Case Study: Rheumatoid Arthritis In A School Girl

Lesley is a 17 year old girl who came to see me for help with rheumatoid arthritis. She had been diagnosed with the disease a year ago and was unhappy with the medication her doctor had given her. Lesley’s parents brought her to see me because they were distressed to see how much pain their daughter was in.

Lesley’s specialist had given her a low dose steroid and also the drug Methotrexate. Lesley only experienced minimal relief with these medications and her parents were frightened of the long term side effects. They didn’t want Lesley to increase the dose of the drugs; they wondered if there was a natural solution instead.

Lesley felt pain in many joints of her body, but the worst was her spine and her hips. The pain made it very difficult to sit for long periods of time, and Lesley did a lot of sitting at school, while working on projects and while taking exams. The pain made it hard to concentrate while sitting exams and this caused Lesley a great deal of stress.

The pain in her spine made it difficult for Lesley to sleep; she woke frequently throughout the night and always felt extremely tired during the days. In fact Lesley needed a nap when she came home from school most day; although I’m not sure a two and a half hour sleep qualifies as a nap. That’s how tired she felt.

My recommendations for my patient

Lesley’s diet was not great. She knew that. She often ate poorly because she felt so dreadfully tired that she craved the brief pick-me-up that a cookie or bowl of ice-cream provided. Fortunately Lesley’s mum always cooked a healthy dinner and I asked her to cook a larger portion so that Lesley could take leftovers for lunch at school the next day. I asked Lesley to follow the eating guide in our book Healing Autoimmune Disease. The diet is based on vegetables, protein rich foods, fruit and natural fats. It excluded gluten, dairy products and some other foods that can irritate the gut lining and promote leaky gut.
I asked Lesley to take Intestinal Parasite Cleanse capsules and also gut health powder to help improve her gut health, as this is the focus in the management of autoimmune disease. Lesley experienced some digestive disturbances including bloating and gas; Intestinal Parasite Cleanse capsules are great for helping to kill unhealthy gut bugs. The Ultimate Gut Health powder is wonderful for healing and sealing a leaky gut and reducing gut inflammation.
In autoimmune disease such as rheumatoid arthritis, the liver is responsible for producing excessively high levels of inflammatory chemicals and this worsens the pain and inflammation. I gave Lesley Livatone Plus capsules to help improve her liver health.
As with the majority of my patients, Lesley was low in vitamin D. She spent most of her time indoors – either studying, or reading or watching TV. I gave her a vitamin D supplement and asked her to spend some time in the sun, being careful to never get sunburnt.