Introduction
My name is Rose Parker and like millions of other people throughout the world, I have been through the trauma of being diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis. After the initial feelings of despair and helplessness, I resolved to find the best treatments possible in my attempt to understand this complex disease.
The market in alternative arthritis pain relief therapies is a minefield so beware!
There are many unscrupulous organisations who claim to have found a cure for rheumatoid arthritis however if this were true then it would be prescribed by conventional medicine. At the moment I do not believe that a cure exists, however there are many very effective treatments.
I have personally tried and tested all the arthritis pain relief treatments covered in this article.

Physical Treatments
For my birthday a good friend paid for a treatment of 'Daoyin Tao'. The face, head and neck massage made me feel much more relaxed and it helped me release much of my stress. I also had a 'Bowen Treatment' on my whole body and knees. The first time it worked wonderfully and I was raving about it, but the second time it made both my knees swell up like balloons and thump with pain. I put flannels soaked in cider apple vinegar on my knees, holding them in place with cling film: alas! the pain remained. I even booked a 'test drive' on a vibrating bed. I found the vibrating noise disturbing and the vibrations had no effect on the pain in my cramp ridden leg, even when the salesman increased the frequency in a concentrated way on the bottom of my foot. Still, I saved myself 4.000. Instead I still have to use my electric blanket throughout the whole year to warm my muscles and I need a bath in Epsom Salts every morning in order to walk properly and to reduce some of the stiffness and pain.
I was beginning to realise that finding arthritis pain relief was not going to be easy!

Aromatherapy Oils
I decided to continue searching within a field I know well: aromatherapy. I picked up my aromatherapy book: The Fragrant Pharmacy by Valerie Ann Worwood and read the whole section on arthritis pain relief treatments, twice. I decided to give it a go. I ordered all the oils and a few others just to make sure. A horsey friend had told me about the miracle of Neem oil, so I ordered some of that as well. The Neem oil definitely helped but, it does stink a bit! It claims to help many problems, including Thrush, Gingevitis and bone disease which causes your teeth to fall out. I found that it definitely helped with my arthritis pain relief and I now take a capsule of Neem every day. The variety of aromatherapy oils have also helped significantly to reduce the pain in my knees.

Diet
I had heard that diet can have an enormous impact on rheumatoid arthritis. There is so much conflicting evidence in this area. I decided to embark on a whole diet change: I gave up coffee, sugar, red meat, root vegetables and citrus fruits. When I had my body stats measured in 1998, I was diagnosed as dehydrated so I decided to drink lots of water. I also tried Green Lipped Mussel extract at great expense bought on the Internet. It claimed miracles, but it did not give me any arthritis pain relief. I did get something else from it though: extremely bad breath!
There is scientific research which states that Rheumatoid Arthritis is one of the symptoms of too high acid levels in the blood and body. The blood has a very narrow temperature range and also a very narrow acidic range, and the body does all it can to compensate. Much of my problems come from an over acidic body and I am trying to stick to alkali raising food in order for my body to heal itself. I paid 20 for Dr Gillian McKeith's Living Food Energy which tasted horrible, but it did give me more energy and it was not acid forming. I also did Gillian McKeith's detox, over 24 hours, but I had not been eating very much prior to that. It did have an effect. I had several bouts of diarrhoea, producing liquid black slurry and a stomping headache. I felt better the next day, so can only assume my body had been full of toxins. The diet did make me feel better and overall I experienced more arthritis pain relief. I continue to follow the principles above but I also do allow occasional excesses: All diet and no fun makes Rose a dull girl!

Footwear
Specialist clothing and in particular footwear have provided me with some arthritis pain relief. Soon after being diagnosed my legs were so swollen that some riding boots I had made to measure were causing me pain. I had worn these boots every day since 1989 and now they no longer fitted round my calves. What's more, after wearing my Celtic sheepskin boots (that help by supporting my feet) my legs had a ridge in them half way down due to water retention and poor circulation. I then bought some Masai Barefoot Technology trainers to take the stress off my joints and they too have had a positive impact. They help with arthritis pain relief through the curved soles which even out the jarring on your knees when walking.

Magnets
During my desperate state I tried another avenue I had heard about and went round to see a friend who sold magnet products. I was totally sceptical. I didn't feel a thing from the bracelet. But WOW!, when I went to bed on a magnetic pad I could feel my body pulsing. Almost like someone massaging you. It was amazing! From that day on I could cut down my painkillers. I was still stiff and sore in the morning and it continued to take me a long time to actually stand up, but the agonising cramp that lasted ALL DAY had suddenly disappeared. My husband who has chronic back pain raves about the magnets continuously and there are cases of people who say that their arthritis pain has disappeared completely.
I will try to explain how it works in simple terms (which is all I can do because I am simple too!). The blood needs a certain level of electrolytes, which are liquids that can carry electric charges. The electrolytes' charges can be swapped around to keep the acid level of the blood within a certain range as explained earlier. There are nutritional products available which can supplement these electrolytes. The specially designed magnets influence the charges in the electrolytes increasing their effectiveness. This improves the circulation of the blood (the blood is less 'sticky') and it can flow more easily around the body, including the problem areas of the joints. This in turn reduces the pain.

Summary
In summary, there are many different arthritis pain relief treatments some which work and some which do not. Also, remember that everyone is different and will respond to treatments in different ways. I have found that some of the nutrients, oils and magnetic products described in this article have helped me considerably.


Please respond or visit my website guest book if you know of a product that has helped you. Also please feel free to visit my website, Rheumor, where there is much more information on the arthritis pain relief treatments covered in this article.
Article by Rose Parker 2007.