Arthritis – practical help

Okay, before we begin let me nail my colours to the mast. I am not a medical professional. I am 75 years of age and previously worked as a stress therapist. I do not take any pills – at all. Not paracetamol or its equivalent or anti-inflammatory drugs, aspirin. Nothing. They are not necessary and worse, they can help exacerbate the problem. And what do doctors prescribe…?

What I am about to outline is the result of my years of experimentation, trial and error trying to find the root cause of arthritis and what to do to relieve the constant pain, increase my mobility and generally retain a quality of life. What you are about to read is simple, proven, practical advice. What you do with that information is up to you.

Let’s start at the beginning. Arthritis is an autoimmune disease. The medical definition is as follows:

Immune system disorders cause abnormally low activity or over activity of the immune system. In cases of immune system overactivity, the body attacks and damages its own tissues (autoimmune diseases). Immune deficiency diseases decrease the body’s ability to fight invaders, causing vulnerability to infections in response to an unknown trigger, the immune system may begin producing antibodies that instead of fighting infections, attack the body’s own tissues. Treatment for autoimmune diseases generally focuses on reducing immune system activity.

An unknown trigger… ? Since our bodies are well designed to self heal why this anomaly? The problems arise when the immune system cells target the body’s own healthy tissues signalling the body to attack them. i.e attack itself. Now think about that. Our bodies are designed to withstand tremendous damage and survive so how is this suicide situation possible? Studies indicate these diseases likely result from interactions between genetic and environmental factors. In other words, the medical profession has no idea what they are or what causes them. But we do know some autoimmune diseases are more common when people are in contact with certain environmental exposures, such as the junk sold to us as food for the past 150 years.

Could it be as simple as a dietary change and all will be well? Possibly – according to Dr. Steven Gundry in his excellent book, The Plant Paradox. The findings of Patrick Holford and Jerome Burne in their excellent book, Food is Better Medicine Than Drugs come to much the same conclusion – with additional information. The food you put in your mouth dictates your health. That is a simple and undisputed fact. For the past 150 years the food and drugs industry have been hard at work poisoning us. I appreciate for some this will be difficult to accept but examine the evidence. Don’t take my word for it. For the past 150 years food and chemical producers like Heinz, Nestle, Monsanto, Bayer, etc., etc., have been poisoning us – for money. That’s it. You have a painful, life restricting disease because the people who work in these companies want to make money… and more money… and more money. You don’t matter. Their reputations and egos matter. Their share price matters. Maybe you have shares in these companies? Maybe you work for one of them?

But let me be clear, arthritis has been found in mummies and Neanderthals. It is not new. 8% of the skeletons found had arthritis compared to 16% of people today suffering. So why the increase? We can guess from now till Hell freezes over but we simply don’t know.

However, Harvard professor Daniel E. Lieberman, senior author of a paper on arthritis says, “Arthritis is a disease that becomes more common as you age, but it’s not caused by ‘wear and tear’; if anything, it might be caused by the absence of physical activity,” indicating a major way to prevent arthritis could be moving more, not less. Though still just a hypothesis, physical inactivity is his prime suspect. He says, “It is one of the biggest differences between people who live today and people who lived in the past whose risk of arthritis was much lower.” Our grandparents tended to sit much less and walk much more than we do so there might be a co-relation.

What we do know is, if you want to rid yourself of the debilitating effects of your autoimmune disease YOU are going to have to take action. And that action starts with your gut. Okay, I know that sounds weird because we are so used to the advertising lies. Wholegrain healthy wheat! Destroyer of your immune system! Yes. Fact.

If you decide to go on this journey two things will happen:

1. ) You will become a social outcast because you are going to learn things outside of the advertising lies and bear in mind 99% of your friends believe those lies. They believe in the ‘healthy’ muesli, the healthy butter ‘substitutes’ – one molecule different to plastic. Really.
2. ) You are going to have to change a great deal of your diet but it’s not hard to do, as you will learn.

So, how do you beat this beast that is robbing you of a happy, healthy life? It is remarkably easy. I’ve done it. I did my research because I refused to become a slave to infirmity; a slave to a wheelchair or a sometimes-successful surgical implant recipient. It’s a choice. It’s your choice.

