Arthritis: Taming the Fire Within

Dear reader,
Neel's Pharmacy, #8 Crestwood Executive Center, Crestwood, MO 63126 asked me to write a piece on arthritis for their Aril/May Newsletter. I thought I would share with you what I have written. Yes, this is an endorsement of Neel's Pharmacy.

TAMING THE FIRE WITHIN

by Dr. (Thomas) Duckworth, DKM, L.Ac.,
Natural Life Therapy Clinic. 443 North New Ballas Road, Suite 224, St. Louis, MO 63141
Tel: 314-991-6035
www.nltclinic.com, www.naturallifetherapy.blogspot.com

I practice Traditional Japanese Meridian Therapy (aka Oriental Medicine), a complete healthcare system that has been practiced for several thousand years. Eastern Medicine’s understanding of the energetic functions and interconnections of the body’s life energy (chi) is quite different from the Medical and Chiropractic model. We recognize that all disease, discomfort and disharmony occur when the body’s energy loses its balance. When imbalance occurs then stagnation or inflammation arises. Arthritis, bursitis, conjunctivitis, bronchitis, all the ‘itis’ words speak of inflammation but in Eastern medicine, we are looking at patterns, at expressions of the body’s imbalance. Inflammation can manifest as fever, severe pain, infection, dehydration and as “quick to anger” issues. Thus someone with knee arthritis, sinus problems, shoulder pain and a temper has four symptoms but perhaps only one issue, inflammation. Diagnosis is pretty straight-forward and so is the treatment: Inflammation (fever) must be cooled and stagnation (cold) needs warming. For many hundreds of years, what western medicine terms “arthritis”, has been recognized as “fever in the intestines” and the cure is ‘taming the fire within.’

These inflammatory conditions can be nurtured and made stronger or they can be cooled down and dissipated. The healing process is a “do it yourself” project with adjunctive support, instruction and cheerleading from your acupuncture physician. Inflammation can be enhanced by eating foods that cause or aggravate inflammation and can be decreased and even gotten rid of by eating anti-inflammatory foods. So, what foods are we talking about? At Natural Life Therapy Clinic, we recommend taming the fire with green vegetables. Through Oriental Medicine we know the small intestine needs foods with a slight bitter taste like dark greens and that the digestive actions upon vegetables actually uses some of the heat locked in the stomach and intestines. We also recommend:

1- the elimination of sugar and sweeteners; decreasing sweets will help but elimination might cure. This means no pies, cakes, pastry, ice cream, no artificial sweeteners, no high fructose corn syrup; these all fuel inflammation. I am sorry, but they do.

2- Decrease fat intake; eat less meat, oils, salad dressings, all forms of dairy, fried foods, margarine, all fats. They are inflammatory.

3- Decrease caffeine as much as possible. If you must, have one cup of quality coffee daily, although even one cup a day is probably going to be troublesome. Absolutely no soft drinks; beware of chocolate and cocoa, contain both sugar and dairy.

4- Cut out white rice (inflammatory), eat brown rice (anti-inflammatory); eat sweet potatoes (anti-inflammatory), say ‘no’ to white potatoes (inflammatory); stop using white flour products like white bread, pasta and flour(inflammatory), start using whole grain breads, pasta and flours (anti-inflammatory).

5- Yes, eat berries and melons, they are anti-inflammatory.

6- Take at least 3,000 mg of Vitamin C and 400 IU’s of vitamin E daily.

In addition, we instruct folk in the use of ginger soaks and compresses for inflamed muscle and joints, the use of albi plaster and cabbage plasters for pain. We recommend our patients go to Neel’s Pharmacy and obtain homeopathic arthritic meds, especially BHI Arthritis, Heel Zeel (tabs and cream) and Traumeel (tabs & cream). We also warn folk to be very careful using over-the-counter drugs for pain. Ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin, Nuprin, Medipren) can cause kidney failure in people with mild kidney disease; probably no one over 60 should take Ibuprofen. Acetaminophen (Tylenol) can cause liver damage if the person also drinks alcohol. Please seek advice from a natural health oriented pharmacist like, Patrice Neel Frieda.

This is your body; be kind, be patient. It took a long time for these symptoms to appear. It will take awhile for them to disappear. Just following these recommendations should bring relief within 4-6 months. Receiving traditional Japanese acupuncture, using soaks, practicing additional nutritional considerations and more aggressive self-health care, this time could be reduced significantly.

A final note, dear reader. I am 69 years of age, have been in practice 34 years and have had to deal with arthritis. It is reversible. Best wishes.