This post is for those rheumatoid arthritis sufferers who are trying to identify the cause(s) of their disease so that they can begin to reverse it and subsequently cure it (achieve permanent remission). For those RA sufferers that don’t fall into this category, and are only following a rheumatologist’s treatment plan, I would urge you in addition, to begin investigating the cause(s) of your RA as soon as possible. The sooner the cause(s) can be identified, the greater the chance that the rheumatoid arthritis can be halted and hopefully reversed.
If you’ve spent any time attempting to treat or reverse your rheumatoid arthritis by using methods other than drug treatments, for example; diet, lifestyle, herbs and supplements etc., you will probably have alternated between glimpses of hope and moments of despair. You may have achieved a reduction in symptoms for a day or a few days for example, only for the symptoms to get worse the next day for no apparent reason. Maybe you’ve tried lots of different approaches without any measurable success and reached a point where you wonder – where do I go from here?
Perhaps you found an elimination diet that works for you by removing all possible triggers for your rheumatoid arthritis, but find it extremely difficult to follow on a day-to-day basis due to being too restrictive and impractical in the real world. Maybe you’ve tried a Keto/Paleo/SCD/GAP diet (or one of many others) with mixed results i.e. perhaps initial improvement followed by relapse or “I can’t really tell if it’s made any difference”.
Never Stop Trying to Cure Your Rheumatoid Arthritis
Be ambitious, be hopeful, be certain that you can find the cause(s) of your rheumatoid arthritis if you persevere and work intelligently towards a cure (permanent remission). On the two occasions when I put my own RA into remission successfully (on one occasion for around five years), it seemed like I would never find a solution, but each time I pushed through and succeeded. I’m now going through the same struggle again for the third time and making good progress towards achieving a full cure i.e. permanent remission, this time, largely due to a wealth of new knowledge and experience which I didn’t have previously.
The key point that I want to make is that you should never stop trying, never stop searching and researching, just know that there is a findable cause(s) of your rheumatoid arthritis and it can be identified and removed, and your health can be restored. It will be easier for some people than others, but ultimately I believe any RA sufferer can achieve permanent remission.
If you’ve read any of my other posts you’ll know that I favour a whole food plant-based diet is the starting point and the foundation of any rheumatoid arthritis treatment and recovery plan. All of my experience and knowledge from almost four decades of research and personal struggle has taught me that animal derived foods, especially milk and other dairy products, are the most common causes, triggers, and promoters of RA and most other chronic diseases for that matter.
A combination of a whole food plant-based diet with an elimination process to identify potential trigger foods such as gluten-containing grains, is the best approach. Coupling this with other lifestyle changes such as obtaining better quality sleep, fifteen to twenty minutes of sunshine each day (be careful) and using filtered drinking water etc., should produce excellent results for a large percentage of rheumatoid arthritis sufferers.
There are many more steps which can be taken to increase the chances of recovery (please see some of my other posts for specific suggestions) but the priority is to persevere, learn, experiment and be certain in your mind that you can achieve remission and rebuild your health :-)
“Jigsaw and Binoculars” combined images are public domain