prognosis of “take this drug that will likely result in cancer, but may slow the progression of your disabling disease.”
Plus, her stress resilience seems to be growing rather than contracting…she can do MORE with less pain, and she feels in CONTROL once again!
By law, I am not allowed to treat or cure any medical disease…so instead I treated this woman for her imbalances…hers specifically, based on testing…and she…her SELF…is curing this disease. That’s how nature (God) works…
You can also purchase our AutoImmune protocol in our online Farmacy and heal at home!