Tumeric for Arthritic joints

unclebulgaria

I wondered if anyone on MSE has had any experience of using Tumeric as a natural anti-inflammatory treatment?
My 23 year old son was diagnosed with Juvenile Onset Arthritis at age 12 with severe pain in his extremities. This was treated with Sulfasalazine as the main treatment. During his late teens when he was at University his symptoms subsided and a blood test revealed his Arthritis had almost gone with very low levels of Arthritis markers. 18 months ago he started to show signs of its return with painful joints especially in his pelvis and ribs. He has recently been diagnosed with Ankolysing Spondylitis with very severe symptoms and swelling to his knees and ankles, severe pain in his ribs and pelvis. He is currently being lined up for Anti TNF drugs and is currently taking Methotrexate amongst others drugs, muscle relaxants and pain killers etc.
I have recently read that Tumeric has proved to be an effective Anti-inflammatory, has anyone used it and found it to be helpful?

lessonlearned

Yes I have and yes it helped.

A traditional way of taking tumeric is to add a teaspoon into a glass of hot milk and drink it at night, a spot of sugar is optional. It tastes quite pleasant.

Don't expect instant results, like most natural or complementary treatments and medicines the effect is slower and cumulative.

For a quicker result you might try hot compresses containing tumeric and applying them to painful joints.

There are several spices which are said to be beneficial at reducing inflammation.

Tumeric, ginger, black pepper, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, garlic, cloves - so get cracking with those stir fries and curries....

Some people swear by pineapple. Pineapple contains an enzyme called bromelain which helps reduce inflammation, working pretty much like NSAIDs. I can't get on with it because it upsets my stomach, just as NSAIDs do. You can buy extract of pineapple in tablet form.

Also adding omega 3 to the diet helps, so plenty of oily fish.

I have had great results with Red Krill oil capsules, they really help with knee pain, and of course omega 3 helps maintain heart health too.

Capiscain capsules are also supposed to be good but I've not tried those.

Capiscain is extracted from red peppers, so adding red peppers to your cooking might also help.

You can buy black pepper essential oil which when mixed with a suitable carrier oil can be massaged onto sore joints.

In fact there are a number of aromatherapy oils which can help, lavender is a nice all purpose oil, which is both anti inflammatory and a muscle relaxant so can help loosen stiff muscles or spasms.

Oils and gels containing menthol help too.

There is a whole a range of products you can buy otc or buy the ingredients to make up your own potions.

Obviously your son still needs to work with his medical team and you should always take advice before taking supplements etc but diet, massage, gentle stretching exercise such as yoga can all help to reduce pain and improve mobility.

A lot of common every day foods found in the western diet can actually either cause or exacerbate arthritis and inflammatory conditions. I have real problems with grains and try to avoid them as much as possible, even whole grains.

So for me wheat based foods have to be an occasional treat rather than a diet staple. I've learned to leave Bread, cakes, biscuits, pastries, pizzas, pasta alone whenever possible.

Some people have problems with citrus fruits, tomatoes can be another trigger, or potatoes, both being part of the nightshade family.

It's all trial and error but modifying the diet can often help. Get your son to keep a food diary and see if he notices a pattern of pain following certain types of foods.

Take a look at some of the arthritis websites and forums and then start googling up for further information on some of the things I have mentioned and the things that other people recommend.

Sorry for the essay, hope you find something of value and which helps you from my findings.

I cannot take any form of oral medication to ease my arthritis or Fibro because they upset my stomach so much, so I have had to go down the complementary route. It's taken some time but I've become quite knowledgable and ive more or less got my pain under control. I still get the odd flare up especially when I'm stressed and if I start making the wrong food choices.

But if I eat well, exercise gently and take the right supplements then I can keep mobile and pretty much pain free.

In the past I had to resort to steroid injections at times, but I haven't needed any for several years now. Touch wood ........

A.Penny.Saved

Turmeric is very poorly absorbed from what I have read about it. I understand that it can be improved by using fats in the form of liposomes to improve it's absorption. Curcumin is the component of Turmeric which provides the benefit and curcumin extracts can be purchased in up to 95% pure curcumin. There are articles on making liposomes which might be helpful. Youtube had some videos on doing it and there are articles on the internet about how best to do it which usually use ultra sonic cleaners. Therefore adding a small amount to food probably won't make a big difference. Black pepper can also help improve it's absorption as can consuming it with fats.

It might be worth you looking at Boron as well because that can be helpful for arthritis and inflammation. Boron is useful for osteoarthritis but it can also have some effect on inflammatory conditions. Therefore it might be worth doing a little research on it.

cherryblossomzel

Talk to your son's doctors. Some supplements, herbs or spices can cause unwanted drug interactions with his other meds, so it's important they know what's going on. Turmeric apparently interacts with certain drugs like ibuprofen (and others) and large amounts taken by mouth can cause stomach upsets etc.


Really best to talk to medical professionals, rather than strangers on the net.

kaya

Most cheap tumeric you can buy has had the good stuff you want extracted already so be careful where you buy from, I believe pepper aids absorption

netballdi

There is a Tumeric user group on facebook that has loads of recipes and help for taking tumeric. Plenty of people with experience and advice.

unclebulgaria

Thank you for your time people. I will take onboard everything you've all said. Lessonlearned thank you for the detailed reply.

McKneff

A few spoons of the best Manuka honey you can afford every day.


Natures own Healer. I have arthritis all over and have not taken any medication for over 10 years now. I do have a flaire up every now and again but that's usually my fault overdoing things.

lessonlearned

Yes I forgot about manuka honey. I've had great success with that.

moneyistooshorttomention

If you could get turmeric rhizomes then you could perhaps experiment with growing your own.

Google Youtube and input "Growing turmeric in containers update". Yep turmeric is spelt wrongly - because the video did...

asset2004

netballdi wrote: »

There is a Tumeric user group on facebook that has loads of recipes and help for taking tumeric. Plenty of people with experience and advice.

that's a really informative group and worth reading and asking for suggestions