Arthritis, remedies

Based on the finding that NDGA is an antioxidant, chaparral has been promoted as an anticancer agent (Tyler, 1993). In a recent review (Sheikh, 1997) of chaparral-associated hepatotoxicity, patients reported using chaparral as a general cleansing tonic, internal skin cleanser, blood thinner, arthritis remedy, antiasthmatic, nutritional supplement, and weight loss product. 

A large number of salts of sahcyhc acid have been prepared and evaluated for therapeutic or other commercial use. Table 7 hsts those most frequently referenced. Sodium sahcylate has analgesic, antiinflammatory, and antipyretic activities and was used extensively in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries as a remedy, prepared from natural sources, for arthritis and rheumatism. In the 1990s the salt can be obtained directly from Kolbe-Schmitt carboxylation or by the reaction of sahcyhc acid with either aqueous sodium bicarbonate or sodium carbonate. The resulting mixture is heated until effervescence stops the salt is then isolated by filtration and evaporation to dryness at low temperatures. Generally, the solution must be kept slightly acidic so that a white product is obtained if the mixture is basic, a colored product results. The USP product contains 99.5—100.5% NaC H O (anhydrous). The May 1996 price was 8.15/kg (18). 

Remedies that fail to survive stringent examination are by no means limited to Chinese or other traditional sources. The United States has a long history of unorthodox medications, many of them based on plant extracts. Cancer and rheumatoid arthritis seem to attract especial attention, perhaps because orthodox therapies frequently offer little relief from these afflictions. In controlled testing, many widely touted novel medications perform no better than placebos. Proponents of such alternative treatments have often complained that their medications were unfairly denounced and that they were victimized by the medical establishment. 

Johnson, S. (1984) Feverfew. A Traditional Herbal Remedy for Migraine and Arthritis, Sheldon Press, London. 

Lucy could have also tried the remedy described in an amazing book called The Incredible Proven Natural Miracle Cure that Medical Science Has Never Revealed. Let me reveal it to you urine. Your own. All you have to do is take one to two drops daily, and feel your arthritis disappear. In extreme cases it has to be injected. If you re queasy about consuming urine,... 

Researchers have attempted to do serious studies of some unusual arthritis treatments, such as the traditional raisins-in-gin remedy. The idea is to soak some raisins in gin for seven days and eat nine daily. A researcher at the University of North Texas has looked into this, and he maintains that it brings people with arthritis significant relief. He uses ninety-proof gin and has discovered that while soaking the raisins longer makes no difference, increasing the dose does. Maybe the remedy s effectiveness is due to anti-inflanunatory compounds in the juniper berries from which the gin is made. Or maybe it s the alcohol. The researcher is now prescribing thirty-six gin-soaked raisins a day, and he insists that his arthritis sufferers feel much happier. I bet they do. 

We haven t yet reached the bottom of that huge barrel filled with alternative remedies for arthritis. We haven t broached aromatherapy, imagery ( Just picture the pain flowing out of... 

Feverfew is widely consumed in England as a remedy for arthritis and migraine. Feverfew contains parthenolide, which is a member of sesquiterpene. Parthenolide inhibits the activity of prostaglandin synthetase. It also inhibits platelet aggregation and alter serotonin release (Figure 25.2). 

Ajowan seed has been popular from ancient times for its use in folk medicines. The seeds contain an essential oil with 50% thymol, which is a strong germicide, antispasmodic and fungicide. Thymol is also used in toothpaste and perfumery. It is used in a steeped liquid form against diarrhoea and flatulence. In India, the seeds are used as a household remedy for indigestion and colic and are used in poultices to relieve asthma and arthritis. It is also reported to have aphrodisiac properties (http //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajwain http //www.theepicentre.com/Spices/ ajowan.html). Thymol isolated from the oil is a powerful antiseptic and an ingredient in a number of skin ointments/powders, deodorants, mouthwashes, toothpastes and gargles. 

The herb is used in treating rheumatism (Launert, 1981). Infusions from the seeds are used for rheumatoid arthritis and gout. The essential oil is used in warm water to soak painful, gouty areas of the feet. Root tinctures and also fresh juice from the whole plant are also used in arthritic remedies (http //www. innvista.com/health/herbs/celery.htm). 

Leucovorin or folinic acid, a mixture of the 6R- and 6S,-diastereomers of 5-formyltetrahydrofolic acid, is an important clinical agent which may be used as a remedy for megaloblastic anemia and as an antidote for inadvertent overdosages of antifolates in patients with cancer, parasitic diseases, or autoimmune disorders such as psoriasis and rheumatoid arthritis. In view of these applications it is surprising that few significant improvements in the manufacture of leucovorin have occurred... 

Pumpkin, Curcubita sp., is a member of the gourd family, Curcubitaceae, that also includes melons, cucumbers, squash, and gac. In 2003, the United States production of pumpkins was approximately 335,000 MT (http //usda.mannlib.comell.edu/ reports/nassr/fruit/pvg-bban/vgan0104.txt). In some mid-eastem African countries, dried pumpkin seeds have been used to treat tapeworm when eaten on an empty stomach (53). Also, for many years in Europe, pumpkin seeds have been used as a remedy for micturition. Pumpkin seed oil has also shown possible beneficial affects in retarding the progression of hypertension (54), potential anti-inflammatory activity in arthritis (55), and may be effective in reducing the risk of bladder-stone disease (56). 

Sophora falvescens (Ku shen) contains a variety of matrine alkaloids, such as aloperine, cytosine, lehman-nine, matrine, oxymartine, oxysophocarpine, sophocar-pine, sophoramine, and sophoridine, the flavonoid kushenol, and the saponin sophoraflavoside. Ku shen is a Chinese herbal remedy made from the root of S. falvescens. And Qing luo yin, a Chinese herbal remedy for rheumatoid arthritis, is a combination of extracts of Dioscorea hypoglauca, Phellodendron amurense, Sinomenium acutum, and S. flavescens. 

Willow bark has been a remedy for pain and fever for hundreds of years. In the late eighteenth century, scientists isolated the compound in willow bark that is responsible for its effects. They then converted it to a similar compound, salicylic acid, which is even more effective. In the late nineteenth century, a German chemist, Felix Hoffmann, did research to find a pain reliever that would help his father s arthritis, but not cause the nausea that is a side effect of salicylic acid. Because the technologies used to synthesize chemicals had improved, he had a number of more effective ways to work with chemical compounds than the earlier chemists. The compound that he made, acetylsalicylic acid, is known as aspirin. It is still one of the most common pain relievers more than 100 years later. 

Kestin M, Miller L, Littlejohn G, Wahlqvist M. The use of unproven remedies for rheumatoid arthritis in Australia. Med J Aust 1985 143 516-518. 

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