Using Cider Vinegar as a Natural Remedy for Arthritis
There are many people who swear by cider vinegar as a home remedy for arthritis.
Its use as a treatment for joint pain goes way back into the past when herbalists were the "pharmacists" of the day and herbal treatments were a widespread means of healing.
Cider vinegar as a healthful potion is what many describe as an old wives' tale, but there is some truth in its basis.
It popularity as a potential remedy for rheumatoid arthritis grew when Margaret Hills published her inspirational book, "Curing Arthritis the Drug-Free Way" and cited cider vinegar as the key element in her own recovery from her chronic condition.
I had personal experience with this condition some twenty years ago and during the course of my own researches into finding a natural cure for my own advancing arthritis my search led me to this book.
I was skeptical at first but decided that Hills' description of her own "miracle cure" using this everyday substance made far too much sense to be ignored. It was naturally pooh-poohed by many medical experts at the time because it was and still is believed that there is no cure for rheumatoid arthritis.
Mrs Hills begged to differ.
Testing Cider Vinegar as a Cure for Arthritis
As I had nothing to lose and there were no side effects to the treatment described by Mrs Hills, I got started in earnest.
The focus of the treatment was in taking a holistic approach to the condition as well as using a combination of cider vinegar, black molasses and honey as the central "medicine" to combat the progression of the condition. Here's how and why it works:
Uric Acid
Rheumatoid Arthritis is instigated by a build up of uric acid deposits in the affected joints, which happens when the body has elevated levels of the acid in the blood. Uric acid is attracted to the alkaline lining of joints (synovial membrane).
This happens because acid will always gravitate toward alkaline to neutralize. The acid attacks the synovial membrane of the joints and then, over time starts to form a thin, hard shell around the joint, causing friction.
Those uric acid deposits are identified by the body's immune system as alien bodies and are attacked. The area is flooded with histamines and this is what causes the painful swelling.
As rheumatoid arthritis progresses in the body, more joints become affected and if nothing is done to reverse the situation, the joints will become less mobile and more painful despite the use of powerful anti-inflammatory drugs.
Fight Fire with Fire
Hills discovered that when you take cider vinegar daily, the malic acid present in the vinegar enters the blood stream and also gravitates toward the joints. But instead of causing further damage as logic would suggest, the malic acid actually dissolves the hard uric acid deposits in the joints gradually.
Over the course of several months, the uric acid deposits are eventually removed from the joints. The immune system no longer has an alien deposit to attack so retracts its attack and the swelling reduces and finally goes.
Many people disregard this "arthritis cure" as nothing more than snake oil, either because they simply close their minds to anything that is not endorsed by the medical profession, or they try it for a week or two, don't see any visible results and give up long before the cure has a chance to take effect.
Being a very tenacious and determined person, I was not about to give up on this treatment without giving it a really good try. I was prepared for several months of treatment and told myself that every day, I was doing something positive for myself and as a result was getting a little better as each day passed.
I'll be honest, it did take a long time. But after about a month of taking cider vinegar daily I did notice more mobility in joints that were very stiff and painful before starting the treatment. There was still a lot of pain, but there was definitely some improvement. I persevered, because perseverance is what gets results!
After about three months, I had far less swelling, less pain and much better mobility. I was able to play the guitar again after several months of suffering too much pain in my fingers to move them freely.
After six months I was almost back to my old self and had very little pain in far fewer places than before. After a year, all traces of the disease were gone from my body.
Not the End
However, this is not the end of the story. It was vital that I understood what caused the rheumatoid arthritis to get into my body in the first place. I didn't have far to look.
Experts agree that there are several potential triggers for this condition, but two stand out as major potential causes. One is genetic heredity. Another is diet.
There was no history of arthritis on my father's side of the family, but on my mother's side I had two aunts that suffered with rheumatoid arthritis. Further investigation uncovered more ancestral incidence of the condition.
So I had one piece of the puzzle. It was not complete though, as it is believed that while a person may have a genetic history of the disease, it doesn't always occur.
Diet vs Hereditary Causes
Diet is the other trigger and I believe from my own personal experience it is the foremost cause of this disease. Medical experts may not agree, but then they tend to disagree with each other on many issues, so I prefer to believe what I can see with my own two eyes than what a bunch of statistics try to make me believe.
