Changing our lives after a diagnosis of Rheumatoid Arthritis from a future of hopeless drug dependency to ‘yeah, whatever’ requires knowledge of viable alternatives, a determination to remain standing in the face of a dire prognosis, and a willingness to question the methods of the ‘experts’ on our health, meaning the ones who gave us the diagnosis to begin with and who are now prescribing very serious drugs.
Getting to the finish line and reclaiming our own health requires one more thing: The ability to persevere, because our path for at least the first months won’t be easy. To do the impossible and live happily with a potentially grave disorder will require some changes in our lives that will take a little time, ingenuity and determination.
First obstacle: the changes to your diet will involve the foods that you eat most now. Those are the ones causing you problems. So you keep a daily food journal as you eliminate those and substitute foods you usually eat less often. Then, you feel great again, branch out to some new foods and end up back where you started from. That’s when you begin to think that your good health was just an illusion and you really can’t control the disorder after all.
This backsliding step seems to be a required part of the transition to good health. It has happened to everyone, including me. At this point, we may decide to give up on our own ability to control our lives and resume taking drugs. Others consider the possibility that they should go back on drugs but don’t.
Some of us end up in the middle: We go back to our docs for a prescription for another biologic, but, before we can fill it, we reconsider the enormity of the lethal consequences associated with pharmaceuticals for RA and the fact that we will lose our tolerance for them and have to keep changing our pharmaceutical fix to infinity and beyond. The drug industry faces a major challenge as it tries to produce enough new-but-similar immuno-suppressants to keep up with our changing biology.
In short, we face the fact that we alone are ultimately in charge of our health.
Bummer.
That’s when many decide to try the diet alternative again and finally break through to good health.
When you feel like giving up, just remember that it takes 3 days for food antibodies to clear your body. Give yourself that 3-day miracle before you go off the deep end and resume drugs. You’ll never get better that way.