Desperate for Help!!

[HillbillyPapa]

Alright, I am absolutely desperate to find out some Medicinal Plant or berry, roots,,etc=== which will help aleviate some or all of this pain I am having to endure in my hands. I was diagnosed several years ago with arthritus as the cause. I have absolutely been miserable the last few months, and it has only gotten worse. I am not on any type of Prescription Medicine now, and have not be on any for about 3 or 4 months or so. I really need to find out what it will take to get rid of some of this pain I am suffering with!
Any and all help will be greatly appreciated,,,, so what should I do or get to use? ???

[RangerRick]

Sorry to hear around the pain suffering, been there done that.

Diagnosed with RA in 1992 and been down the drug road and back again. Never did find any herbal remedies that helped me for a prolonged period but the wife has had me on quite a few. Some of those I've tried with limited success are ginkgo biloba extract daily, shark cartilage pills, turmeric, devils claw, yucca, aloe vera juice, crystal star, vitamin C, grounded flax seed, alkalizing enzyme, yerba mate tea and green tea.

The only thing that has really had long lasting results of which I've been on for the past 4 years is mobic and folic acid on a daily basis, methotrexate once a week and I take an infusion of Remicade every 8 weeks.

One day I was hobbling around on a cane, couldn't walk 500 feet and could manage to tie my shoes only with difficulty and felt like I was 90 and the next day after my first Remicade infusion, someone flipped on a light switch, my RA was but a manageable irritant.

Just sorry it took so long to get on Remicade. Do labs frequently to keep a check on my liver and todate everything is fine.

Rick

[leera]

HillBillyPapa,try looking up anti inflamatories rather than pain relievers.......you might have a little more luck.

I take mortin for mine,and use pain patches,which are nothing more than menthol and camphor......

I'd probably have better luck finding relief if my doctors could all agree on what it is that's causing the pain in the first place.........

[Smoky]

If I may make a suggestion about pain in the hands, I think it could be gout related if your diet is off at all. If you look up "gout diet" on google, there are many regular foods that can cause this, if you don't drink enough water. At least look at this as the possible cause. Lots of water, easy on the caffeine and alcohol.
Sour cherries (pie cherries)have a compound in them (fresh or canned) that helps the water wash away the problems. Are you using any chondroitin source?
Frequently gout first manifests in the feet and toes, but not always.

[candy]

Leera is right anti inflammatories will help a lot like Aleve

I think its best to take one every day , even if the pain is not bad because it has a building up effect.


and ditto on the cherries mentioned here.

The darker the color of fresh cherries the better .

I know gout sufferer's who eat cherries every day and swear it keeps them from being in pain.

[leera]

Three different doctors,three different answers.......but motrin helps me more than anything else.

When my wrist gets really bad I cut a pain patch in half and put it on my wrist,then put my wrist brace on and go to bed..........by morning the pain is gone.

[JeffColorado]

I make a nice and spicy hot green Chile sauce. My mother in law, who has arthritis in her hands, shoulders and knees swears that when she ate it she got relief for several day to a week. I shared my secrete recipe with her and she makes large batches of it and now regularly has large helpings of it. Still swers that it works better than any drug she’s used.

[leera]

Jeffcolorado.........hot peppers have an oil in them called capsasin........it's what makes them hot,it's also a good pain reliever,that's why it's in many pain relief rubs.

It would take an awful lot of green chilies though,they don't have much heat in them.

[sage_morgan]

My mom used to take a lot of alfalfa in tablets. She said she had to take it for awhile before it worked, and she could tell if she quit. I'm sorry I don't know any mgs or dosages or anything.

Hope one of these things helps.

[JeffColorado]

Jeffcolorado.........hot peppers have an oil in them called capsasin........it's what makes them hot,it's also a good pain reliever,that's why it's in many pain relief rubs.

It would take an awful lot of green chilies though,they don't have much heat in them.

Your not getting the right kind of chilie. Some make some sweat producint burns.

[nancy1340]

Sooooooooo where is the recipe for Chili Verde? ;D

[theresehirko]

My mom has arthitis in both of her hips and she drinks organic apple cider vinegar in a glass of water every day. She swears it helps her with the arthritis. About 1 tBsp. in 8oz of water.

[CarolAnn]

Plants that might help the inflamation would be white willow bark & other plants high in Salicylic Acid. (Same as aspirin.)
see
http://www.botgard.ucla.edu/html/botanytextbooks/economicbotany/Salix/

Plants to avoid are high in oxalic acid, such as rhubarb, spinach and sorrel because oxalic acid prevents the GOOD absorption of calcium.

see
http://www.herbalisthealth.com/arthritis.html

[Rachel]

I have heard very good things from a few friends about MSM, but haven't tried it personally. Also, there are many natural anti-inflammatories that you may want to check out. I actually did a presentation for one of my classes on natural anti-inflammatories. Some of them include: Curcumin Turmeric Extract, Ginger Extract, Bromelain, & Boswellin. There are many more.

In case you want to look into it more, here are some websites I found informative:
www.nutriworld.co.uk/d-flame.shtml
www.active.com/story.cfm?story_id=12988&sidebar=573&category=eat_ right
http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/id/PAG00326