What I do believe is that if you have a hereditary link to the disease, then a faulty diet is much more likely to trigger the condition. I believe that is what happened in my case.
My diet up to the point I discovered this disease was appalling. I ate far too much red meat and dairy products, too much white bread and other refined white flour products (cakes and biscuits) and drank too much beer!
I was about 20 pounds overweight in my early 30s when the disease first struck and had only managed to limit that figure because I worked out every day. At least I did before it became too painful. Then I knew I had to do something serious or my weight would likely balloon for lack of exercise.
One Book Changed My Life
Reading Margaret Hills' book, mentioned above, really hit home what I had been doing to myself with such a bad diet and what I needed to do in order to turn things around if I didn't want a bleak future as an arthritic, immobile obese man stuck in a wheelchair, pumped full of powerful drugs and facing an early grave!
That was a major motivator for me.
I got started right away taking a tablespoon of cider vinegar with a teaspoon each of honey and black molasses in a glass of hot water each morning, noon and night. I modified my diet to exclude red meat, cut down hard on dairy products and switched to whole wheat bread.
I've never been a great lover of pasta, so not eating that wasn't a problem. I cut down drastically on alcohol (mostly beer) and I also stopped drinking my daily glass of orange juice and switched to apple juice. I started drinking lots of plain water and no more soda or carbonated water.
I started eating more fresh fruit and started cooking Chinese style stir fried meals in olive oil using lots of fresh vegetables, onions, garlic and ginger. I ate more fish to counter the lack of meat and even had several "vegetarian" days each week. My diet actually became more like the Mediterranean diet than anything else, even though back then I had not idea what that diet was!
I made a point of getting out of the house into the daylight and fresh air more, even if it was only into my back garden to sit and read rather than being cooped up indoors. I did some light exercise when I was able and tried to be as positive about curing myself as I could.
Getting to the Root Cause
I believe that getting to the root cause of the problem and eliminating that is the way to beat any disease. While some are not so easily defeated, rheumatoid arthritis is, at least for most sufferers, a condition that CAN be beaten.
You have to find out what your own trigger is, but I'd be willing to bet that whether you have a genetic history or not, your diet is a leading factor in why your body is producing too much uric acid. This may appear to be the root cause, but the root cause is what is causing the body to produce too much uric acid!
The answer goes back to diet and a faulty diet that can cause some liver damage (excess sugar and excess alcohol) can lead to metabolic syndrome
Yes, the root cause is FAULTY DIET!
Margaret Hills was a State Registered Nurse and had the backing of some of her medical colleagues for her treatment. She knew what she was talking about! She opened her own treatment center in Coventry (England) and to date has helped many thousands of people to relieve their suffering naturally and without drugs.
So defeat the root cause of the disease and you defeat the disease. You may have a metabolic disorder (as I much later discovered I had) that means your body is producing more uric acid than it can eliminate.
You can help that situation through a radical rethink of your diet as I did. If you are unsure what foods are causing the problem, you can visit a dietician who can help you find out.
Good Things Come to He Who Waits
If you decide to treat yourself naturally using this method, be prepared to be very patient. It will not happen overnight.
It can take many months to make a difference. During that time, there is nothing stopping your from using NSAIDs or other more natural arthritis treatments to help you cope with the pain. No one said you have to suffer while the cure takes its sweet time. But stay positive and expect the cure to manifest, because it will if you give it a fair chance.
It was a long year but I believe that my change of lifestyle plus putting into practice Mrs Hills' methods was my salvation. If I'd allowed a closed mind and blinkered thinking to dictate what I believed, I never would have made such an important positive change in my life. If you have been reading this, you have to make up your own mind what you want to believe.
This article is not intended to sell you anything (unless you have the foresight to want to buy Margarate Hills' book):
"Curing Arthritis the Drug-Free Way"
#ad
This book is available on Amazon. Get it and read it for yourself. It can give you a realistic, natural alternative to drugs and their side effects.
In my opinion, pharmaceutical drugs do nothing to help cure the condition, they just keep you stringing along getting worse and worse and helping to make money for the drugs companies.
You can either keep taking the drugs or you can try this alternative treatment that means helping yourself. It's your call.
Note: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
- Terry Didcott
[BACK TO TOP]
Posted on Wed, 05 Sep 2012 in Arthritis | 0 Comments