Rheumatoid Arthritis and Osteoporosi... 
Sentient
13 y
1,705
Hello HV
Recently, my grandmother has become ill diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis and Osteoporosis. Additionally she has high blood pressure and complains of sleeplessness and liver pains. She tells me that her liver is enlarged.
The doctor has her taking chemotherapy medication to lower her immune system. The doctors have scared her into taking these things and I was hoping there was a better way or supplemental remedy. Her medication is as follows:
Every Monday and Thursday she takes 3tablets containing 2.5mg of Methotrexate. After 12h and 24h of taking this she takes 5mg of some similar molecule to lower the negative effects of the chemotherapy.
In addition she takes 50mg/ml of Enebrel 1x a week.
She takes 50mg of Tramadol every night for pain and occasionally Lunesta (2mg) to sleep better. I want to get her some melatonin to try instead when she cannot sleep.
Her Blood pressure often looks similar to this recording:
168/88 at night
171/96 in the morning and
106/64 in the afternoon.
In terms of supplements: The doctor gave her a bottle of 500mg Calcium to take 1x a day with food.
1mg of folic acid to take 1x a day.
And she takes the magnesium Citrate with her Calcium
I was hoping you could provide some feedback and recommendations for her. I am also looking to order some formulas for her from your website, but fear that they may interfere with her medications. Do you believe they will interact with her medications? Also, would it be possible to order any of your formulas in bulk? What is the pricing and process for placing the order?
Any information you could provide or reference would be sincerely appreciated.
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- Re: Rheumatoid Arthritis and Osteopo... Hveragerthi
13 y
1,710
This is a reply to # 1,891,912
Recently, my grandmother has become ill diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis and Osteoporosis. Additionally she has high blood pressure and complains of sleeplessness and liver pains. She tells me that her liver is enlarged.
The medications could be affecting her liver, as well as if she ever takes any nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen for pain.
You did not mention either if she is taking anything for the high blood pressure.
Also, has she been getting any steroid shots for the RA?
The doctor has her taking chemotherapy medication to lower her immune system.
Yes, that is the methotrexate. Doctors do this because they are under the false assumption that the immune system is overactive in autoimmune conditions. So they use drugs to suppress the immune system to prevent the immune system from mounting an immune response. Of course this leaves the person to even more infections and makes the underlying conditions worse as RA is bacterial in origin.
The doctors have scared her into taking these things and I was hoping there was a better way or supplemental remedy. Her medication is as follows:
Every Monday and Thursday she takes 3tablets containing 2.5mg of Methotrexate. After 12h and 24h of taking this she takes 5mg of some similar molecule to lower the negative effects of the chemotherapy.
In addition she takes 50mg/ml of Enebrel 1x a week.
She takes 50mg of Tramadol every night for pain and occasionally Lunesta (2mg) to sleep better.
Lunesta is a really bad drug. It is well known for causing sleep activities and hallucinations. Here is a video I did on it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnV7_YL9UiY
I want to get her some melatonin to try instead when she cannot sleep.
I am not a fan of melatonin either:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZEj2K5WJ9g
Her Blood pressure often looks similar to this recording:
168/88 at night
171/96 in the morning and
106/64 in the afternoon.
In terms of supplements: The doctor gave her a bottle of 500mg Calcium to take 1x a day with food.
1mg of folic acid to take 1x a day.
And she takes the magnesium Citrate with her CalciumThe amount of magnesium should be equal to or slightly more than the calcium since calcium can raise blood pressure. Magnesium lowers blood pressure by antagonizing calcium.
Silica is more important though for the osteoporosis as osteoporosis is a loss of matrix, not minerals, from the bones.
I was hoping you could provide some feedback and recommendations for her. I am also looking to order some formulas for her from your website, but fear that they may interfere with her medications. Do you believe they will interact with her medications?Nothing that you mentioned. The three formulas I would recommend would be the Adrenal Tonic, the Bone and Joint and the Live-R-ight.
Also, would it be possible to order any of your formulas in bulk? What is the pricing and process for placing the order?
I only have the Live-R-Ight in capsules. E-mail at MMBotanic@aol.com with what you would like to order and how much and we can go from there.
