An astonishing 1% of the U.S, population suffers the joint pain and swelling of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), women far outnumbering men, usually starting midlife 30’s to 40’s. RA is one of the 100 or so autoimmune diseases in which your immune system, generally a “good guy” meant to fight “bad guys” like infections and cancer cells turns against you. In RA, it’s your joints. In multiple sclerosis, your central nervous system. With psoriasis, your skin. Get the drift?
Decades ago, when I was in medical school, and we did surgery by candlelight many doctors treated RA using antibiotics like doxycycline and minocycline and patients did get better. Understand this was before anti-inflammatories like NSAIDS (like Motrin, Advil), steroids (like prednisone). No one had even thought of modulating the immune system with the likes of a “disease modifier’ like plaquenil, methotrexate, or the specific ‘immune/inflammatory modifiers,’ namely a ‘biologics’ like Humera.
With a worldwide prevalence of 18 million RA victims, scientists around the world have been diligent in their seeking options to Humera which now stands at a rather pricey $96,000 a year.
- Although there are several so-called ‘inflammatory markers,’ one of them anti-CCP (cyclic citrullinated peptide) is quite specific for rheumatoid arthritis. When this rises, it indicates increasing disease severity.
- Of the 300-500 species of bacteria living in your colon, making up your microbiome, the dominant ones are the good guys, Lactobacillus, Bifidobacter, E. Coli, and lots of generally harmless fellow travelers.
- One, however, Prevotella copri, when present in excessive amount in one of the many tests available mapping your microbiome, triggers, then worsens rheumatoid arthritis.
- It does this by damaging the lining of your intestinal wall (“leaky gut”) which I have written about here
- Researchers in China found that early RA patients routinely had a “weak” mix of bacteria in their microbiome and were able to slow down disease and improve RA symptoms with pre/probiotics and short courses of antibiotics.
- The successful antibiotic treatment I myself was seeing all those years ago was likely a die-off of the patients Prevotella. But as antibiotic use faded out, and interest in “gut health” vanished from conventional medicine, autoimmune diseases skyrocketed to the levels they are today.
Tests to discuss with your WholeHealth Chicago Practitioner:
Doctor’s Data Comprehensive Stool Digestive Analysis with check for Parasites
OR
GI Map by Diagnostic Solutions
Recommended supplements: (available on wholehealthchicago.com website through Apothecary>Fullscripts
- VitaAid GI Restore (heals leaky gut)
- Xymogen ProBioMax DF (dairy free high potency probiotic)
- SunFiber (high fiber prebiotic)
- Douglas Glucosamine +Chondroitin + MSM (anti-inflammatory for osteo and rheumatoid arthritis)
- Low dose naltrexone (simply excellent compounded prescription ‘calms down’ an unruly immune system for all forms of autoimmune disease. I am seeing this being prescribed more and more frequently by conventional physicians)
Be well,
David Edelberg, MD