I was told seven years ago I should not be able to walk. I have done more than walk these past seven years, I have danced! And I ride a bike. Do you want to know what it takes? How it’s done? Here’s the thing, knowing what it takes, and learning how to beat this terrible beast is only part of the equation. The real part is you, yes you, actually doing what you have to do. Do you know how difficult that is? It is HARD! Not because it’s really hard, it isn’t, but because the huge pharmaceutical companies and their tame attack dogs, the adverting industry, tells us it’s hard. Tell us we need their awful products. We don’t.

Okay, so let’s get to it:

Here is a list of how your body works. You might know all this already but bear with me. To have a balanced body you must have balanced body chemistry and that starts in your gut, which has a major impact on the five principal areas of your body:

1. ) Brain. The boss. Tells every other part what to do. The chemical soup that gets to the brain is a critical component of our health and that comes from the gut.
2. ) Your gut. Sorts out the chemistry (fuel) to allow your body to work. This is a crucial area. Think of pouring diesel oil into a petrol engine. It is critically important that the fuel is correct.
3. ) Heart. The pump that keeps the essential chemistry, the blood, flowing.
4. ) Blood. The fuel. The blood chemistry must be correct for your body to work to your best advantage. Think of pouring low grade petrol into a high performance engine. Bummer!
5. ) Organs. The essential partners in keeping your body cleansed of toxins and excesses and keep us breathing.

The chemistry part is where the autoimmune disease gets its chance to work. Therefore, it is critical that the chemistry part, your blood, is in good condition. Let’s have a look at the three principle hormones that govern our health – in this regard. These three combat the three hormones commonly associated with stress: Adrenalin, Cortisol and Norepinephrine.

1. ) Serotonin, the feel-good hormone. This is released after exercise and sex. It is an essential component of our well-being and it’s a great stress reducer.
2. ) Oxytocin, the touch or cuddle hormone. When we are touched and cuddled oxytocin is released and it becomes part of our good chemical soup. It makes us feel good.
3. ) Endorphins, another feel-good hormone released when we feel happy because, for example, someone says something nice about us.

Our gut produces more serotonin than our brain and it is transmitted via the Vagus nerve, the biggest nerve highway in the body, to our brain. This hormone governs 90% of what we think, do, how we feel and critically, how our body reacts to local inputs, e.g. our chemical soup. The blood.

Autoimmune diseases may be a result of bad food, bad thoughts and bad living. Bad thoughts can be a result of stress so that’s something you want to tackle. My book, The Stress Belief Paradox is available on Kindle, Smashwords, Barnes and Noble etc., It is an easy-read, practical guide to getting rid of stress. Yes getting rid of it. You cannot manage stress, it is not your favourite Rottweiler on a leash. It’s a beast and it will eat you if you don’t show it the business end of your boot. And in my experience, stress plays a direct role in arthritis. They are connected – I just don’t know how but I suspect it is related to the three principal stress hormones.

So what can we change? We can change our bad food habits, step one. We can change our bad thought habits, step two and by changing these we automatically change our bad living habits. It is a simple, logical chain. Let’s get started with food. Some of these foods you can reclaim once you have your gut sorted. There is no easy route here. You have to bite the bullet to win. Here’s a list of what NOT to eat.

