Reverse Rheumatoid Arthritis Part II
Updated: 19h
Lessons Learned From Fifty Years of Reversing Rheumatoid Arthritis and Other Rheumatoid Disorders
Paul A. Goldberg, BA,BS,MPH,DC,DACBN,DCBCN
The Goldberg Tener Clinic
Clinic Founder and Consultant
The medical and alternative medical fields have long "treated" the symptoms of Rheumatoid Arthritis and other rheumatoid disorders as opposed to identifying and addressing the causes behind them. By focusing strictly on "managing" these conditions rather than reversing the disease process, they transform individuals into perpetual patients. True recovery requires working with the patient to Re-Create the Body and establish the exact conditions needed to restore health.
Popular modern trends like "Functional Medicine" and "Complementary Medicine" continue down this same mistaken path. Despite their marketing, they remain conventional forms of medical treatment focused on symptom suppression (see our article The Facade of Functional and Alternative Medicine). We do not need more rheumatoid disease treatments. What we need is to understand and address specific etiological factors and build health from the ground up—a direction I began pioneering in the 1970s following my own personal recovery from severe rheumatoid disease.
To define Rheumatoid Arthritis, Psoriatic Arthritis, Ankylosing Spondylitis, or any other rheumatoid disorder as a "chronic disease" implies that the patient can never recover their health. This is a bleak, dismal, and entirely inaccurate forecast. Many patients who were previously labeled with Rheumatoid Arthritis and unsuccessfully treated by conventional rheumatologists have successfully returned to good health using the Goldberg Bio-Hygienic Re-Creation System™ (discussed in Part III of this series... will be posted next week). They bear witness to the fact that a lifelong illness is not inevitable.
The video interview below, selected from numerous examples on our website, illustrates the excellent results possible through our unique approach.
Rheumatoid Arthritis Origins
Rheumatoid Disorders stem from two primary, interacting components: a Genetic Component and Environmental/Lifestyle Components.
Genetic Component
The majority of Rheumatoid patients possess a genetic tendency that makes them susceptible to developing these disorders. While this genetic link can sometimes be difficult to track directly through family history, it is highly common in a patient's ancestry. The specific medical diagnosis given to a family member in the past might have carried a different name—or went unnamed entirely—but close inspection usually reveals that someone in the family suffered from an autoimmune-related illness (e.g., Ulcerative Colitis, Crohn’s Disease, Psoriatic Arthritis, Lupus, or Rheumatoid Arthritis) or an allergic disorder that intimately involves the immune system.
Possessing a genetic link increases your chances of developing a Rheumatoid problem, but it does not make it a certainty. To complete the evolution of the disease, specific environmental issues and lifestyle factors must be present to cause the condition to surface.
Having a genetic tendency to a Rheumatoid Disorder does not mean you cannot regain your health simply because it "runs in the family". A family history presents an opportunity to take proactive, preventive steps to avoid its development, or, if the disease has already manifested, to take strategic steps to reverse the expression of that genetic weak link.
Environmental / Lifestyle Components
Environmental and lifestyle components merit our closest attention because this is the arena where we can take specific, individualized actions to bring about positive results for a patient's health and well-being. An astute clinician who is willing to thoroughly investigate a patient's history plays the role of a health detective to uncover hidden triggers. This is what we refer to as patient focused clinical epidemiology. This approach is derived in part from my training in Chronic Disease Epidemiology at the University of Texas Graduate School of Public Health.
Time and Hard Work for Both the Patient and the Doctor
Uncovering these root causes requires an exhaustive investigation into a patient's background, including:
Specific toxin exposures
Daily dietary habits and nutritional intake
Complete digestive efficiency
Hygienic behaviors (such as sunlight exposure, rest, and sleep)
Emotional habits, social dynamics, and occupational history
Stress / Trauma
Most physicians have little inclination to investigate these areas, and possess little, if any, training or clinical experience to do so. A thorough history typically takes Dr. Tener and myself an hour and a half, followed by a 30-minute physical examination, and another 20 to 30 minutes to discuss laboratory analyses. This totals roughly two hours of dedicated, multi-doctor, patient-focused attention for every single individual.
