Fish Oil For Rheumatoid Arthritis and Diabetes
by Kathleen
(Perth, WA, Australia)
Hi. I am 52 years old and have had Rheumatoid Arthritis for over 10 years. I have tried every mainstream med that my Rheumatologist has suggested, including monthly infusion of a chemo drug. Nothing worked or worked for long. For most of that decade the RA has been severe and generalized (in every joint).
I have been taking 9000mg of fish oil per day (5000 in the a.m. and 4000 in the p.m.) for a couple of months. I settled on this dose because I heard that 9000 mg was the recommended daily dose to experience disease modification. Since taking this, I have also been diagnosed with diabetes so have cut out sugar from my diet, moved to a high protein and vegetable diet (excluding potatoes, carrots, pumpkins) and increased my exercise to 20-30 mins brisk walking most days, with a view to further increase (time and frequency) until I lose 25 kilos that the steroids I have taken on and off over the last 11 years put on. (I was warned that diabetes is a possible side-effect of the steroids but couldn't get our of bed unless I took them.)
I am still on twice daily morphine so this has helped me be able to build up my muscle strength without too much joint pain - but, of course, it masks most of my pain so it is difficult to know what effect the fish oil is having.
However, I do feel much more energetic, less tired and in less pain overall - to the point where my GP and I are planning to wean me off the morphine. (A missed dose recently revealed the pain is significantly reduced.)
My question is this: Is my dosage optimum for my situation? How can I find out how much fish oil should I be taking to improve my RA and diabetes symptoms - especially as I move off the morphine?
Is it just a matter of trial and error or is there a guideline out there? I still work full time and it is extremely important to me that I be able to continue to do so because I love my job and a number of people depend on my income.
Thanks.
Answer:
Hi Kathleen. I see that you are going thru a lot of health problems in your life but I also see that you have the firm purpose and desire to turn them around. The best attitude you can have is to take your health out of the hands of your doctor and medicines and to get it back in your own. What I mean, health is our responsibility and we have to work every day for it in order to gain it back.
For example, I see that your main problem to get in good health is the excess weight you have at the moment. Excess weight, not only aggravates rheumatoid arthritis and diabetes but it activates the most important factor in several degenerative diseases: inflammation. The best way to combat general chronic inflammation is with diet, exercise and supplements. I would like you to take a look at this article: Anti – Inflammation Diet
If you are able to eliminate most inflammatory foods, sugar, grains and grain oils, you will be in a better position to lose weight and fight inflammation. I recommend you change your 20 – 30 minutes fast walking for a different approach. Try mixing fast walking with intervals of higher intensity. At the beginning you can add 30 seconds of more intense fast walking, trying to elevate your breathing capacity to the maximum for that period of short time, followed by 2 or 3 minutes of relaxed walking until you get your breathing back, then do another fast interval for 30 seconds. After 4 to 6 weeks of this regimen you will have to run in order to pant. Do this for 6 – 10 intervals per session.
You will be sweating profusely at the end of 20 minutes and it will have hormonal advantages over the fats walking, you will generate Human Growth Hormone (HGH) that will make you lose weight faster and you will feel better after every session. I recommend you avoid doing the same exercise every day, it will make you quit in a few weeks. Try making changes every other day, practicing other activity or going to the gym (very important to go to the gym in order to keep you muscle mass that we all lose over the years and to avoid osteoporosis). But definitely you need to
practice some exercise every day, it lowers your insulin and it is anti inflammatory, your best medicine (exercise is a drug but you need to apply it at the required intensity and frequency to act as a life saver).
Regarding the amounts of fish oil required to have benefits over your diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis. There is no official recommended dosage of fish oil for any disease, much less for good health. We know it is an essential oil required to stay in good health. The situation here is that the
amount of omega 3 you need to supplement with depends upon the amounts of pro inflammatory omega 6 in your diet. They fight for the same digestive enzymes to get into our system. So, as you eliminate the amounts of sodas, sugar, wheat, maize, vegetable oils and other starches ( all are omega 6), you will need less omega 3 to get the same heath benefits.
So, you see, it is a very individual formula. What I recommend is to start with 1.800 mg of omega 3 fats (EPA plus DHA from the label) and to increase the amounts of omega 3 as needed. The doses you are using at the moment could be good for you, it depends on the ratio of triglycerides to HDL cholesterol, it should be close to 1/1.
All of the above is easier said than done, especially regarding achieving ideal weight. It is a live long battle. As some said, “life is a long battle against lard”.
Please, read:
Omega 3 and Weight Loss Fish Oil Inflammation and Aching Joints Please, let us all know how you evolve.
Best wishes,
Alfredo E.
One Essential nutrient may be completely missing from our diets today, omega 3 fats. Omega 3 fats are essential for our hearts, minds and entire body. In fact, every cell of our organism needs omega 3 to work at its prime.
For the last 30 years, hundreds of clinical studies have documented the benefits of omega 3 fish oil. Even the conservative American Heart Association (AHA) recommends it for people with risks of cardiovascular disease.
The situation is that it is difficult to get the proper amounts of fish oil without risking dangerous contamination, if you want to take it from your diet.
As an answer to that need, we offer molecularly distilled fish oil that comes from deep water fish, Hoki, a deep sea fish naturally high in DHA and unique to New Zealand. The oil is refined through extensive molecular distillation processes to remove any form of contamination.
Click here to learn more
