Reactive arthritis is an auto-immune disorder. It always starts as a result of an immune system challenge, such as a sexually transmitted infection or a virus. The rubella virus, both wild and its vaccine variety, are known for their ability to trigger reactive arthritis.
Wendy Satterthwaite, a former nurse and currently a Clinical Nutritionalist, said
“Reactive arthritis is always related to a pathogen. As the majority of the immune system is in the gut, you should start by treating the gut, and then the genito-urinary tract.”
In most cases of reactive arthritis, there is active infection found in the gut and/or genitals. You can confirm this by having some tests done at your doctor’s office or alternatively, there are private laboratories that specialize in testing for pathogens via swabs or stool or urine samples. Once you have identified the infection and treated that, you are half way to a recovery.
Natural Pain Relief
The next step on the road to recovery is to ease the pain of your arthritis. A nutritionalist would do this using herbs and spices. Turmeric has been used traditionally to treat the pain of arthritis because of its ability to reduce inflammation. It has been used for centuries as part of Ayuvedic medicine and is used frequently by Indian cultures for medicinal purposes, rather than just as a food flavoring.
Researchers believe that the curcumin it contains works by shutting down the protein that causes the inflammatory response in the body. Gregory Cole, a professor of Medicine and Neurology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, has conducted several studies on the spice, and says
“There is a need for better, safer drugs to treat inflammatory conditions. If it is not curcumin, we need something a lot like curcumin — something cheap and safe with a long history of use, and no side effects.”
As more than 21 million American adults suffer from arthritis, this is very important. Turmeric can be taken as a spice with food, or in tablet form of between 500-1,000mgs daily.
Detoxing the Body
Your next step, once your pain is under control, is to detox your body. Nutritionalist Wendy Satterthwaite recommends the following herbs to flush out the kidneys:
Garlic
Uva ursi
Tannins
Ginger
Oregano
Also be sure to drink plenty of water!
Immune System Support
To re-build your compromised immune system and strengthen it to avoid future attacks of reactive arthritis, you should have a daily dose of probiotics. Probiotics line the gut with friendly bacteria, which has often been depleted after illness. Friendly bacteria help your immune system by eating up the bad bacteria in your gut.
A recent study in the journal Pediatrics, found that children who were given probiotics, were protected against illnesses. "Daily dietary probiotic supplementation for 6 months was a safe effective way to reduce fever, rhinorrhea, and cough incidence and duration and antibiotic prescription incidence, as well as the number of missed school days attributable to illness, for children three to five years of age." As it can reduce illness, it should also reduce the number of possible triggers for reactive arthritis.
Sources:
Wendy Satterthwaite, Nutritionalist.
The Brain Research Institute, UCLA.
PEDIATRICS Vol. 124 No. 2 August 2009, pp. e172-e179.
Joanna is a freelance health writer for The Mother magazine and Suite 101 with a column on infertility, http://infertility.suite101.com/. She is author of the book, 'Breast Milk: A Natural Immunisation,' and co-author of an educational resource on disabled parenting, in addition to running a charity for people damaged by vaccines or medical mistakes.