How to Reduce Inflammation FAST… On a Budget!

I’ve had a lot of experience with this. If you’re flare is really severe, it can take time. And for some people, making these changes simply won’t do all that much if your disease isn’t being suppressed or changed by either medications or alternative treatments. BUT, in general, these switches will help, or at least I think they will! Good luck!

1. Switch from butter or margarine to OLIVE OIL.

2. Stop drinking milk and start drinking ALMOND MILK (unsweetened). Trader Joe’s carries it if you can’t find it elsewhere. Sugar is inflammatory so please don’t buy the sweetened version. And yes, honey IS sugar.

3. Start eating ORGANIC CELERY. Celery is known to reduce inflammation. It is also known to carry lots of pesticides if it isn’t organic.

4. STOP eating BREADS, PASTAS,RICE, WHITE POTATOES and CHIPS. You CAN eat Sweet Potatoes and Yucca. They are both Anti-inflammatory.

5. Stick with foods that are all natural. Buy the book, “The Inflammation Free Diet Plan” used at Amazon to understand more about inflammation and how much each food either decreases or increases inflammation. (Everything is in a point system).

6. Take COD LIVER OIL. It is one of the most anti-inflammatory fish oils to choose from AND it contains Vitamin A and Vitamin D. So it’s more bang for your buck! It can increase liver enzymes however, so don’t over due it and pay attention closely to your ALT levels. Once the flare is over, you may want to make the switch to something else, however, at this point I don’t have any great suggestions since most oils will increase your chance of higher ALT levels. Borage oil is pretty great as long as you choose one that is free of alkaloids. Just call the company and ask since most are unclear if they are PA free.

7. Get some light EXERCISE even though it hurts. Exercise will reduce the inflammation. Increase your exercise on days you feel better.

8. DON’T EAT SUGAR OR CHOCOLATE! If you need something sweet, buy bio-active Whey Powder and use Almond Milk. It’s sweet with a natural vanilla flavor. The almond milk will reduce your inflammation and the whey powder will reduce your tnf protein, thus reducing inflammation.

9. Get extra sleep! ZZZZZZZZZZ

10. EAT GASSY VEGETABLES. You heard me! Onions, Brussels sprouts, Asparagus, garlic, chard and cabbage are great sources. Gassy means it contains Sulfur and sulfur decreases inflammation. You’ve heard of Sulfasalazine and MSM right? Both contain sulfur, reducing inflammation.

11. If you don’t suffer from gastric reflux or ulcers, use CAYENNE PEPPER. I love to put it in my coffee. It’s a great anti-inflammatory and also helps, believe it or not, to make you feel calm.

12. If God gives you Lemons, you make lemonade, right? Well, if God gives you RA, you make LEMON WATER. Lemons reduce inflammation and they also help rid your body of toxins.

13. If you’re broke but need supplements, choose SWANSON. I did my best to research the company. From what I can tell, they are not ISO certified, however I had a hard time finding any company that was. I do not have experience with Swanson until my recent purchase (today-so I can’t tell you how the quality is), but I can tell you it was CHEAP, if nothing else!

14. Get some SUN if you don’t suffer from Lupus. Nothing compares to the real thing, even though supplements help and btw, you also get Vitamin K which helps suppress your appetite!

15. Speaking of appetite, just losing some weight and LOWERING YOUR CHOLESTEROL will reduce your inflammation. Cholesterol reducing medications have been shown to reduce inflammation in people with Arthritis. So be mindful of what you eat and know that lowering your cholesterol will do so much more than make you look great at your next doctor’s visit!

16. ACE BANDAGES can help push the swelling out and brace your joint for more comfort. And when you take it off, it forces the blood to rush back in, helping with circulation.

17. ICE PACKS in combination with heat, or even Ice packs on their own, depending on where the inflammation is can do wonders. I was able to reduce inflammation considerably by using an ice pack daily on a tendon due to RA.

18. Buy some airborn or the cheaper equivalent. Most drugstores carry their own version and it’s the same exact product. Airborn contains anti-inflammatories like vitamin C, zinc, ginger, etc. Take a few a day for a week and you’re flare should be easing up on you!

Is Rheumatoid Arthritis OUR fault??!! (A venting story)

Normal Hands vs. Arthritic Hands

Written by: Lisa (anonymous last name) Edited by: Sarah May

I have a wonderful group of well-meaning friends. They all know about my condition, which my mother and my mom’s mom also have (my grandma had all her knuckles replaced several years ago and has severely deformed hands).

Nevertheless, I keep getting these emails and such about WONDER DIETS that will PURGE MY SYSTEM of the RA. How if I eliminate fungus (mushrooms, antibiotics) I will heal. How if I give up this or that or balance my chi or add yin to my yang or take up underwater basket weaving that I will have a miraculous recovery. PUH-LEEZE!

