Help Pharmaceutical companies learn about you!

Whether you’re taking pharmaceutical drugs, or alternative medications, be part of a survey so they can get a better idea of what people need.

Centocor Ortho Biotech and UCB Pharmaceuticals is looking into researching two specific demographics of RA sufferers. The first group is for people who are using IV therapy and the second group is for people who are not using IV / injection treatment and are not using biologic meds.  Take this quick and easy survey if you’d like to be part of research.  It will only take a few minutes, I promise!  ((CLICK HERE))

Supplement substitutes (for Biologics)

Hello All!  If you are on a biologic, specifically for the treatment of an autoimmune disease or if you are considering one, then it’s important to realize how they work.  Here are a list of biologics that might be suggested to you:

• Actemra
• Cimzia
• Enbrel
• Humira
• Kineret
• Orencia
• Remicade
• Rituxan
• Simponi

Some of these biologics work by reducing tnf protein.  Those biologics include:

Cimzia, Enbrel, Humira, Remicade, and Simponi.

In my opinion, Kineret appears to be the safest of all biologics.  It works by blocking the action of the chemical messenger interleukin-1.  The only real drawback is that it is a daily injection and it is expensive.  But I am not here to tell you about these drugs really, but I did want to give you a brief bit of information on them as we go forward.

There are in fact, supplements that reduce tnf protein.  I can’t say how they work in comparison to a biologic that also reduces tnf protein.  I can’t tell you how much you should take either.  But I will say that if you are on a homeopathic adventure to controlling your disease, then you may want to give several avenues a shot.  Like drugs, supplements are powerful and for lots of people, have been proven successful.  If you are smart about it, you will attack your disease like a doctor would and figure out what supplements might actually work.  If you have Rheumatoid Arthritis, chances are you have too much tnf protein.  You probably have too much Fibrin as well.  But let’s talk about supplements that naturally reduce tnf protein.  Here are your options:

N-AcetylCysteine-click link to learn more about how N-AcetylCysteine reduces tnf protein.

-reduces tnf protein, chelates metals, breaks up mucus, and fights cancer.  For dosage and precautions click here.  For product recommendations, click here.

Lactoferrin-click here to learn more about how Lactoferrin reduces tnf protein.

-binds iron, fights yeast, helping with anemia, reduces gut inflammation, reduces skin reactions, anti-microbial activity-fighting against ecoli, immune defense, anti-inflammatory.

Reishi Mushrooms-click here to learn more about how Reishi Mushrooms reduce tnf protein.

-antioxidant, treats mononucleosis, bronchitis, lowers cholesterol, fights cancer and inflammation and improves sleep

Resveratol-click here to learn more about how Resveratol reduces tnf protein.

-anti aging, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, lowers blood sugar and gives cardiovascular benefits.

Monolaurin (lauric acid)-click here to learn more about how Monolaurin reduces tnf protein.

-prevents heart disease, increases metabolism, lowers cholesterol, fights candida, anti-microbial and much more.

There are other supplements that lower tnf protein, but this at least gives you a start.  Off hand, I don’t know what they are but perhaps I could research and add to this list sometime. I just know that if you are fighting an auto-immune disease, it’s important to hit it at all angles and tnf protein is definitely one of them.  Good luck on your quest to health!

((GENTLE HUGS))!!-Sarah

Serracor-NK: Reverse the Disease Process

Supplements that can reverse the disease process

Serracor-NK is a supplement that you can buy on-line from www.biomediclabs.com . This blend has tremendously improved my Rheumatoid Arthritis. First I noticed not having stiffness at night. Then I noticed getting out of bed and not feeling pain when my feet hit the floor.

Disease activity is in direct correlation to inflammation. If you can decrease inflammation, then you have less disease activity which means less destruction on joints and organs. Side effects from this supplement were only beneficial. It reduces high cholesterol, improves circulatory health, induces viral cleansing and I never expected this one… hair thinning-gone! Expect to have the same amount of hair that you had as a teenager! (Of course, individual results may vary). Perhaps my hair loss was being caused from my body attacking itself. After all, Lupus causes hair loss and even though I was diagnosed with RA, I do get a lot of Lupus-like symptoms. I had thought my hair loss was simply hereditary. I’ve always had great hair but the amount of hair I’d loose in the shower still bothered me. Methotrexate caused me to loose even more but when I stopped Methotrexate I noticed that during a flare, I’d still loose more hair than normal. Now I lose almost no hair at all. It’s amazing! Serracor-NK works by removing excess Fibrin in the body. If your inflammation is not caused by excess Fibrin, then Serracor-NK probably won’t work for you.

“Recent research has shown that fibrin plays a key role in the inflammatory response and development of rheumatoid arthritis.“-Wikipedia

For some people, experimenting with a supplement doesn’t sound like a good idea to them. I already felt that the medicines prescribed normally for Rheumatoid Arthritis are experimental, so trying supplements were a natural choice for me. A recent study in WebMD about Biologics shows that though they help with symptoms, they’re not the medical breakthrough doctors and patients were hoping for. Biologics like Enbrel are a very new choice of therapy. There are no guarantees. Although people feel safe taking a drug like Methotrexate because it has been around for a long time, I don’t find this any more consoling. Methotrexate is a drug that yes is widely prescribed by doctors but because it has been tested for so long, it is a fact and not a theory that taking this drug increases chances of cancer, digestive issues, Alzheimer’s and other disconcerting possibilities. It seems likely that at some point, you will suffer from some side effect. From my support group, Daily Strength, I commonly see people who have to temporarily stop taking Methotrexate because their liver enzymes were elevated. What this means is, their liver is getting damaged and they have to stop a medicine that is reducing pain, inflammation and joint damage, putting them behind with their therapy. I have been happily surprised that since starting Serracor-NK, I have not had to deal with a single flare. I feel healthy and can participate in most social events and activities without RA holding me back. Bottom Line: “The findings suggest that RA patients’ medical needs are not being totally met”–WebMD

