NSAIDS and Rheumatoid Arthritis

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: People with rheumatoid arthritis don’t have good options when it comes to conventional medical treatment.

I mean seriously, the options are glum.

WebMD Lists the main goals of RA treatments as: 1) To control inflammation 2) to relieve pain 3) to reduce disability.

Now these are noble goals. I understand that inflammation in the joints causes pain (ask me how I know, wink wink), and eventually joint damage (I’ve got plenty of that, too!). However, in my opinion, inflammation reduction in and of itself should not be the #1 goal of rheumatoid arthritis treatment.

The goal should be identifying and eliminating the root cause of the inflammation.

The very idea that the “experts” in the field of rheumatology do not know the cause or cure of the disease is laughable… ludicrous… ABSURD! Imagine if the “experts” in the field of botany (the study of plants) didn’t understand where plants came from, or what caused them to grow. It’s just wrong on every level that people who don’t know about or understand (or suffer from) our disease are the so called experts managing treatment plans. The icing on the cake, the treatments themselves undermine our overall health and well-being.

Case in point: NSAIDS. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are a commonly used pharmaceutical option for managing RA symptoms.

NSAIDS are common, over the counter drugs that decrease inflammation in the body by blocking the “cox” enzymes. These enzymes produce prostaglandins that effect inflammation in the body, blood flow, and the formation of blood clots. Examples include Advil, Motrin, Ibuprofen, and naproxen among others.

NSAIDS are effective at reducing pain, fever, and swelling… but they come at a price. In his article titled “The 5 Dangers of NSAIDS” , Dr. Axe lists heart failure, gastrointestinal damage, renal failure, and allergic reactions as reasons to limit their use. The chronic, relentless nature of RA pain makes NSAIDS a dangerous choice due to the massive dosage required to keep inflammation down day in and day out. Dr. Pam Popper shines a light on the dangers of chronic use of NSAIDS in this video. 

My main issue with NSAIDS as treatment for RA is this:

There is a huge movement connecting the relationship between gut health (or the lack thereof) and autoimmune disease. Autoimmune disease starts in the gut. It begins with leaky gut, or gut permeability, in which undigested food particles and toxins get into the bloodstream and cause an immune response. If this continues over time, it leads to autoimmune disease.

NSAIDS are known destroyers of gut health.

In her article entitled “Gut Repair After Using NSAIDS“, Dr. Amy Meyers lists six ways NSAIDS negatively impact the gut. Her list includes bacterial imbalance, digestive discomfort, heartburn/GERD, gastrointestinal ulcers and bleeding, leaky gut, acute colitis and autoimmunity.

In case you missed that, NSAIDS can CAUSE leaky gut (a pre-cursor to rheumatoid arthritis) and they can cause autoimmunity.

Not only can NSAIDS cause gut permeability, but their continued use can also make it extremely difficult to heal gut permeability because damage is constantly being applied to junctions in the cell wall that separates the intestine from the blood stream. When the blood stream is bombarded with undigested food particles and toxins, the immune system goes on high alert. Instead of just reacting to these foreign invaders, it begins targeting them. Sometimes it mistakes its own tissues and cells for these foreign particles in the blood stream, and autoimmune disease gets its start. (This is a process known as molecular mimicry) It’s heartbreaking for me to even type those words, because once the immune system makes that shift, it is extremely difficult to regain a correctly calibrated immune system.

Autoimmune disease is essentially friendly fire of the immune system.

Although NSAIDS are commonly prescribed as the first line of defense against arthritis pain, they come into the body like a Trojan Horse. Disguised as a help… a relief… an escape from the pain… they actually reinforce the dangerous breakdown of the gut cell wall that is the first step to autoimmune disease.

It is my humble opinion that the true way to fight arthritis pain is to

1. Heal the gut
2. Avoid any and all foods that have been targeted by the immune system and cause it to light up for at least a year if not many years
3. Increase your intake of foods that put integrity back into the body at the cellular level (i.e., eat plants!) and decrease acidity in the body
4. Get the sleep you need to heal and restore
5. Exercise regularly to oxygenate and circulate
6. Hydrate
7. Celebrate the return of ease to your mind and your body!

I hope this article is helpful in making sufferers of RA aware of the dangers of NSAIDS. May God bless us all as we strive to mitigate RA and it’s symptoms!

Take Good Care,

Cassie