Healing for arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis is a scary diagnosis. Especially when you're only 29 years old. I thought I'd been healthy. I ate a good amount of fruits and some vegetables. I kept away from processed sugars and exercised on a regular basis. People asked me for health and dietary advice all the time. But something wasn't right. My body was fighting itself. It seemed like my health was going to go for good and that was a frightening reality. I was on pain gear "bearable" about to shift to pain gear "unbearable." Getting out of bed and walking across the room hurt. Walking down stairs made me look and feel like an old woman. Simple things like turning the key in my car's ignition or turning doorknobs became torments.
I had an appointment with a rheumatologist but it was three months out. In the mean time I knew I had to find some relief. What if the pain inhibited me from working? What if the RA excellerated and left me deformed? These were valid questions.
I have a high tolerance for pain and masked my condition well. But I wondered if I would have to live with and mask this pain for the rest of my life.
There's no medical cure for rheumatoid arthritis. But the thought kept going through my mind like a mantra, "there has to be some way to reset the body."
I began researching autoimmune diseases. I dreamed of being the one to find the cure. I was my own test dummy. I was trying as many natural anti-inflammatory methods as I could find: glucosamine, chondroitan, msm, ground ginger, turmeric, and also taking 4 aleves per day. Without much good result it seemed.
One day I received an email from my sister-in-law. She told me about Stanley Burrough's Master Cleanse. It was something she'd done to support a friend coming off depression medication and she thought it might help my symptoms.
I had three months to kill and pain I wouldn't mind killing as well.
"What the heck," I said, "What's ten days without food?"
In the middle of the Master Cleanse the pain in my knees went away and the swelling in my knuckles began to diminish. After I had completed the 10 day cleanse I had two completely painless days - something I hadn't experienced for over eight months.
During the cleanse I began to look into the diets that Stanley Burroughs recommended - The Raw Food Diet.
After receiving relief and feeling clean from the inside out I didn't want to go back to how I'd been.
Since May 9th, 2008 I've been following the raw food lifestyle. And loving it!
In the last five months my pain level has gone from a 9, sometimes 10, down to a 3, sometimes zero. I no longer take any pain medication.
I've had one pain flare-up - but for the most part I feel that I am on the right journey to whole body health.
I'm not saying I found the cure for RA. But maybe I have found a way to let my body come back to health by fueling it with living foods, letting go of stress, breathing deeply, laughing more and getting lots of sunshine.
I'm going for all out health and I wish the same to you!