In the meantime read my write up on autoimmunity so you will have a better understanding of the process:
mountainmistbotanicals.com/info/index.html
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- Re: Rheumatoid Arthritis and Osteopo... Sentient
12 y
1,297
This is a reply to # 1,895,094
Thank you for your response.
I believe that she is taking the Enebrel in lieu of the steroids. She is not taking any other shots nor am I aware of her taking anything to lower her blood pressure beyond what I have listed. I will look at your past posts to try to find something to assist with stabalizing her blood pressure.
I have already notified her to reduce her caffine intake and to the best of my knowledge she has stopped drinking coffee and caffinated teas.
Is there anything you could recommend for assisting with sleep? She attributes the sleeplessness to the high blood pressure, but after searching for it I read that sleeplessness results in higher blood pressure not the other way around. I have personally taken melatonin from time to time (for better or worse) with good results as I sleep durring bright hours. I have noticed very vivid dreaming and had difficulty waking but was not aware that our body naturally produces so little of it. I would be interested in knowing if there are any effective supplement that you have experience with that would assist in falling asleep or perhaps assist with the body naturally synthesizing melatonin.
I have emailed you with the order information as per your request and hope to hear back soon.
Have a pleasant and peace-filled 2012
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- Re: Rheumatoid Arthritis and Osteopo... Hveragerthi
12 y
1,649
This is a reply to # 1,897,036
I believe that she is taking the Enebrel in lieu of the steroids. She is not taking any other shots nor am I aware of her taking anything to lower her blood pressure beyond what I have listed. I will look at your past posts to try to find something to assist with stabalizing her blood pressure.
There are different causes of high blood pressure so different things that will work depending on the cause. Magnesium malate will work in most cases though.
I have already notified her to reduce her caffine intake and to the best of my knowledge she has stopped drinking coffee and caffinated teas.
Is there anything you could recommend for assisting with sleep? She attributes the sleeplessness to the high blood pressure, but after searching for it I read that sleeplessness results in higher blood pressure not the other way around. I have personally taken melatonin from time to time (for better or worse) with good results as I sleep durring bright hours. I have noticed very vivid dreaming and had difficulty waking but was not aware that our body naturally produces so little of it. I would be interested in knowing if there are any effective supplement that you have experience with that would assist in falling asleep or perhaps assist with the body naturally synthesizing melatonin.
Chamomile is the highest herbal source of tryptophan. This is the precursor for serotonin, which can be converted in to melatonin.
Taking a calcium/magnesium supplement for bed can also help since this relaxes the mind. Again the calcium and magnesium should be in acidified forms such as citrates or malates.
- Re: Rheumatoid Arthritis and Osteopo... BeautifulBones
12 y
1,652
This is a reply to # 1,897,107
Calcium malate (CCM) definitely has superior absorption although some research suggests that calcium bisglycinate and calcium formate have even higher absorption rates. These forms of calcium are found in leafy green vegetables and some food based supplements. Absorption rates are as follows:
- Calcium Citrate/Malate (CCM): 40%
- Calcium Carbonate: 26%
- Calcium Citrate: 22%
Absorption rates for calcium carbonate and calcium citrate are similar if taken with meals-while calcium lactate (from cow’s milk) and calcium gluconate (highly promoted in liquid formulation) have solubility less than calcium citrate.
Link removed.
- Re: Rheumatoid Arthritis and Osteopo... Hveragerthi
12 y
1,696
This is a reply to # 1,897,269
Calcium malate (CCM) definitely has superior absorption although some research suggests that calcium bisglycinate and calcium formate have even higher absorption rates.
Please link this research. Not sales sites, not vague references but links to the actual research. I did some searches on Medline and a few other sources and could not find any studies verifying the claim that calcium bisglycinate is better absorbed.
I did find a study discussing the absorption of calcium formate, which was higher. Although, other factors have to be kept in mind such as the fact that calcium formate contains less calcium than calcium carbonate, but more than calcium citrate. The calcium carbonate used in the test contained 40% calcium. The calcium formate had 30.8% calcium and the calcium citrate 24.1% calcium. All the calcium used in the test were tablets from commercial manufacturers with different binders, which again will affect absorbability. Test subjects were given 2 tablets calcium carbonate, 6 tablets of calcium formate or 6 tablets of calcium citrate each to equal 1200mg calcium. Another big variable though is the amount of not only stomach acid present but also the amount of flora since these also affect the rate of absorption of calcium compounds. There are other factors still such as the presence of vitamin D, silica or some food acids that help in the absorption of calcium or the presence of compounds such as proteins, phytates or oxalates that block the absorption of calcium.
