I’m off the Chinese herbs for my Rheumatoid Arthritis

I have now stopped taking the Chinese herbs for my Rheumatoid Arthritis with no ill effects whatsoever and no aches and pains at all. I feel very optimistic although realise that the weather has now turned warmer which could be helping too. I came off the herbs earlier than I anticipated for two reasons. One was that after developing the migraine in my last post I missed my next appointment with the Chinese herbalist so had no herbs to take for nearly a week and had no real pain. My second reason was that I wanted her to treat another health ailment I had, completely unrelated, and which was causing me more concern. I needed totally different herbs for this problem so had to choose which one to treat. Anyway, the proof that the herbs have worked for my RA will be next month when I attend my follow-up appointment at the hospital and I will get the results of blood tests taken earlier in the year, and will request further blood tests to determine my RA count and other factors at the present time. I am looking forward to this as only then will I feel I can truly attribute my improvement to the Chinese herbs.

A missed appointment

I developed a bad migraine last week and missed my Chinese herbalist appointment so have not had any ‘tea’ to take for four days now and also, because of the sickness I get with the migraines, have not taken the glucosamine tablets for the same days either. I have begun to develop twinges in my right elbow and just above both knees although nowhere else as yet. I will ring my herbalist today to re-book the appointment as soon as possible as obviously the tea prescription is keeping the inflammation at bay and needs to be reduced gradually and not just stopped altogether. I’m quite annoyed that I’ve had this blip in the treatment. By the way I think the cause of my migraines might be from drinking ordinary tea. I gave up drinking normal tea before Christmas and my migraines seemed to miraculously vanish. Then I started drinking normal tea again, progressed to more and more and then, bang, went under with the migraine. So, I’m off it again, and will just stick to Chamomile tea for the time being and see what happens.

General update and carrot juice

I have been feeling pretty good lately and even did quite a bit of weeding in the garden yesterday with only a minor ache in my right elbow which oddly has disappeared today. My Chinese herbalist is keen for me to have another blood test to check my RA factor but I still have to wait until June and my hospital appointment. For the last week I have been juicing a couple of carrots daily and drinking the juice which is actually quite nice. I am not a fanatical healthy eater but read that carrots are very good for general health, mood and wellbeing and I have been feeling fairly upbeat since drinking the juice.

Parsley Tea

When I was younger I loved eating raw parsley. I haven’t done so for a long time but recently I’ve been reading of the benefits of Parsley especially for things like rheumatoid arthritis. If you really don’t feel like munching away on a bunch of parsley you can make an infusion (tea) of it just by putting 2 heaped teaspoons in a cup, pour on boiling water, leave to infuse for 5 minutes or more, strain and drink the tea. It’s full of iron too. I was also reading completely separately about an older gentleman who suffered with rheumatism (arthritic), had to walk with sticks, drank parsley tea and within a short while was able to walk without the aid of his sticks. It has to be worth a try as it’s harmless and costs nothing if you grow it yourself. If you’re on loads of meds. you could always double check with the doctor first.

Progress to date

I have been feeling so much better this last week or so. I would go so far as to say that I haven’t had any aches and pains at all until today. However, I woke this morning with a twinge in my elbow joint and my middle finger joint was a bit stiff and, interestingly, the weather has been rainy and damp all day. The pains have subsided as the day’s worn on though. I am still taking the Chinese herbs and, luckily, had no ‘urgent’ communication from the hospital to call me in any earlier than my June appointment. I can’t believe it and almost feel a bit of a ‘rheumatoid arthritis’ fraud although my symptoms were very real at the beginning and, of course, I have been having complementary treatment. So, fingers crossed ….

My Chinese herb ‘prescription’ in more detail

Incredibly, I have almost forgotten about my aches and pains such has been the effectiveness of my Chinese herb ‘prescription’. My last few ‘prescriptions’ contained 13 different herbs. This will be adjusted as time goes on but apparently one of the best for boosting the immune system is Astragalus root. Two other herbs in my tea are Arctium fruit and Chaenomeles fruit, but as I say there are another 10 herbs which combine to make it uniquely effective for me. I have no idea how effective one herb is on its own though and bear in mind that there are certain ‘cautions’ (in pregnancy, with high blood pressure etc.) even with herbs so I would never recommend treating yourself.

