An interesting case report - 'Nutritional supplementation and dietary restriction in the resolution of enthesitis-related arthritis.' - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3085976/

"Within one month, the patient saw significant improvements in function that allowed her to decrease, and then completely discontinue the methotrexate, sulfasalazine, naproxen and ondansetron after six months. At six months, antinuclear antibody testing was repeated and found to be negative, and CRP levels had returned to normal (result 1.0 mg/L), supporting the clinical picture of inactive disease."

Thanks for an interesting article.


Janet

Great article jroc - and found other interesting articles in the 'related' side bar. Glad the kiddie recovered.

Now, IF only other doctors and rheumatologists took these factors on board, there would be less illness, more recoveries - of course pharma would be down on pocket 'sob-sob' - all the way from the bank...Not!

thanks for the article

i'm another to think all this supplementation is beneficial. while i take some drugs too (like zanaflex, flector patches), and i have flares that need to be squelched with methylpred, in between, i think the feeling better is largely due to all the supplements.

related to molly's statement, glad i have a rheumy who will go the drug route as needed, but started me on the supplement route first.

Thanks so much for sharing that article! It gives some hope that there are other options out there for those of us not having much luck with regular medications.

I read another very similar case study, this time with a 56-year-old man with psoriatic arthritis. Used very similar methods to treat, resulting in an 80% improvement. If anyone wants to read it, you can download a PDF file of the case study here: http://www.functionalmedicine.org/functiona-medicine-in-practice/casestudies/

One of the things I liked was that both these people had good results with diet & supplements without having to adopt a No Starch Diet. It shows there are more than one alternative treatment options available.

Wow that PsA case report is amazingly detailed, thanks! A real glimpse into what the future of personalised medicine might look like -
* comprehensive testing for a wide range of important health markers - inflammatory, hormonal, digestive, nutritional
* specific evidence based interventions to treat the root cause of the problems that were revealed by testing
* focus shifted towards treating the patient rather than just treating a disease

Yea, jroc, I'm pretty excited about the concept, too. I'm seriously considering finding a good Functional Medicine doctor to work with, even if I have to travel a long distance. I'm tired of my docs just trying to suppress the symptoms, instead of working on the cause of them.

Since I've already experienced significant improvement on a low starch diet that has also removed the most common potentially allergic foods, I feel this type of medicine has real potential.

But my regular docs just can't grasp the concept that diet and other issues can have real effects on a major autoimmune disease. My family doctor said that she thought I must have been misdiagnosed! After three years of unending hell, permanently damaged fingers, and ending up on disability - she now doubts I have PsA simply because she can't believe that diet could possibly improve my symptoms so much. Arghhhh!

I see a functional medicine doctor who also happens to be internal medicine as well.

I was diagnosed with spondylitits in January 2012 and started seeing a functional medicine doctor in February. I have decreased my CRP from 2.33 to 0.12 and my medication has gone from Relafen & 6 Advil daily to zero medication.

I am not completely pain free, but I can now function quite well without medication. I did have a 3 week flare up when I moved houses, and so I took Relafen for a few days during the flare.

FM will test for heavy metals (I had too much mercury), nutritional deficiencies (I had numerous ones including zinc, glutamine, CoQ10, and lots of boderline deficiencies), food allergies (none for me) and food sensitivities (tons for me). I am about to do cortisol testing. I exercise daily and just started trying meditation. I eat an anti-inflammatory diet and do consume some starch. I have not tried a no starch diet, but maybe I will one day.

My biggest drop in my CRP levels and reduction in pain occured when I eliminated the foods I tested sensitive to and added glutamine, CoQ10, extra Vitamin C, and digestive enzymes. I'm not sure which one of these things made the most difference because I made these changes all at once. And I no longer feel sick!

FM is very picky about which brand of nutritional supplements you use. I use mostly Shaklee and Metagenics. These are the only 2 companies I'm aware of that have double blind placebo controlled studies published in major medical journals.

My heart doctor likes functional medicine and even now tests for things that FM has been doing for years (like the particle size of your LDL). Mine was not the good size! He likes my diet and is happy with my results.

My children's pediatrician also likes functional medicine. Her husband used to be a medical professor at Harvard, so maybe she's just more aware of the latest research.

Just be aware that if you decide to use FM, it's very expensive. Most of the tests will not be covered by insurance, and the supplements are expensive. However, I do not think I would function at this high level if I had not done it. If it's in your budget, I recommend everyone try it! And even if you can't do the testing, I think everyone should be on an anti-inflammatory diet!

Thanks, ash, for sharing about your experience! I really appreciate that. And thanks for the heads-up about the high expense. I'll have to try to find a way to afford at least some of their recommended tests and treatments.

I found a really excellent video that clearly describes what Functional Medicine is all about - doctors acting as medical detectives to find and correct the unique causes of disease in each individual. It uses some of the most advanced medical tests to find out WHY an individual has developed their particular symptoms (hence the high expense, I guess).

http://drhyman.com/blog/video/the-medicine-of-why/

Thank you J-

My mind is blown.