Question
I am 36yrs old and have suffered from bilateral cts since 99;surgeries done in 06. Since then I have had ongoing pain in my hands, especially the second joints. I tested RA positive and when the test was repeated it came back normal. My fingers lock when i try to carry or lift things and the pain is excruciating. I am going for a bone scan at the end of this month to hopefully figure out whats going on but my surgean who has been following me since 06 does not seem to think there is anything else that can be done. My question is, would arthritis cause my fingers to lock in a bent position from carrying something like a grocery bag? If i even close my fingers tightly, they will lock in that position. Is it possible that I do in fact have RA even though the second test was normal?

Answer
Hi Jackie,

Thanks so much for your question and understand that with the limited information that you have provided I will do my best to give you the most beneficial answer that I can. However, understand that this is most definitely an open dialogue and you are more than welcome to continue following up with me as needed.

The first thing that I would normally ask of a client would be about 60 questions to get a very clear understanding of who you are as a person and what your life has been like to this point. There are so many factors that can contribute to your conditions and unfortunately there really isn't any clear definitive reasons why people end up with illnesses like CTS and RA. Here is my experience with healing my clients of these chronic illnesses.

What do you eat and have you eaten for the majority of your life? This question is critical to so many things that it will most likely be the answer that tells the majority of the story. A diet that consists of anything "normal" in a western diet is going to cause a lot of acid build up in your body. Most of us do not realize that breads, pastas, rice, potatoes, grains and animal protein (including dairy) is acidic. The ash left in your body after eating and digesting these foods is highly acidic. This is where the issues begin. Acid in the body causes many, many problems. Your body needs to remain slightly alkaline (or basic, the opposite of acidic) and if you sway too far off the mark necessary, you create an environment that is prone to illnesses of all kinds. Also realize that any food that is processed, canned, high in sugar or containing alcohol will be extremely acidic. Think sugar equals acid.

To neutralize one part acid in the body it takes between 4-20 times the amount of alkalinity. An easy understanding is for one can of soda it takes nearly 32 glasses of pure water to neutralize that one soda. Imagine all of the other foods and drinks you have been eating that are leaving your body acidic and there is a pretty sure chance you are like most and have a body with an internal environment just waiting for illness to creep up. When your body is acidic, it uses your alkaline reserves to neutralize that acid. When you run out of reserves, it uses as much hydration as possible (leaving you dehydrated, which is very tough on your bones), after that, your body holds that acid in your fat to protect your vital organs and lastly, if you can't neutralize the acid, your body will begin to use calcium from your bones to neutralize it.

Why is this important to your condition? I work with a lot of arthritis clients and literally we figured this out by accident or as I like to call it; tremendous observation and breakthrough thinking. If you are eating a typical western diet or anything similar to it with any of the foods I mentioned above, you are giving your body more acid than it can handle. You will most definitely not be getting the amount of nutrients that it needs to create more alkaline reserves, neutralize all of the acid and still fuel the body. Understand that when you eat anything or hydrate your body, your red blood cells are the transporters that will carry oxygen and nutrients to each area of the body. The most important parts get the nutrients first which would be your heart, brain and vital organs. From there the red blood cells are sent throughout the rest of the body to offer what is left.

Here is the issue: if your body isn't getting enough of what it needs, oxygen and nutrients (remember that an acidic environment is oxygen deprived), therefore it's acidic, those nutrients will be used up by the most necessary organs first and will not reach your extremities (hands, arms, feet, etc). Therefore you cannot heal what is wrong if you can't get nutrients to that area of the body. The necessary nutrients and oxygen you need to heal your RA is not reaching that part of the body because you're too acidic.

How to fix this? Alkalize your body! Completely change your diet to one that is high in alkalinity, low in acid, drink a ton of water (alkaline water if you can get it) and watch as your symptoms begin to decrease.

You can very possibly have RA even though your second test came back normal...there are plenty of false positive tests, however, the more important thing is to relieve the symptoms and hopefully without the need for medications.

I hope this information helps and if you need further info, feel free to reach me on here or via my website http://vibrantlifehcg.com and you can use the ASK JOE section.