Did I drink too much Diet Coke? Was it my years of smoking cigarettes in college? I didn’t start eating red meat until I was in my 20s. Maybe I never should have started?

I don’t know. I’m just so FRUSTRATED. I don’t want to waste time on wondering WHY or HOW the RA happened, because now I have it and I have to live with it.

I am all for trying anything to help. Hell, I’m even trekking to Montana to see a Native American shaman this summer to see if he can pull the negative stuff out of me :-)

But I feel like people are looking at me with question marks in their eyes, peering into my soul, wondering *if* anything is wrong with me.

Maybe this irritates me so much because I wonder the same things, too. Sometimes I wonder if anything is wrong with me.

I see my swollen hands and have dreams about pain when I’m asleep. When I have flares I cry. I feel defeated by RA. But I can’t help but wonder … what is it?!

I am sero-negative so far (dx’d six months ago). My sed rates were up, but then went down at my last test. I want PROOF. I just want to know WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME.

And I want the people I love to quit questioning it. I don’t have the energy to try every stinkin’ diet, fast, medication or method. I am TIRED (the doctors call it “fatigued”) and I am SORE and I just want to make it through the day and change my baby’s diapers and get dinner on the table and clean clothes in the drawers.

Can’t I do that in peace, without having to wonder if I CAUSED MY RA?

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Love you all, my kindred spirits.

Soft hugs all,
Lisa

Pulmonary Fibrosis

Scarring of the Lungs

First, what is Pulmonary Fibrosis?    “Pulmonary Fibrosis literally means lung (pulmonary) scarring (fibrosis). The lung scarring occurs in the tissue of the lung called the interstitium, which supports the structures of the lung (air sacs/alveoli). There are an estimated 130-200 related diseases called Interstitial Lung Disease that are similar in characteristics and can result in scarring. Pulmonary Fibrosis causes the lung tissue to thicken and become stiff. Scarring inhibits oxygen from entering the blood stream.”

Symptoms include “shortness of breath (dyspnea), especially during or after physical activity, and a dry cough.” -Mayo Clinic

What damages your lungs?  There are quite a few possible causes, including environmental factors, gerd, radiation, and various medical conditions, but don’t be surprised that it could be your medication. “Many drugs can damage your lungs, especially chemotherapy drugs (methotrexate, cyclophosphamide); medications used to treat heart arrhythmias and other cardiovascular problems (amiodarone, propranolol); certain psychiatric medications; and some antibiotics (nitrofurantoin, sulfasalazine).”-Mayo Clinic

If you are in the advanced stages of Pulmonary Fibrosis, your doctor may give you little hope.  “No cure exists for pulmonary fibrosis, and current treatments often fail to slow the progress of the disease or relieve symptoms.”-Mayo Clinic

Before you give up, alternative medications may be your best option.  Why Enzymes work:  “Enzymes eat scar tissue and fibrosis. Fibrosis is scar tissue and most doctors learn in anatomy that it is fibrosis that eventually kills us all. Let me explain. As we age, which starts at 27, we have a diminishing of the body’s output of enzymes. This is because we make a finite amount of enzymes in a lifetime and we use up a good deal of them by the time we reach our 40’s (Cystic Fibrosis patients who have virtually no enzyme production to speak of, even as children usually don’t make it past their 20’s before they die of the restriction and shrinkage in the lungs from the formation of fibrosis or scar tissue).

So our body begins to dole out our enzymes with an eyedropper instead of with a tablespoon. Result: the repair mechanism of the body goes off balance and has nothing to reduce the over abundance of fibrin it deposits in nearly everything from simple cuts, to the inside of our internal organs and blood vessels. It is then when most women begin to develop things like fibrocystic breast disease, uterine fibroids, and endometriosis. We all grow arterial sclerotic (meaning scar tissue) plaque, and have fibrin begin to spider web its way inside of our internal organs, reducing their size and function over time. This is why as we age our wounds heal with thicker, less pliable, weaker and very visible scars.

If we replace the lost enzymes, we can control and reduce the amount of scar tissue and fibrosis our bodies have. As physicians in the US are now discovering, even old scar tissue can be “eaten away” from surgical wounds, pulmonary fibrosis, and kidney fibrosis even colloid years after their formation. Medical doctors in Europe and Asia have known this and used orally administered enzymes for such for over 40 years! “

Sounds too good to be true?  If you have no options, why wouldn’t you try alternative medications.  According to Biomediclabs, “Within 4 weeks, patients should notice improvement of their symptoms including shortness of breath and coughing with phlegm.  After a 3-6 month treatment, patients should have significant improvement in their lung structure.  We recommend that patients take a chest x-ray before and after the treatment and compare the diagnostic results to monitor their progress.”

Before I tried alternative medications, I didn’t truly believe in miracles.  Serracor-NK was created for Pulmonary Fibrosis.  I know it has changed my life, and I have Rheumatoid Arthritis.  I believe in this product because of what it has done for me.