Alternative Medicine?

By s6g Wednesday, September 23, 2009

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Hello all,

My mother has been living with RA for the 30+ years. When she contract RA, the list of treatments was very limited and mainly consisted of cortisteroids. It was basically a way to treat the symtoms only. To my mother these medications were worse than the actual flare-ups. Unfortunately, because of these experiences, she has lost faith in the promising drugs that are now available.

For the past 14 years, she's been on an alternative medicine regimine, prescribed by an Alternative Medicine Pratictioner. She swears by these so called "Natural" herbs and has written off taking the new medicines prescribed by her Kaiser RA doctor.

Her doctor has examined these so called herb pills and has given her the green light to take them in conjunction with the medicine she has prescribed. The problem is, this so called AM pratictioner has dissappeared, and my mother has run out of her alternative medicine. Hence, my posting.

I read the bottle that list the herbs she's taking which are:

Magnesium Clorhide, Trifolium pratense, Uncaria tomentosa (Cat's claw) - Indometacina, Arctium lappa, glycerin.

Two of these show up as being actual herbs, but a couple are questionable. I'm not putting to much into the ones that are not since her doctor already knows what these pills bring and has given her the okay to take them.

So, does anyone know of an Alternative Medicine lab (do they exist?) where I can get this pill duplicated? The company who manufactures this pill is "Bio-Natural" and the pill itself is called "Artriti-San Formula #1". The bottle label states it is distributed by Bio-Natural Seattle WA USA, but when I Google "Bio-Natural," my hits usually come up with a company called King-Bio Natural which doesn't seem to offer this "Artriti-San" pill.

I hope my mother begins to take the promising drugs of today. However, if what she's been taking has gotten her through the past 14 years, I want to help her obatain a continued supply.

Any information on this company, pill, or ingredients will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

Comments (8) | Add comment

Klove

9/23/09 12:27pm

Try the following link to find a local HTI, Healing Touch Int'l practicioner in your area and ask about an Herbal meds for RA pain...

http://wholisticonline.com/register/locate_practitioners_all.htm

If that doesn't work call my wife GerryAnn at 812-483-2222 and she'll help you locate someone. We just returned from the HTI conference in AZ last week. I'm lucky to be married to a great HTI practicioner & aromatherapist_sort of her guinea pig...

Blessings,

Klove in IN

s6g

9/23/09 6:33pm

Will do, Clove. Thanks for the info!

Ellen Galo

9/24/09 9:35am

A friend of mine got a recommendation from an ER doctor who knew something about Native American medicine (she couldn't take regular meds due to bad stomach from lots of chemo from previous bouts with cancer). He said, try yucca juice. She found a combined herbal med in the natural foods store called "Yucca AR" (for Arthritis Relief). It contains yucca, and a number of other herbs, like hydrangea, and I think some kind of capsicum (like capsaicin?). She took it as directed ( I think 2 capsules 3x/day) and after 6 weeks all her pain disappeared. I have tried it a couple of times and it decreased pain for me too, but it was too hard on my stomach, ironically! I have found that I can only tolerate whole herbs on a very limited basis. Since they contain so many different compounds even in one plant, much less several, it presents a challeng to my digestion! But then again, so do regular pain meds :-~

As far as getting referrals, there is an American Assn of Holistic Medical Practitioners, or something like that, that is mentioned in books published by Prevention magazine folks (Rodale Press). I have found their books helpful, going back long before I came down with RA.

s6g

9/24/09 5:03pm

Thanks, Ellen. I'll make sure to look into this too!

s6g

Lene Andersen, Health Guide

9/26/09 8:24pm

I'd recommend that you find a licensed doctor of naturopathic medicine - they are experts in herbal medicine and supplements and know how they interact with more traditional Western medications and in my opinion, are the safest way to go when you incorporate alternative medications in your treatment. you can find more information about alternative treatments and RA here, including a link to a College of naturopathic medicine that can probably help you find a practitioner in your area.

If you can, suggests to your mom that she check out this site. I've lived with RA for over 40 years and know a little of how she feels. Decades of medication that didn't work or just masked the symptoms made me very leery of trying new medications, as well. Five years ago, I had no choice - I was in a horrific flare - and tried Enbrel. It saved my life. I am now on Humira and Biologics not only saved my life, but enable me to live it more fully. Feel free to give your mother my contact information on the site - I'd be happy to chat to her via e-mail.

s6g

9/28/09 2:20am

Lene,

We will look into the licensed doctor. Thanks for the tip! I told my mother that we need to look at other alternatives other than this one herbal pill that this doctor has given her which we can't get at the moment. I told her about this site and how we can educate ourselves to fight RA. She's optomistic although her current flare-up is really taking a toll on her; she just wants to get back to normal -- before the flare-up. She's doing better, so I think and hope she'll be back to normal soon.

Thanks for the kind invitation to share your experiences with my mother. There's one minor problem. She's doesn't communicate in English that well and doesn't use a computer -- trust me, I've tried to teach both of my parents to use a computer and the internet; they find it too complicated and intimidating. However, I don't mind being the middle-man. Once she feels better, I'll let her know. I'm sure she'l be excited to share her experiences with you and the rest of the community.

Thanks again, Lene, for your help and support.

s6g

9/28/09 2:24am

Lene,

Thanks again, Lene, for your help and support.

s6g

Lene Andersen, Health Guide

9/28/09 10:32am

After several years of trying, I finally convinced my mother to get a computer when she was about 67 years old, but she's fluent in English, so didn't have to conquer two barriers. But you can tell your parents it's not impossible, so maybe someday down the road...

I hope you can find something that works for your mother. I would recommend, though, that she doesn't limit herself to alternative remedies. I have lived with this disease for 40 years and have yet to encounter an alternative remedy that's as effective as "Western" medication. However, I do use both and find that using both allopathic (i.e., "Western") and alternative remedies get me further than either one of them can do separately. I understand her hesitation to go with the chemicals, but the goal is to protect her joints from damage that can limit her mobility in the future.

Keep my information handy - I'd be happy to talk to your mom through you should she want that.

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