After having been on traditional medications for over a year and then switching over to Low Dose Naltrexone and Serracor-NK, I can honestly say that stiffness, inflammation and quality of life have greatly improved. I do believe that I’m getting increasingly better. This kind of feeling wasn’t happening on Methotrexate and Prednisone. I would go to the gym several times a week and find myself unable to work out as hard. I lost a considerable amount of muscle and since then have been able to improve my exercise routine. If you do decide to try Serracor-NK, make sure you don’t expect miracles right away. Just like immune suppressant drugs, these things take a while. I didn’t really feel a difference until the end of the second month and even then it was a small change. By the third month I was extremely impressed and the fourth month, I felt even better. Unfortunately, you do have to take a lot of pills. That’s the downside….and it sucks. But the alternative is even worse in my opinion. I would much rather take pills everyday, all day long than have to deal with the amount of suffering caused from taking a drug like Methotrexate. For some people, they never experience side effects. I did experience many side effects and I worried constantly about side effects from methotrexate years down the line.

At the height of my RA, I couldn’t even sit up from the couch without a helping hand. Now I can run, lift a full pot of coffee and wake up early in the morning with ease and without the worry of morning stiffness.

If you are looking to avoid the toxicity of chemotherapy drugs, the side effects of corticosteroids, and the expense and issues involved in Biologics, then you have come to the right site. There are so many options out there but coming up with a plan that tailors to your disease and your body can be difficult. Immune suppressive drugs work so well across the board because they don’t have to figure out the problem. They work by suppressing the immune system to a point that the body simply stops reacting. My theory however is that your immune system will eventually try to figure out a way to overcompensate by being suppressed. This is just my theory and I am in no way suggesting that you stop your DMARD. On the other hand, for some people who are looking to find an alternative, I think these are great solutions. What if they really do reverse the disease process? All I can say is, get back to me in 10 years and I’ll let you know. Hopefully I’ll have the answer we all hope for which is yes, you can reverse the disease process if you catch it in time.

Consequences of long-term Vitamin D Deficiency

Finding a Vitamin D source

In a recent post on Daily Strength’s Rheumatoid Arthritis group, a support group I frequently visit, someone posted the question, “What do we know about Vitamin D and RA?”. Many responded that they had been tested and had low levels of Vitamin D. One person in particular stated, “My doctor was saying the Vitamin D issue with me is beyond getting sunshine or eating fish. I’m prescribed 60,000 IU every other day when the recommended daily amount is 400-800 IU a day. There’s clearly something blocking the absorption of this vitamin. Other RA sufferers may have this trouble metabolizing it or absorbing it as well.”

“According to a recent study in the Archives of Internal Medicine, 75 percent of Americans do not get enough Vitamin D. Researchers have found that the deficiency may negatively impact immune function and cardiovascular health and increase cancer risk. Now, a University of Missouri nutritional sciences researcher has found that vitamin D deficiency is associated with inflammation, a negative response of the immune system, in healthy women.”-Science Daily

“What are the consequences of long-term vitamin D deficiency? The answer to this question has become increasingly clear in the past few years. Actually, the first evidence in support of sun exposure as a source of vitamin D was published in 1941 by Apperly, who showed in the journal Cancer Research that cancers of various types were much less frequent in populations that lived closer to the equator. Since then, additional research has shown that vitamin D deficiency is a risk factor for breast cancer, prostate cancer, and numerous autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and type-1 diabetes. The most convincing study ever published on this topic was authored by Hypponen and colleagues in the November 2001 issue of The Lancet. In this remarkable study, the investigators administered 2,000 IU of vitamin D per day to more than 10,000 infants, who were supposed to receive the vitamin D supplement every day for the first entire year of life. Thereafter, the risk of developing type-1 diabetes was calculated and a dose-response relationship was established. The results showed a positive dose-response relationship: the more regularly vitamin D was consumed, the greater the protection afforded against the development of type-1 diabetes. Children who were given vitamin D supplements on a regular basis had their risk of type-1 diabetes reduced by an amazing 88 percent! No adverse effects were noted.”-Nutritional Wellness

For Rheumatoid Arthritis, an inflammatory condition, people often produce too much tnf, a cytokine. Biologics like Enbrel work by blocking tnf protein. Enbrel blocks the action of tnf. According to Science Daily, Vitamin D also plays a role in tnf.

“Increased concentrations of serum TNF-α, an inflammatory marker, were found in women who had insufficient vitamin D levels. This study is the first to find an inverse relationship between vitamin D levels and concentrations of TNF-α in a healthy, non-diseased population. This may explain the vitamin’s role in the prevention and treatment of inflammatory diseases, including heart disease, multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis.”

Need more proof? “Three clinical trials have documented an anti-inflammatory benefit of vitamin D supplementation, suggesting that vitamin D may be used as part of a comprehensive approach for the prevention and treatment of inflammatory disorders.^5,6 In one of the studies, a modest dose of vitamin D reduced blood levels of C-reactive protein by 23 percent, which is remarkable considering that CRP is considered one of the most sensitive markers for predicting the risk of cardiovascular disease.”-Nutritional Wellness

If you’d like to read more about Vitamin D3’s role on Cancer, Diabetes, Heart Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Osteoporosis and more………(LINK)