Our patients often remark that they feel as though they are being examined under a microscope, and for good reason: they are. This intensive time commitment limits our practice to seeing fifteen new patients per month between the two of us. In most conventional Rheumatologist offices by comparison, the average new patient visit is only 45 minutes for the initial consultation and a brief 15 minutes for follow-up visits. We spend two hours on a patient's initial visit and 30 to 45 minutes on follow-ups. This is not because we are slow; it is because we are thorough and must know the patient in depth to give them the best opportunity to recover their health.
Contributing Environmental and Lifestyle Factors
Nutritional Demands: A wide variety of dietary factors can trigger rheumatoid diseases. These include poor overall nutrient content, excessive use of refined sugar, and processed foods. Overeating overwhelms digestive efficiency and alters the fatty acid composition of the blood. Hidden food allergies and sensitivities can impair how your body breaks down fats, carbohydrates, and proteins.
Because every patient has individual dietary needs, a personal evaluation is required. Over the past fifty years, it has become clear that both a patient's diet and their baseline digestive efficiency are in many patients major contributing factors to rheumatoid diseases. Frequently, a patient diagnosed with a rheumatoid disorder needs to not only eat the right foods but also eat less. In many cases, a temporary period of gastrointestinal rest is a critical first step in a recovery program. This assists the body in clearing out built-up cellular wastes and antigenic materials, restoring optimal function to the gastrointestinal tract—which is often a potent breeding ground for Rheumatoid Disorders.
Systemic Toxicity / Prescription Drugs: Today’s world exposes us to a vast number of environmental toxins. These enter our bodies via the food supply, the air we breathe, and the water we drink. Accumulations also stem from pharmaceuticals and/or recreational drugs taken over a lifetime, errors in personal metabolism, and occupational exposures. Heavy metals, organophosphates, glyphosate, and chemical toxins from a variety of sources accumulate over time and contribute to, or act as primary causes of, Rheumatoid conditions. Our background training in public health, toxicology, clinical nutrition, and hygiene along with forty plus years of teaching these topics to health professionals and practicing has given us the ability to identify these hidden burdens and instruct patients on how to safely eliminate these poisons from the body (see our article Clinical Toxicology and the Reversal of Chronic Disease).
Sleep and Rest Patterns: In many instances, Rheumatoid Diseases are triggered or exacerbated by a chronic history of inadequate sleep and rest. Many individuals routinely stay up long into the night, essentially turning night into day. Over time, this extracts a deep, systemic price on health. For a Rheumatoid patient working to renew their body, obtaining sufficient rest and high-quality sleep is critical to the healing process.
Rational Sunlight Exposure: Proper exposure to the sun provides far more than just a precursor to the hormone cholecalciferol (mistakenly referred to as "Vitamin D"). Sunlight directly lifts our moods, relaxes our nervous system, activates our glands, and helps to balance the immune system—which, in the vast majority of Rheumatoid patients, is chronically over-reactive.
Pure Water Intake: Rheumatoid patients require sufficient clean, purified water to fuel numerous essential metabolic processes. The precise amount needed is highly individualized and varies from patient to patient.
Dietary and Atmospheric Allergens: Allergies to specific foods, pollens, mold, and other environmental materials can greatly aggravate systemic inflammation. Advanced allergy testing is incredibly useful, provided it is performed correctly and used in conjunction with other clinical tests within a comprehensive evaluation.
Gut Microflora Involvement: Malfunctioning of the gut and "dysbiosis"—a disordered microbial imbalance of the intestinal tract—frequently contributes to Rheumatoid Diseases and must be carefully evaluated. Pathogens such as Klebsiella pneumoniae and Proteus vulgaris, among others, are found in significantly higher frequencies in Rheumatoid patients. In some individuals, protozoa and helminths may also play a role and must be identified and addressed appropriately if uncovered.
Emotional Stress: Severe, ongoing emotional stress completely disrupts hormonal balance, creates digestive problems, sparks dysbiosis, and imbalances the immune system. Periods of prolonged stressors commonly precede the onset of Rheumatoid Disease and act to perpetuate it indefinitely. While this connection has long been recognized by medical pioneers, it is frequently ignored by modern physicians hurrying to the next room to see the next patient and write the next drug prescription. Long-term marital stress, loneliness, divorce, the death of a loved one, financial hardship, or the loss of a career can precipitate and accentuate Rheumatoid Diseases. For a clinician to overlook these emotional stressors as a potential source of a patient’s disease is a grave clinical error.
