Blog About Health & Medicine

Antimalarials

Like many other drugs used for rheumatoid arthritis, this class of drugs was first used for another illness, in this case malaria. No one knows why antimalarials are effective in treating rheumatoid arthritis. The most commonly used antimalarial is hydroxychloroquine sulfate (Plaquenil). About 70% of rheumatoid arthritis patients respond to this drug, at least to some extent. Hydroxychloroquine’s most feared risk is vision loss due to retinal injury. Serious retinal damage occurs in less than 1% of those who use it, but blindness is a frightening possibility, and it sometimes occurs months after the drug is discontinued.

Gold Salts

Gold salts, whether taken by injection or orally, are one of the most effective but toxic treatments for rheumatoid arthritis. Various gold compounds, administered orally or by injection, can suppress synovial inflammation, bring about partial or full remission, and perhaps slow joint damage. However, disturbing side effects develop in about one-third of patients who take gold, including changes in taste sensation, intense skin rashes that can be dangerous, and severe inflammation of mucous membranes. Less common but even more serious toxic effects include bone marrow injury, liver toxicity, and kidney damage.

D-Penicillamine

D-penicillamine is another dual-use drug also employed to treat certain forms of metal poisoning. It is about as effective as gold injections; but because it causes a high rate of serious reactions (up to 50%), it is usually only tried when gold fails. Common problems include fever, rash, itching, nausea and stomach pain, loss of appetite, mouth ulcers, and altered taste sensation. Serious injury to the bone marrow or kidneys is not infrequent.

Sulfasalazine

Sulfasalazine (Azulfidine EN-tabs), long used for inflammatory bowel disease, was recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration for rheumatoid arthritis as well. Although usually less effective than gold or penicillamine, it is also less toxic. Nonetheless, it can cause nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, dizziness, and oversensitivity to the sun. Most seriously, sulfasalazine can sometimes cause a dangerous drop in a type of white blood cell known as neutrophils. To ward against this reaction, white count must be checked frequently during treatment.

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Before you start on your own personal weight-loss program, using my guidelines, you must accept one fact: Your weight problem is permanent. I’ve said it before, but I need to say it again so you don’t make the mistake of taking on this project as a “summer diet” or a “three-month plan” or to diet just until you get your weight down to where you want it. To really succeed in weight management over the long term, you will never again be able to look at food as casually as you have until this point. Now you must view yourself just as though you were an alcoholic.

Before an alcoholic can recover, he must acknowledge: “I am an alcoholic.” He has to recognize the fact that he will remain an alcoholic throughout his lifetime, even if he never touches another drop of alcohol. He is permanently alcoholic.

You are permanently overweight. Remember that, because if you follow my program for a few months, drop your excess weight, and resume your old eating patterns, you will regain every pound of fat you lost, plus several more. You’ve seen why this happened in the past, and it will happen again. Your old weight will return with a vengeance, and you’ll feel just as bad as you did before. You can NEVER resume your old way of eating without suffering the consequences. In a very tangible sense, you have a physical disability that you cannot cure; you can only control it. You have a permanent weight problem!

In those two words, “control it,” you can literally set yourself free, because even though you can’t cure your obesity, you need never be fat again! Some of you are going to find it difficult to set aside some foods you love dearly in exchange for foods that don’t offer as much sensuous gratification. But stay with me, because I offer you the tools to permanently change how much you weigh, even if I can’t “cure” your weight problem. I offer you the tools to reshape the health of your body!

Throughout this book I have stressed the principle of dietary balance. I’m not advocating some faddish, off-the-wall diet plan that sets you up for failure at the end of the program. I’m teaching you the secret of permanent weight control, which is the balance of dietary proteins, fats, and carbohydrates at every meal, every time you put food in your mouth. I want dietary balance to become second nature to you so that whenever and wherever you eat, you’ll automatically put these principles to work for you.

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