Science of RA

SCIENCE

I am no scientist…rather artist…….. but this is the science of RA as I understand it.

I have a genetic weakness or susceptibility to joint problems or RA. I think this because BOTH of my parents have had BOTH knees replaced. Also my eldest sister suffered with years from SLE – lupus disease, which is an autoimmune disease related to RA.

I didn’t have a poor diet, just one high in acid producing foods. I drank a minimum of 6 cups of coffee each day with full fat milk and 2 spoonfuls of sugar. I enjoyed an occasional steak – medium rare and we always had a Sunday roast. Many days I did not eat any fruit at all and very few vegetables, raw ones even less. At least I don’t drink a lot – even the smell of red wine gives me heartburn and I have never smoked.

I had been chronically dehydrated for years. I only ever drank a glass of water when I was breast-feeding and then I would settle down with a cup of tea – which invariably I ended up drinking cold, plus a glass of water. After the third child in 6 years when I joined a gym they did my body stats and I was completely dehydrated, but I excused myself – I was still breast-feeding after all.

Gradually, I suffered with chronic indigestion. I swigged Gaviscon from the bottle and took a nightly Zantac tablet so I could sleep. Funny, my mother had had indigestion for years too. I never put two and two together.

Then things took a turn for the worse: I had been working for the previous 2 years in a very difficult school in Swindon. ‘Challenging’ is the euphemistic term they use for the ‘lively’ students. Each day I survived not day-by-day, but lesson-by-lesson, hour-by-hour. To add to this I was trying to run my own livery yard and getting up at 5.30am to go and muck out our 4 horses. Tired is not the word for it. How I managed it for a whole year I don’t know, but then you manage to do lots of things when there is no other option.

In addition to that I was a victim of identity fraud and tried for over 3 years to clear my name of the debt that hounded me. Another horsey – I couldn’t call her a friend – tried to sue me for the value of her horse, claiming that my horse had kicked hers and broken its leg…. My daughter was unhappy at school, and my husband was about to be sent to the most dangerous part of Afghanistan. It went on and on and on… No wonder I was ill.

All of this meant that my body was consumed by an acidic reaction. Lactic acid. The stuff that gives you cramp. It was all a reaction to my poor diet, lack of eating properly – or at all some days- and lots of stress. It ate into me. It ate my knees away – not literally but in effect that is what it did. At first I noticed my ligaments didn’t have the elasticity they used to. It felt like they had turned to chewing gum – they stretched but didn’t ping back. So of course I would go over on my knee, much as you might sprain an ankle on uneven ground, that was what happened to my knees. Sometimes when I went to stand up, it was as if I had no legs… So I sat down or got hold of the wall/ settee to stand up.

So my body was totally depleted of some of the nutrients that allow your body to function… at all, never mind properly.

As I now understand, just as the blood has a narrow temperature range it also has a narrow acid range. The normal acidity level for blood is a pH of 7.4. It has to take a toll. No cell can exist like that. So either you replace the nutrients needed by the diet, but if the diet does not provide them how can the body find them or alter the ph level? Well, it locks away acid in fat. Yes, no matter how little you eat you won’t lose weight because the fat has high levels of a poisonous substance and the body tries to heal and protect itself. Nobody has ever said this but I guess the body will also try to find the neutralising elements from other parts of the body…one that it goes to a lot …like the joints.

In my knee problems, which became very swollen, hot and sore. The blood goes there and collects there. This is also a source of pain as the areas in the knee become filled with fluid and the skin is pulled tight. The autoimmune system kicks in and attacks your own body. Also the heat generated from this causes hot flush like symptoms when the blood is rushing around trying to help out.

Just walking makes my heart rate go to 130/ 140. My body is working really hard just to keep me upright and walking. No wonder RA sufferers are susceptible to heart failure. If the body is working so hard the metabolic rate is also high. Guess what increases the acidity level? Yes, you got it. Panic, stress, worry, pessimism all affects the adrenalin level, which increases the Meatabolic rate, which increases the acidity blood level. But the blood acidity cannot alter too much. Buffers try to alter the level back to more alkali – but what happens if the problem is a chronic one? Well, the body can’t cope. Acidosis is the forerunner of many chronic degenerative diseases like cancer, arthritis, diabetes and heart disease.