Glucose Regulation: Poor dietary habits, ongoing emotional stress, and underlying hormonal imbalances all contribute to glucose dys-regulation. This fluctuating blood sugar, in turn, greatly exacerbates Rheumatoid inflammation. Bringing glucose regulation back into strict balance is essential to a patient's ultimate recovery.
Hormonal Balance: Disturbances in thyroxin, cortisol, and other vital hormones can trigger and perpetuate some of the most stubborn cases of rheumatoid disease. We routinely treat patients, particularly females, where the aggressive use of "bio-identical hormones" prescribed by "Integrative, Complementary, and Functional" physicians has significantly contributed to or worsened their rheumatoid disorders (see our article discussing the systemic problems with Bio-Identical Hormones). Shown below is a case study from our clinic illustrating this direct relationship.
The Gastrointestinal Tract: A Breeding Ground for Rheumatoid Disease
Careful examination of the gastrointestinal tract and the factors that influence it is an important area of investigation in rheumatoid disorders.
During our evaluations, we frequently find that the patient suffers from some level of chronic indigestion, poor absorption, or inefficient elimination. These digestive disturbances manifest as excessive gas, bloating, chronic constipation, and/or diarrhea. Until the causes of this gastrointestinal dysfunction are identified and corrected, lasting joint relief is unlikely.
The undeniable connection between the gut and the joints is clearly illustrated by medical data. Patients with diagnosed intestinal diseases like Ulcerative Colitis, Crohn’s Disease, and Whipple’s Disease all suffer from a remarkably high incidence of arthritic syndromes. The case study from our clinic below highlights a patient suffering from both Ulcerative Colitis and Rheumatoid Disease who achieved recovery by addressing this connection.
Mal-digestion of carbohydrates, fats, or proteins can occur for a multitude of reasons, and malabsorption can be part of the picture behind a Rheumatoid sufferer's issues. Often, patients come to us after jumping from diet to diet to diet, following popular internet trends without understanding the unique nature of their own biochemistry and functional capacity. Analyzing nutrient utilization is an important part of a proper evaluation. GI dysfunction can lead to body-wide toxicity as metabolic wastes are eliminated inefficiently. A thorough case history, physical exam, and targeted lab testing can pinpoint these failures so steps can be taken to restore health.
The Truth About "Leaky Gut Syndrome"
Current research supports the fact that arthritic syndromes can occur when the intestines become excessively permeable [2]. When the intestines are "leaky," high-molecular-weight protein molecules slip directly into the bloodstream, triggering an antigen/antibody immune response.
It is a mistake, however, to simply state the problem is permeability and hand the patient a supplement. The underlying causes of that permeability must be uncovered and addressed, and they are diverse. Food allergies, poor diet, parasites, SIBO, lifestyle stressors, and nutrient depletion and excesses can all play an interrelated role. When proper, natural functioning of the GI tract is restored, the permeability issues resolve on their own. Treating gut permeability as an isolated issue misses the bigger picture: it is part and parcel of the patient’s overall health status.
Rebuild Your Whole Health
Most patients with arthritis and autoimmune syndromes suffer from poor overall health. Chronic digestive issues, bowel complaints, debilitating fatigue, depression, anxiety, skin problems, a spastic colon, and severe intolerance to cold are all common accompanying problems. To return a patient to a state of lasting vitality and comfort, we cannot just treat a joint or a symptom; we must address their overall state of health and systemic resistance alongside their individual lifestyle factors.
Part III of this series will explore exactly how the Goldberg Bio-Hygienic Re-Creation System™ successfully builds the conditions necessary to overcome Rheumatoid Arthritis and other Rheumatoid Disorders for good.
📞 Contact the Goldberg Tener Clinic:
If you are struggling with chronic health issues, contact our clinic to schedule a complimentary phone consultation with Dr. Tener to learn how we can help guide you through the recovery process. Click here to learn more about becoming a new patient at the Goldberg Tener Clinic.
[1] Selye, Hans, Stress, (Montreal: Acta, Inc. Inc. 1950), p. 393. [2] See Goldberg, P.A.,” The Effects of Gastrointestinal Dysfunction”, Todays Chiropractic, March /April 1993