• All wheat products. Bread, pasta, pizza, cakes, biscuits, etc., are out. This is essential.
• All sugar, sweeteners, etc. Sugar is a poison. There are moves afoot in the US to have it banned as a food. Scientists are claiming it is a poison. However, the sugar lobby is very rich and massive. Chances of the scientists winning…?
• Potatoes – and all things derived from them. And that includes crips and potato chips.They are the wrong type of starch but you can reclaim a few later as they are a good source of fibre and various nutrients.
• To begin with ban all citrus fruits. You can let them back bit by bit when your body signals it can tolerate them. Give it a few weeks. Just a few weeks out of a lifetime.
• All cereals: wheat, rye, barley, oats, rice. That ‘healthy’ muesli is your enemy! There has been extensive research on this subject over 50 years, which shows modern cereals are bad for us. However, since I love porridge I sneak in a bowl every month or so and I enjoy it! A bit of guilty pleasure is good for the soul.
• Peas, beans, soy, chickpeas, lentils. If you cook these in a pressure cooker you can eat them. However, peanuts and cashews, which are beans, are out!
• Seeds: pumpkin, sunflower.
• Tomatoes, cucumbers, aubergine, bell peppers, pumpkins. Take the skins off tomatoes and deseed them and you can eat them. I love tomatoes, I grow them, but if I fail to observe the rules for just two slices of tomato in a salad I pay for it! They are rich in certain vitamins and minerals that are good for men. Otherwise cook them in a pressure cooker to drive out the pesky lectins, which do part of the damage.
• Sunflower oil, peanut oil, soy oil, canola and vegetable oil. Lots of recent research is telling us to avoid these products like the plague because of the way they are produced.
• Shell fish. Your body needs some of the things found in shellfish and you can get them back but for now they are off your list. However, check the labels. A great many are farmed meaning they are fed antibiotics and various other things that are definitely not good for humans.
• Liver – liver is good for you but for now don’t eat it. You can get it back bit by bit. I love liver and onions and as long as I limit it to once a month I have no problems whatsoever.
• Beer. Helps replace your salts and regulates your Ph levels but it’s bad for arthritis. But sometimes there has to be a common sense trade off. Expire from heat exhaustion or down a beer? A no brainer.
• Red wine – in excess. In moderation it is good for you.

It is actually an extensive list but these are the common foods you are likely to be eating. When you really think about it you will realise how many other foods are available to eat. Foods that do not attack you. Such as:

• Butter. Is there a better taste than President French butter? Delicious! As is Spanish butter.
• Goat’s cheese. I am fortunate to live near a small producer who makes the real deal McNeil.
• Lettuce, which you must always wash thoroughly. Never accept those labels that say, “prewashed.” In what?
• Avocados.
• Olive oil, almond oil, coconut oil.
• Garlic. I don’t buy this from supermarkets. Where I live there are plenty of bio sellers.
• Ginger. Something else I grow. I love it!
• Curcumin, basil, mint, parsley. I start my day with half a lemon squeezed into a tall glass of warm water, a teaspoon of curcumin added with a good pinch of black pepper. I think it’s delicious and this is one of the super tricks that has made a noticeable difference to my pain level and, therefore, my mobility.
• White fish – non farmed. Read the label. However, keep an eye on the type of fish you buy. You don’t want fish that live to be 107, they will be loaded with many toxins, including mercury.
• Salmon – wild.
• Sardines, anchovies. Oily fish generally is good for us but mackerel has been seriously over-fished so I don’t buy it.
• Cauliflower, broccoli, bok choy, chard, green and red cabbage, onions, Brussel sprouts, celery, leeks, carrots, beets, cilantro, artichokes, palm hearts, okra, mushrooms, spinach, fennel, endive. You don’t have to be Escoffier to work out a whole range of soups, stews and stir fries using this lot.
• Turnips, parsnips, tiger nuts, sweet potato, green bananas.
• Eggs – not supermarket. Those are full of antibiotics and growth hormones, which is bad enough news if you’re a chicken but you’re human and definitely do not want that stuff inside you.
• Free range chicken – really free range not the crap sold in supermarkets as free range. It isn’t! But, depending on where you live, they are not easy to find.
• Meat in the form of beef, wild game, venison, lamb.

EVERTYTHING ELSE must be directed away from your mouth.

When you examine this list you can see that with just a few mild adjustments your diet could switch from autoimmune enabler to autoimmune killer. It is really that simple. To clear the many years of bad food out of your system will take time. Your body has become used to the poisonous lectins and chemicals in the banned foods. Foods that help to cause your arthritis. Here’s the hard part – accepting it is up to you. There are no magic pills, no drugs, NOTHING that can stop this modern plague but you. Your choice. It takes patience and a will to win. Do not expect instant results. Be patient. Work patiently for 6 weeks and you will feel a difference. In 6 months your life will be changed. Does that sound good? It is entirely possible.

