Read This Before Taking Rheumatoid Arthritis Drugs

By Author: Stephanie Thomas
Total Articles: 4
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Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a debilitating disorder characterized by joint and muscle stiffness, throbbing, and swelling. The increasing rate of people afflicted with RA today is alarming – according to recent statistics, this chronic disease now affects 1.5 million Americans, majority of them women. Fifty-three out of 100,000 women suffer from rheumatoid arthritis, while 28 out of 100,000 men become afflicted with this ailment.

Rheumatoid arthritis is very different from osteoarthritis, which is a degenerative joint disease. RA causes your body to break down – your joints are attacked by your immune system, which leads to pain, deformities, and a substantial loss of mobility. Rheumatoid arthritis can also set the stage for other damaging physical and emotional health issues, such as irritability, fatigue, and even depression.

These alarming effects push conventional doctors to recommend very aggressive medications as part of rheumatoid arthritis treatment.

However, the drugs used to treat RA, such as prednisone, immunosuppressants, and anti-cancer agents, are among the most dangerous drugs used in ...
... medicine today. These medications are aimed toward treating severe rheumatoid arthritis symptoms, such as pain and swelling.
There is a newer class of rheumatoid arthritis drugs being prescribed today, called “biologic” drugs. These are TNF-alpha inhibitors, and are sold under brand names like Enbrel, Humira, and Remicade.

However, do not be so quick to try these medications – despite being aggressively promoted by conventional physicians, there are still numerous concerns about the safety of these drugs. Studies reveal that these RA drugs may lead to more severe side effects, such as infection and cancer.

Before taking any of these damaging rheumatoid arthritis drugs, it is a good idea to try natural and holistic methods to prevent and treat this painful disease. Changing your lifestyle is a must.

One of the most important considerations to remember to treat or prevent rheumatoid arthritis is to improve your diet. Here are some general principles that can help reverse or prevent not only rheumatoid arthritis, but other damaging diseases as well:

• Eliminate sugar, especially fructose, and grains from your diet. Limiting your fruit intake is also important. Keep in mind that even if fruit is healthy, it may contain high levels of fructose.

• Consume unprocessed and high-quality foods. The best choices are those that are organic and locally grown.

• Eat your food as close to raw as possible.

• Consume plenty of high-quality animal-based omega-3 fats.

• Incorporating regular exercise into your daily schedule. Exercise, if done properly and cautiously, can alleviate rheumatoid arthritis pain.
Remember that taking dangerous drugs is not always the solution. Instead, evaluate your lifestyle – it may be the key to completely treating rheumatoid arthritis.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Tiffany Shaw is a blogger. She is currently researching rheumatoid arthritis (RA) to help her mother, who was diagnosed with this ailment two years ago. She believes that the best rheumatoid arthritis treatment is one that does not use damaging pharmaceutical drugs, but is instead geared toward adopting a healthy lifestyle.