Today I’d like to share with you an interesting case study about a patient with lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.

Rhonda is a 35 year old lady who I saw just last week. She came to me seeking help for her autoimmune conditions. Rhonda has a severe case of lupus. Lupus is a condition whereby the body produces antibodies that attack and destroy the connective tissue. Our body is full of connective tissue – it is basically the stuff that holds our organs and tissues together. This means lupus can cause a range of different symptoms of varying severity.

In Rhonda’s case, the worst symptoms were unbearable fatigue and blisters.

She slept an average of 9 hours each night, yet still felt exhausted. She needed a nap around 12pm each day and sometimes had a second nap around 4pm. Rhonda had blisters on her hands, feet and inside her mouth. The ones on her hands were the worst. At the moment the blisters are so bad that she cannot work and cannot do any jobs around the house. Her husband has been doing the cooking and cleaning.

Rhonda also has rheumatoid arthritis, and the joint pain fluctuates with the weather. Cold and wet weather is the worst.

Another symptom of lupus that Rhonda suffers with is a red rash on her face. Her entire face appears badly sunburnt. When I first saw Rhonda and she described her symptoms to me, I said that her body is so inflamed that she is on fire inside. She replied “That’s exactly how I feel – like I’m on fire”.

Rhonda was accompanied by her older sister, Mary. Unfortunately, it appeared that Rhonda was Mary’s mother. The lupus had caused a great deal of inflammatory damage to Rhonda’s skin and this made her appear far older. Autoimmune conditions unfortunately cause a great deal of oxidative damage to the body’s tissues.

I explained to Rhonda that the aim of my treatment was to reduce the inflammation in her body and balance her immune system, so that her immune cells stop attacking her organs and tissues.

Rhonda is only taking two medications, a high dose of steroids and a blood thinner. She is currently on a very high dose of prednisone; 75mg. This is a short term measure to try and reduce her symptoms. The problem is, the steroids are not working. Long term use of steroids is associated with a range of terrible side effects. Rhonda is aware of this and desperately wants an alternative. She has not taken any immune modulating drugs that are commonly used for lupus because she is frightened of the side effects.

My recommendations for autoimmune conditions

As suspected, I discovered that Rhonda is severely vitamin D deficient. I asked her to take one vitamin D capsule daily with breakfast  . I also asked her to expose her arms and legs to the midday sun for brief frequent periods as often as possible. Vitamin D is excellent for reducing inflammation and auto-antibody production in autoimmune conditions. It is best to have a blood test for vitamin D to determine which dose is right for you.

I gave Rhonda a selenium supplement. Selenium is another brilliant anti-inflammatory. It can help to reduce auto-antibody production, and it enhances the body’s production of glutathione, which is a strong detoxifier.

I put Rhonda on a grain free, gluten free and dairy free diet. This is critical in order to heal leaky gut syndrome, which is present in all autoimmune disease. This is necessary whether the patient experiences any digestive problems or not. Rhonda regularly suffered with diarrhea, and these diet changes should help correct that. I also gave her digestive enzymes and ox bile capsules, to enhance absorption of nutrients and reduce the diarrhea.

I also gave Rhonda a glutamine powder in order to reduce inflammation in her gut and heal the delicate tissue.

That was all I recommended on Rhonda’s first visit. I didn’t want to overwhelm her with too much on her initial consultation. Patients who suffer with significant fatigue can find it a real struggle to just get through each day. I didn’t want to give Rhonda an overly complicated regime to follow at this stage. The diet changes alone would be enough of a challenge. Because she’s so tired, she would often eat biscuits with coffee for a meal. Apart from the problems with gluten and dairy, a meal like that is devoid of any nutrients.

The blisters in her mouth made it very difficult to eat raw vegetables, therefore we discussed making , smoothies and eating pureed vegetable soups.

I am looking forward to seeing Rhonda in 3 weeks. She has been suffering with lupus since the age of 15 and her condition is becoming worse. I would love to see Rhonda improve her health and experience the energy and vitality she deserves.

For more information about autoimmune disease, see our book Healing Autoimmune Disease: A plan to help your immune system and reduce inflammation.

The above statements have not been evaluated by the FDA and are not intended to diagnose, treat or cure any disease.