Things to add that have in my experience made a noticeable difference to my mobility, pain level and general well-being:

1. ) Fermented veggies. An absolute must to get your gut sorted. (Lots of info on the web) And sorting the gut is the first and most crucial step. I make my own, takes 20 minutes. (I’ll post a recipe separately.)
2. ) Hemp oil capsules. Queen Victoria used marijuana for her arthritis problems – until Big Pharma stepped in and lobbied to have it made illegal. Can you guess why?
3. ) Vitamin B3 1000 mg – fish oil. Looked on as a first step must-do.
4. ) Vitamin B complex.
5. ) COQ10 – an antioxidant. Green tea is also an antioxidant and I take it regularly.
6. ) Nettle tea – it’s very refreshing cold with a bit of mint. I grow nettles in tubs for the purpose.
7. ) I take 8000 IUs of Vitamin D3 with K2. This has had a noticeable effect on my pain level. Various doctors recommend a minimum daily dose of 10,000 IUs but I am testing different strengths. Upping from 4000 to 8000 IUs has made a noticeable difference.
8. ) As previously mentioned a teaspoon of curcumin (turmeric) with a good pinch of black pepper in warm water first thing in the morning. This has had a noticeable, beneficial effect on my pain levels and mobility but its effect took time to build up.
9. ) Another addition – massage. It is wonderful! It works! My doctor told me it would make no difference. Various sources I have researched all say the same thing. I suspect none of these people suffer from arthritis. My doctor, like I suspect the majority, knows precious little about arthritis or massage. Massage has played a key role in maintaining body flexibility.

I should point out that when I say, ‘my doctor’, I don’t see doctors from one year’s end to the next.

So what sort of overall difference has this regime made to me over 7 years? Well from not being able to walk 6 feet, literally, and being in constant, nagging pain, and is there anything more debilitating than that constant pain? I now walk wherever I want to go without dreading the walk. I do an easy 2 kms just shopping with absolutely no pain or a very small background nag late in the afternoon having spent all day on my feet. I do exercises sitting on my sofa to get rid of that. (For a later blog) I can climb stairs and ladders with no difficulty or pain and I pretty well get about as well as anyone I know. I have not yet tried a long, 7 kms, walk but I’m working up to it. As a test.

Now your thoughts. Our thoughts have been almost 100% governed by money. Not health, not humanity, not integrity. Money. Look at the ridiculously over-lit, middle-class images portrayed in television and magazine advertising encouraging us to take all manner of pills, potions and lotions to relieve pain, only to have it return worse than before. It is advertising that controls our life. I suggest, for your health, you turn the TV off. Turn those damned adverts off!

What else to do?

Think positively in every situation. Never let the negatives dictate your life. This negative thinking is part of the modern disease, the part that also affects your autoimmune disease. You know that thing when you say, ‘Oh what a lovely day!’ and someone says, ‘But it’s going to rain later.’ Or, ‘I’m glad I did that,’ and someone says, ‘But you could have been hurt.’ You know, that constant seeking of a negative that some people do. Do NOT be infected by them because negativity upsets your hormone balance and your chemical soup that feeds the brain. It’s a simple cycle.

Seek the positive in EVERY situation and you will find it. When you do you will release both serotonin and endorphins, your feel-good friends. They help to combat your autoimmune disease. Remember, you body gave this disease to you. It’s not like the flu that you get from someone else. It’s yours. You gave birth to it, you own it. YOU can get rid of it.

Trick from the box:

A trick before you get up in the morning: lie in bed and imagine your legs get hot, really hot, now focus on the area that is giving you a problem, your knees for example. Lie there for 20 minutes and let the body do its work. This is an ancient and very effective pain reducing technique. It might take you a couple of weeks to master this but keep at it. It works! I get up every morning with absolutely no pain. Try this easy-to-do trick.

Here’s another: last thing, before you go to sleep, focus on the area of your body that hurts. Now tell your brain to fix it. Yes literally talk with your brain and tell it to fix it. In the morning do the hot routine and feel the difference in only 2 weeks. Costs you nothing.

Everything is up to you. It takes courage, patience and a will to beat this terrible disease, inflicted, in part, by poisonous rubbish being disguised as food.

I will follow this blog with some simple exercises you can easily do at home standing and sitting to help strengthen the muscle structure round you knees and ankles.

Courage, good luck and do not look back. There is no miracle cure. You are your cure. You. And, like me, you can make it work.