Rheumatoid Arthritis

Hi -- one of our RA health leaders led a conversation about alternative treatments (https://rheumatoidarthritis.net/forums/conversation-of-the-week-complementary-supplementary-and-alternative-treatment-experiences) and this article from our team (https://rheumatoidarthritis.net/alternatives-therapies) can give you a clinical overview that may be helpful. Hope this helps! Warmly, Reggie, RheumatoidArthritis.net team member

Hi . It is great that your mother has you to advocate and do research on her behalf. On top of the excellent information from Reggie, I want to note that many in the community find a benefit to physical therapy and some level of activity. Our patient leader Kat wrote in praise of PT for RA here: https://rheumatoidarthritis.net/living/physical-therapy-exercises. Also, many find it important to practice good self-care and our patient leader Lisa offers some tips here: https://rheumatoidarthritis.net/living/self-care-tips and others find meditation to be helpful with pain management (see: https://rheumatoidarthritis.net/living/pain-meditation).
I also want to note that we know it is not easy seeing a loved one deal with RA. I happen to be the husband of one of the patient leaders here (Kelly Mack). Please know that this community is here for both of you. Hope this information is helpful and don't hesitate to ask additional questions. Best, Richard (RheumatoidArthritis.net Team)

HI, thank you for helping your mom through this. Love when family gets involved, support from those closes to us is so important. My thoughts and things I do or have tried that I did not see in the articles or mentioned yet is; TENS Unit, Heated Massage, Ultrasound Therapy and some of those old fashion at home tricks like a heating pad, Ice packs or combination. I prefer moist heat, easily obtained by using a Kitchen towel, getting it wet, wringing it out and microwaving for a couple minutes, being careful not to let it set directly on bare skin for it's hot. As for some gentle but very worthy type exercises, there is "Chair Exercises" many types found on youtube.com an old PBS show called "Sit to be Fit" also on youtube is great, use these regularly for I am unable to take medications that is being offered for RA do to other medical issues, but knowing the activity is good for me and keeps my moving. Diet changes could be helpful. There is foods that promote autoimmune and inflammation control benefits and there is those that can cause inflammation. These usually run in the Fruits, Veggies and Nuts, that will take a little bit of googling can help find those for you, for Brain Fog is happening tonight or I could give you some ideas of those.


That's all I have to offer at this time for help, but do send warm wishes and soft hugs to you both.

I agree that PT exercises help. The rubber resistance bands help me when I get tendonitis in my rotator cuff muscles and arm.
I stay away from Chinese food, potatoes, breads, and tomatoes because they cause inflammation that cripples me.