[TheForge] Re: Arthritis

[Mike Spencer]

> I have developed arthritis in my left foot, the doctor
> has me on some stuff for it, but still hurts at the
> end of the day.
>
> Any one have realistic methods for calming the pain?

Depending on which kind of "arthritis" you have, you might want to
look into dimethyl sulfoxide, otherwise known as DMSO.

The story of DMSO is a long tale.  The FDA has approved it only for a
single obscure condition.  Those inclined to take the word of the drug
industry and the medical establishment as gospel cry, "Snake oil!"
It's cheap and un-patentable so Big Pharma abhors it.

But it's widely used in sports medicine to reduce inflammation and
speed healing. It's widely used in veterinary medicine, especially for
joint inflammation in big-money race horses.  Many people use it for
arthritis pain and inflammation, witho or without the cooperation of
their physicians.

Here's one reasonable piece on it:

   http://www.medical-library.net/sites/_dmso_dimethylsulfoxide.html

and a more technical one relating to its use with diabetic peripheral
neuropathy at NIH:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=3880781&dopt=Abstract

You want to find a medical  grade, not an industrial solvent grade.
You want to avoid contaminating it with anything you wouldn't be
willing to shoot up because it carries stuff dissolved in it through
the skin.  You probably want to read up on it (there are books,
technical papers and a lot of stuff on the net) to convince yourself
that it's neither dangerous nor snake oil before you use it.

DMSO doesn't, AFAIK, do anything to eliminate underlying pathological
conditions.  It relieves inflammation and pain and is thus of benefit
where the inflammation exacerbates the underlying condition and
retards or prevents healing.  The second article mentioned above
surmises:

    The therapeutic effect of DMSO most probably results from an
    increase in tissue oxygen saturation via a combined mechanism of
    local vasodilatation, decreased thrombocyte aggregation, and
    increased oxygen diffusion.  Local DMSO is effective, simple,
    devoid of systemic side effects, and inexpensive.  It should be
    employed for diabetic foot ulcers prior to the consideration of
    surgical measures.

All that said, it's certainly one of the options to try if your
doctor's treatment is leaving you in pain.


- Mike