Okay, I understand all that, and what can I do to help? Well, first of all I changed my diet, despite the RA nurse saying ‘There is no clinical proof that diet helps’. It did. I was very strict with myself. I gave up coffee and drank only tea, and then giving up sugar was not such a hardship, as I don’t take it in tea. I started drinking lots more water, juice, squash. I gave up all red meat and ate only chicken, fish and seafood. I gave up all root vegetables and citrus fruit. IT WORKED. Not perfectly I will admit, but I already felt a whole lot better.

From Sainsbury’s I got Gillian Mackeith’s detox and living nutrients. Horrible. I fasted and followed the detox code on the bottle and felt like pooh. Horrible – headache, nausea, diarrhoea. But then you know what I started to feel better. I realised there must have been a whole lot of toxins in my body. In fact I then went on to read that this is often a way for RA sufferers to help themselves, by fasting. I had done it without knowing that – I was just desperate. Now I don’t need to be so strict with myself. I can drink coffee sometimes, and I haven’t had indigestion for months.

The other thing I discovered, not before having spent pounds and pounds on vitamins and supplements, is Nutriflow and TianTian from Ecoflow. Nutriflow is full of electrolytes, which help to balance the pH in your blood. Potassium and magnesium being two of the most important salts in a diet full of sodium. TianTian is an important source of lutein, which helps the eyes and also the immune system. Kind of important, when like me you have had Iritis – inflammation of the iris. My Optician now tells me that it is well known that Iritis NEVER occurs on its own, but always in association with another inflammation. What a pity my GP did not acknowledge that. I keep myself hydrated with Nutriflow now. TianTian, I dislike added to water but can enjoy it with milk. I take my first two sulphasalazine tablets everyday with it.

In my desperate state I went round to see a friend who sold Bioflow magnets. I was totally sceptical. I didn’t feel a thing from the bracelet. But WOW, when I went to bed on a Biopad I could feel my body pulsing. Almost like someone massaging you. It was amazing. From that day on I could cut down my painkillers. I was still stiff and sore in the morning and it still took me a long time to actually stand up, but the agonising cramp that had lasted ALL DAY disappeared.

Here is how I think it works. The blood needs a certain level of electrolytes, the positive charge of which can be swapped around to keep the pH balance of the blood within a certain range. The TianTian and the Nutriflow provide the electrolytes. The Central Reverse Polarity of the Bioflow magnets spins the electrolytes and cells in the blood so they end up in line just like pins picked up by a magnet. This improves the circulation of the blood and it can flow more easily around the body, including the problem areas of the joints. The sulphasalazine reduces the body’s immune system, which means less blood is collecting around the problem knee joints and because it is ‘less sticky’ it can flow more easily. The change in blood acidity means that Lactic acid can be changed into Pyruvic acid that can be excreted from the body in the natural way.

I had already been using Epsom Salts in the bath in the morning and had found by experience that it made me less stiff and had put it down to the hot water warming my muscles. Wrong. Epsom salts is magnesium sulphate joined as a solid by magnesium having a positive charge and sulphate having a negative charge. When you dissolve them, they are no longer joined. Sulphur is absorbed through the skin and aids the detoxification process and ends up in the urine, having done its job 4 to 9 hours later. Sulphate is in fact very needed. One of the thind it influences is the hormone that recognises human features and can have an effect in autistic children. When the autoimmune system is activated it produces an enzyme, which stops sulphate being generated from protein. Hence when you have RA your body is less able to get rid of toxins. The magnesium has a strong affinity to carbon – a major waste product in our body, but to be expelled it needs oxygen- carbon dioxide. When there is a depleted source of oxygen it exists as uric acid and other toxins in the blood. When you provide the magnesium it can then be expelled. Amazing … I could FEEL the difference, now I understand how it works.

I am gob-smacked quite frankly that I understand all this. I am feeling so much better… not perfect by any stretch of the imagination…but much more in charge. This has helped me so much. I hope it can help you too.