Rheumatoid Arthritis

RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS – A LINK TO YOUR GUT

Rheumatoid Arthritis is a chronic disease that causes joint pain, swelling and inflammation. 

Many clients I see that are diagnosed with RA also have had or have ongoing digestive problems such as bloating, reflux, constipation or diarrhea. This often precedes the diagnosis by many years. There are factors such as environmental and genetic components to arthritis but some of the BIG DECIDING FACTORS ARE LIFESTYLE, STRESS, DIET, SLEEP AND THE GUT MICROBIOME. 

There is a lot of ongoing research into the interaction of the gut and many chronic inflammatory conditions such as psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis and rheumatoid arthritis.

Some of the finding are that blood markers of gut damage were raised compared to healthy people even at the earliest stages of arthritis, and that these markers of damage got higher the more the disease progressed. The gut became “leaky” potentially allowing the passage of bacteria to cross the gut lining into the body, enhancing inflammation in the gut and joints.

Current drug treatment does nothing to assist the gut in healing or removing inflammatory bacteria or yeast from the system. The drugs come with many side effects to the liver and gut, resulting in increased intestinal permeability.

WHAT CAN YOU DO: 

Do a food intolerance test (speak to me) to see what foods the body is reacting too. Often people cut out so many foods that are seen as “inflammatory” but it’s not actually “inflammatory” to their body. Design food around your body and don’t follow a general anti-inflammatory diet.