Published September 11, 1999 in The Campbell River Courier-Islander
How many times have you heard from your doctor "What do you expect for your age, learn to live with your aches and pains!" ? Every day patients complain to me about symptoms that their doctor has no answer for. In the case of arthritis there are many lifestyle changes and natural medicines that can make the difference between suffering from chronic pain or living an active more full life. You don't have to live with some of those pains you've had for years. Here are some of the suggestions I give to my patients.
Do you wake up with stiffness, and soreness that gets better once you get moving? I call this the "rusty gate syndrome". This is a common symptom as we get older and this is mainly due to lack of essential nutrients like calcium, magnesium, essential fatty acids, and good old water! It is also due to the "you lose it if you don't use it syndrome'! We humans were meant to keep moving! If you are able to walk even 30 minutes per day start today!
The first dietary change I suggest is that all arthritic patients avoid the "nightshade" family vegetables. These foods include potatoes (white and red), the pepper family included black and cayenne pepper, tomatoes, eggplant and tobacco. Yams and sweet potatoes are allowed. After avoiding these for one month, try eating one of these foods three times a day for two days and see how they affect your joints. This will be a good confirmation for you. Many of my patients are better within days of avoiding these foods and when they break the rules they find out right away when their joint pain returns quickly!
Other food sensitivities may contribute to pain so if after avoiding the nightshades you don't notice any improvement, I recommend doing IGG allergy food testing to determine other foods you may be sensitive to. This is a blood test and once the food sensitivities are isolated they are removed from the diet for at least three months to see results.
To speed up the recovery process I also recommend glucosamine sulphate. Over 300 scientific studies indicate that glucosamine sulphate is better than the non steroidal antiinflammatories (NSAIDS) such as Ibuprofen, Naprosyn and Aspirin in controlling the pain of arthritis. This topic of glucosamine is so important that I will spent my entire next article talking about it. For now be sure you take 1500 mgs per day and keep taking it for 6-12 months!
If you have been diagnosed with full blown arthritis possible other causes are diets too high in sugar, white flour and red meat. Toxicity is another cause of arthritis and is another interesting topic. I will write about that later too! For now you may want to see a Naturopathic physician to learn about some easy cleansing programs to get your body tuned up! Isn't it funny that we treat our cars better than we treat our bodies?
I see these symptoms every day in my practice and there are very real changes
you can make. You too can live a healthy, more active life if you are ready to
make some changes! Prove your doctor wrong. You don't have to live with as
much pain anymore!
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