Progress to date

There is a distinct and definite improvement in my symptoms – mainly the inflammatory part which must have reduced as I can now kneel which I found too painful before. I was able to wash the kitchen floor on hands and knees at the weekend. Also the loss of strength in my left wrist has improved and I can lift a heavier saucepan now. The joint of the middle finger, right hand still feels sore when I move it up and down and I’m wondering whether I now have permanent deterioration in my right shoulder joint which sounds a bit crunchy if I rotate it. All in all I am very optimistic now. I have received no news from the hospital yet although I did only go there last week. It’s hard to be patient when you want to know NOW what’s going on inside your body, and you are in the hands of other people. I am going to post (hopefully this week) a list of the herbs in my Chinese tea concoction with links to each although each person’s ‘prescription’ is for them only and I would advise going to see a properly qualified practitioner before trying any of them out either singly or as a mixture. Although herbs are fairly safe, there are some ‘cautions’ to take into account.

First hospital appointment

Yesterday was my first appointment with the rheumatology specialist at my local hospital. She was lovely. She talked through my symptoms and all the results of blood tests from my doctor’s surgery. She decided another 6 blood tests were needed to get in closer to the problem, plus xrays of my feet, hands and chest. She then manipulated each joint to see if I experienced any pain – I didn’t, which she said was reassuring. I mentioned about the Chinese herbs but she wasn’t too interested! However, for me, I’m sure that without those herbs my inflammation would be much more severe. The burning sensation is very reduced now although the stiffness is still there but much less now on waking so something is going on …. Anyway, I had all the blood tests and xrays while I was there but my next appointment isn’t until 10th JUNE – what a long wait, can this be normal? I’m assuming though that if anything alarming shows up the specialist will immediately contact my doctor. So I left with a rather empty feeling thinking I’m getting nowhere fast, and thankful that I’ve got my herbs to rely on.

In reply to Tracy’s comment on ‘Appt. no.3 with Chinese Herbs

Good comment and query by Tracy in response to my post on appt. 3 with my TCM practitioner. She questioned why my Chinese doc. was trying to boost my immune system when surely RA is an auto-immune disease and the immune system doesn’t need boosting. Well, today at my 4th appt. I brought this query up with my doc. She totally understood the question and explained that Western and Chinese medicine treat very differently. In Western medicine doctors try to suppress the immune system because it’s overactive but in Chinese medicine they try to reactivate the white blood cells etc. in order to strengthen the whole immune system which will help to bring down the inflammation and thereby reduce the stiffness and pain. She likened it to a tree. In Western medicine they start at the top and chop off some of the branches but still the main base of the tree (its roots) are weak and still vulnerable to attack. In Chinese medicine they work from the roots and try to increase the healthy chi (energy) to enable the whole body to get stronger and fight the disease. Chinese medicine would also treat MS (multiple sclerosis) in the same way. I hope I have explained it properly, it made great sense to me as she was telling me. All things considered I have felt extremely strong over the last week since she introduced the herbs to strengthen the immune system. I walked 4 miles last Saturday and did gardening on Sunday with no ill effects at all. The burning sensation I felt is reduced although the stiffness is still there. Of course the weather has improved too but I continue to believe in my herbs so we’ll see. My hospital appointment is next week so hopefully they will run more tests on me and I can see if the RA factor is reduced, or not.

Pilates – two useful links

Sometimes it’s hard to know where to look for reputable teachers of exercise classes – pilates classes seem to be springing up everywhere. Fortunately a good friend of mine is a Pilates teacher in Oxfordshire and she is a member of the Register of Exercise Professionals so this will be a reputable place to start looking for qualified tutors. Another good one is Body Control.