Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) Treated with Homeopathy and Clinical Diet

The human body is a complex network and the human mind can play a major role in defining any disease and its prognosis. The first step in treating RA is a correct case history. The patient should convey correctly his symptoms, the sensations, the type of pain and also the state of mind. It is very important to understand what has caused the current illness.

We know that rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease, where one’s own immune system starts attacking the healthy body cells. This starts due to certain trigger factors like stress, trauma, suppression of emotions and a lot of other factors which are still under research.

From the homeopathic perspective the disease can be categorized according to the miasmatic basis. Rheumatoid arthritis comes under the syphilitic miasm as it involves tissue destruction, deformity and finally death due to complications. So a correct anti-miasmatic homeopathic remedy, along with a proper diet regime will definitely help in arresting the disease and offer gentle rapid relief to the patient.

In order to achieve the desired result from the treatment, full cooperation is needed from the physician and the patient. The patient has to clearly explain his problems without analyzing what is important and what is not. The physician on his part should be a keen observer and make proper notes of the case history provided by the patient. The physician should not be biased and reach conclusions until the case is properly analyzed and evaluated.

We will discuss a case of Rheumatoid Arthritis that came to our Happy Livin centre.

A 55 years old woman came to our Happy Livin centre with complaints of severe pain and swelling in the joints for the last year. The complaints started with the swelling of the right elbow. The disease progressed to the ankles and the knees. Due to a high intake of painkillers, the patient experienced temporary relief of the pain but developed severe acidity.

The complaints are aggravated with movement, cold damp weather and getting up from the squatting position.

The patient also suffers from allergic rhinitis with constant sneezing, runny nose and watery eyes. She feels better with warm drinks. The complaints are worst in damp weather, after cold drinks and from dust.

Emotional nature:

She is very talkative by nature, very emotional and gets hurt very easily, weeping easily over trifles. She can forgive easily, but cannot forget the event. She is very religious and likes to go to temples and religious lectures. She loves music.

Her childhood was very good. She is very attached to her parents and sisters. She was teaching in the primary section in a school and left that after she got married.

After marriage she had lots of stress and didn’t get along with her In-laws. She had lots of financial stress as her husband did not have a permanent job. Her relations with her husband were cordial.

She has two children, a daughter and a son; both of them are very caring. They have worked hard and financed most of their studies. She is not very happy as both of them married out of their caste, but she has accepted it.

Personal history:

• Diet: Non Vegetarian

• Craves spicy food, salt

• Aversion to sweets

• Thermals: feels very hot, damp weather aggravates all her complaints, draft of air or direct fanning aggravates

• Wants covers always but keeps her feet out of the covers due to burning of soles especially in summers

• Sleep not refreshing as it is disturbed due to pain

• She has religious dreams

• She is usually constipated

• Little or no perspiration

• She had early menopause at the age of 35 years

Family history:

• Father died of heart attack

• 1 sister died of uterine cancer

• 1 sister has high blood pressure and chicken guinea

• Other sisters are healthy

• 1 brother is healthy

Past history:

• Typhoid

On examination:

• She had pigmentation on the face

• Swelling on the right hand with restricted movement of the fingers of the right hand

• Blood pressure: 160/90 mm of Hg

• Bilateral pitting edema

• Cracking of knee joints

Patient was advised to get the following tests done

• Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA)

• CBC, ESR

• Serum Cholesterol

• Uric acid

Prescription:

Patient was prescribed Natrum Sulph taking into consideration the following symptoms:

Craving for spicy food,

Craving for salt

Damp weather aggravates all her complaints

Draft of air or direct fanning aggravates

Weeping easily

Brooding

Conclusion:

Based on the history provided by the patient, a constitutional remedy was prescribed which has helped the patient in getting sustained relief from the pain without any painkillers. In addition to this the vitality of the patient has increased and now she is also free from her allergic rhinitis.

Importanceof Clinical Diet:

Clinical diets are customized as per the nutritional status of the patient in order to correct the nutritional imbalance, thus improve the immunity of the patient. These clinical diets are designed according to the disease condition where the diet will give enough energy and also help relieve the symptoms and slow down the progress of the disease.

Weight management is important in treating Rheumatoid arthritis as excess weight will put undue pressure on the hip and the knee joints. Hence weight loss is essential to minimize the damage to these joints. It is observed that people who have rheumatoid arthritis may benefit from foods which are high in saturated fatty acids particularly the omega 3 fatty acids in flaxseeds. Omega 3 fatty acids helps abort the inflammatory process. Also saturated fatty acids have shown to improve the immunity in people suffering with RA. In rheumatoid arthritis foods that reduce the inflammatory process are advised, as they help reduce pain and inflammation around the joints thus limiting further destruction of the joints.