These forms of calcium are found in leafy green vegetables and some food based supplements. Absorption rates are as follows:
- Calcium Citrate/Malate (CCM): 40%
- Calcium Carbonate: 26%
- Calcium Citrate: 22%
Again, there are many variables so it is impossible to truly calculate actual calcium absorption rates.
Absorption rates for calcium carbonate and calcium citrate are similar if taken with meals-while calcium lactate (from cow’s milk)
But protein in cow's milk inhibits calcium absorption, which is one of the main reasons cow's milk is such a poor dietary source of calcium.
and calcium gluconate (highly promoted in liquid formulation) have solubility less than calcium citrate.
Solubility is a different factor than absorbability.
There are several reasons I prefer the malates and citrates. First of all they are well absorbed even if there is a lack of stomach acidity. The malic acid and citric acid these forms are bound to are also key components of the cellular production of ATP. And these acids can provide other benefits such as dissolving some types of kidney stones.
- Re: Rheumatoid Arthritis and Osteopo... Sentient
12 y
1,416
This is a reply to # 1,897,443Thank you for this information it is very useful. How do you suggest a person administer chamomile to assist with sleeplessness? My grandfather/grandmother both have issues with sleeplessness and claim that Valerian is not effective enough. They take Lunesta currently about twice a month. I recommended melatonin as a less dangerous alternative until you mentioned the amount that is created naturally in the body. I would like to try chamomile now, do you have a recommended dosage? Or is there something else that you feel could be more effective?
Additionally, I have found out that my grandmother had her liver damaged by parasitic worms in her earlier life. I'm not sure if this is accurate, but this is the best information I have. In Russia they allegedly treated it using "something toxic," I wish I had better information for you. I have sent you an email with my request to order the herbs and hope to hear back from you soon.
Mike
- Re: Rheumatoid Arthritis and Osteopo... Hveragerthi
12 y
1,567
This is a reply to # 1,897,687
Thank you for this information it is very useful. How do you suggest a person administer chamomile to assist with sleeplessness?
Most people simply make a tea from the herb by heating the water up then turning off the heat, adding the herb and letting it steep for 10-15 minutes. I like to steep my teas longer keeping them covered to reduce evaporative cooling and loss.
My grandfather/grandmother both have issues with sleeplessness and claim that Valerian is not effective enough.
I have never cared much for valerian. And it can act as a stimulant for some people.
They take Lunesta currently about twice a month. I recommended melatonin as a less dangerous alternative until you mentioned the amount that is created naturally in the body. I would like to try chamomile now, do you have a recommended dosage? Or is there something else that you feel could be more effective?
Lady's slipper is the most effective, but because of its endangered status has become hard to find.
Other herbs that can help with sleep include kava, catnip, scullcap and passion flower. Combinations often work better. What will work best for a person though will depend on the person and why they are having problems with insomnia. Most of the herbs for insomnia work by slowing brain activity to calm the person so they can sleep. If there is another cause though such as hypothyroidism or overuse of caffeine then these may have to be addressed in a different manner.
Additionally, I have found out that my grandmother had her liver damaged by parasitic worms in her earlier life. I'm not sure if this is accurate, but this is the best information I have. In Russia they allegedly treated it using "something toxic," I wish I had better information for you. I have sent you an email with my request to order the herbs and hope to hear back from you soon.I check my e-mails shortly.
- Re: Rheumatoid Arthritis and Osteopo... Hveragerthi
12 y
1,567
- Calcium Citrate/Malate (CCM): 40%
- Calcium Citrate/Malate (CCM): 40%
- Re: Rheumatoid Arthritis and Osteopo... BeautifulBones
12 y
1,652
- Re: Rheumatoid Arthritis and Osteopo... Hveragerthi
12 y
1,649
- Re: Rheumatoid Arthritis and Osteopo... Sentient
12 y
1,297
- Re: Rheumatoid Arthritis and Osteopo... Hveragerthi
13 y
1,710
