Arthritis
Exciting
nutritional discoveries in recent years have expanded the therapeutic options
for treating arthritis.
We start by
attempting to clean-up the person’s diet by removing poor quality foods and
looking for food sensitivities, such as foods in the nightshade family
(potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant and peppers, etc.).
We frequently make use of nutritional supplements, such as
antioxidants, glucosamine sulfate, MSM, anti-inflammatory enzymes, herbs, and many others.
Whenever possible, we try to replace steroid drugs and/or non-steroidal
anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) because of their potential for severe
adverse effects. We have found
certain combinations of herbs to be useful in helping patients
to get off steroids and other immune suppressing drugs.
Viral,
bacterial, fungal, and parasitic detection and treatments for these
microorganisms may also be appropriate. We
search for heavy metal toxicity (lead, cadmium, and mercury, etc.) as
contributors to arthritis and treat them when they are present.
Pain
management avenues include acupuncture and related therapies offered by Robert Connolly,
D.Sc, L.Ac. Other
therapeutic modalities used include electrical stimulation (Acuscope) and pulsed
electromagnetic (Diapulse) treatment.