In my 8 year struggle with Rheumatoid Arthritis I have learned more then one thing that we will attempt to offer concerning general health practices that are beneficial for any one to do, but along with that I will speak of ONE single answer that was shown to me, that has effectively "tipped the balance", and has begun to cause me to recuperate.
Today's date is January 25th, 2010, and as of this date I have not yet shed all the signs of RA, but I know that I am on the road to complete recovery. My story with RA (in brief details) started almost exactly 8 years ago.
At first I experienced needle like pains that would come at night, and always in different places in my body. They were very frustrating in that they kept me from sleep. As those diminished I began to be subject to an overwhelming fatigue that became so great it was all I could do to step up 6 inches at a time, and it is fair for you to know that prior to this I had always been very strong and able bodied. Effectively, I went from 44 to 94 years of age in three month's time. About then, it was suggested to me to begin to drink much more water and take MSM. The which I did, and the fatigue began to lift. (General Health Tip - Drink lots of good fresh water, and nutritional supplements are very needed. However, not all supplements are equal)
In the numerous months that followed I experienced swelling in my limbs that would come and go. At one point my left leg, from my knee down, and including my ankle was swollen for what must have been 3 to 4 month's time. Then the focus of the disease seemed to turn to my smaller joints. My toes, fingers, and the joints in my hands became extremely affected, and began to be distorted and swollen. In fact, the joints in my right hand were at that time so affected that if I were to shake my hand they would just freely wobble, as if there was little or no connection between them and my hand. The knuckle joints had simply been "eaten up" by the disease. However, in time the RA relaxed in these joints and began to affect the major joints, such as my knees, wrists, and elbows.
In the summer after I first began to be affected by RA I visited a doctor and he diagnosed me with Rheumatoid Arthritis. This doctor told me that there was no answer for RA, and that I would have to learn to "live with it", and his suggestion as to how to "live with it" was Viox. The which I took for some months. However, I experienced NO outstanding benefits from it, and never felt good about it. So when I heard that people were dropping dead of heart attacks because of using it, I discontinued the use of it. I then tried Celebrex. I experienced no particular side affects, but neither did it do anything for me. So I discontinued the use of it.
After about three years of "dealing" with RA I hurt badly. At that point my right knee was bone on bone, and to walk was exceedingly painful. It was then that I was introduced to an herbalist in our area. At her suggestion I did several types of cleanses, (including a very complete colon cleanse) and began a very restricted diet of salads, yams or sweet potatoes, and salmon. After doing this, and with the introductions of numerous vitamins and minerals I did experience a come back. Awe! How sweet it was! I actually recuperated to about 95% of my original physical abilities. (General Health Tip--It seems very much universally accepted that the core of all good health starts in the colon, therefore one needs a source of fiber to effectively keep the colon clean and in good working order--Also, there is no substitute for a balanced diet. Particularly one that is 70% or more alkaline. However, it also seems very much universally accepted that because of the present conditions of the our soils, plus the introduction of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, insecticides, growth hormones, food preservatives, and many other man made manipulations of our foods there is little or no hope of eating a pure and balanced diet without the use of a wise food supplement product. Plus a supplement is needed that can effectively remove toxins from our bodies)
However, no matter how obedient I was to this diet, or to taking these vitamins and minerals (the which I used to take by the hand full) I was not able to maintain the recovery I had experienced, and once again began to hurt terribly. I again became stiff. I again experience swelling in different parts of my body. In short, I began again to greatly loose my physical abilities. This continued up until recent days, so that by the time, (according to God's rich mercy upon me) the Reliv products were introduced to me, I had become very crippled with advancing deformity in my arms in my legs.
I was still able to walk, but I describe it as hobbling. Both my legs and my arms were very seriously being deformed so that they would not straighten, and my left knee took a crook, so that my left foot was approximately five inches out of alignment, 5 inches to the left of where it was suppose to be. I walked very much bent over, partially dragging my left foot. It was very humiliating to me! At this point, for about a nine month duration I was on Enbrel. Which is in my understanding the strongest pharmaceutical available for RA, and the only reason I could then afford it is that I could no longer work and was at this point on a disability, and had therefore become so poor that I was able to receive it by means of a grant. However, the way I described the good (or lack there of) that it did for me are these words. "It sorta, kinda, held back the symptoms". In other words, it wasn't curing anything.
I have to admit, the whole situation looked very bleak. I had no idea where to turn. My only hope was in Yahweh, that He would bring an answer to me. For I had tried everything I knew to try. I had spent many, many thousands of dollars on doctors, on medicines, but mostly on what seemed like "every supplement known to man kind", but in the end, nothing was working.
THEN IT HAPPENED!
I was at a conference near my home town and a fella saw me "hobbling" along. He walked up to me and the words I recall him saying were, "what's your problem?" I answered, "Rheumatoid Arthritis". He then looked at me and said, "I believe I can show you how to over come that." The first thought in my mind was, "No one overcomes rheumatoid arthritis." But I did not say that to him, I simply looked at him and said, "Ok, what do you know?" I guess hope was still alive in my heart, for I had been praying for an answer, even though it had been a long time coming.
Roger, the man who met me that day later took me via a three way call to speak with Larry who had himself struggled with a form of RA and who had been turned on to using the Reliv Nutritional Products and had completely overcome the affects of his RA, to the point where he had gone from only being able to walk with the aide of a walker to running a marathon, and that in 9 month's time. I must admit, after talking with Larry I was very encouraged and very interested. Roger then set me up with a list of phone numbers that were connected to health testimonies. I bought a Magic Jack so that I could make these calls at an affordable rate and began to listen to the testimonies. I did not stop until I listened to over 150 of these testimonies. Testimonies of people who had been suffering not only from RA, but many other forms of diseases and traumas, and had themselves tried many other things, but with little or no true success, but then had found victory over their physical affliction when they used the Reliv Products! (Health Tip--Supplements do not heal the body no matter how good they are. It is just that good ones, such as the Reliv products, very effectively nourish the body, and then the body by God's design can heal it's self.)
