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[EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>]

Jeanne Driese wrote:

> Jeanne's reply: Here is my take on how the Turmeric works. From the 
> experience of not having any on hand for about a week, the pain 
> returned, especially in the knees.  So my guess is that it is for 
> sure an into inflammatory and that it eases pain.  My other guess is 
> that it does not cure the cause.


I read about this..had to find the links and get my thoughts in gear
before I responded.
If anyone has any kind of auto-immune disease, from asthma to TMJ to RA,
I ask you to muddle through this post as it might be helpful to you.
Forget the word cure when it comes to AI disease.  Think remission.  I
thought I was 'cured' or 'outgrew' psoriasis and asthma, but it appears
that I just had a 30 year remission.<g>
As it turns out, new medications for RA are being developed based on the
way turmeric works.  Arthritis treatments are kind of like this..
First line is NSAIDS: aspirin, ibuprofen etc...they are
anti-inflammatory and help with pain by reducing inflammation and
suppression of the Cox enzymes.   BTW, there is some crossover in these
categories-no clear lines.
Second line is Cox-2 drugs like Celebrex and Vioxx.. they are still
NSAIDS but target Cox2 specifically and  reduce pain by reducing
inflammation essentially.  These drugs work better for OA than RA.
Then you have the steroids, cortisone, prednisone, and other nasty drugs
that help when you need them, but have side effects.
Then you get into RA drugs like Placquenil(an antimalarial drug) or
methotrexate(MTX-a chemotherapy drug).  They work on the disease itself
and do very little for inflammation and pain; these drugs are often
referred to as DMARD (Disease Modifying Anti Rheumatic Drugs) Sometimes,
you find gold salts in this RA treatment category. These drugs reduce
inflammation indirectly by hindering or slowing (but not stopping) the
disease process.
Then, finally, there are the Biologics, a subdivision of the DMARDs,
drugs like Enbrel, Kineret, Remicade, and a host of others you see
advertised on TV.  These are the top of the line drugs, to date, because
they can not only slow, they can put the disease into remission.  They
don't undo damage done, but they prevent new damage from occuring.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biologics
Enbrel is one that is made from recombinant protein synthesis.  The
process takes two years to do, which is why the drug is so expensive. It
suppresses Tumor Necrosing Factor (TNF) a protein in the body's immune
system.

Now, back to turmeric..
Some biologics are protein/gene based and work in a gene therapy kind of
high tech way.  As it turns out, turmeric also thwarts activation of a
protein much in the same way Enbrel does.  The protein turmeric works on
is NF-KB (necrosing factor kappa-B).  So turmeric is, as you already
know, a natural drug that science it trying to emulate and perfect
(their thinking that it needs perfection<g>, not mine)  So it does work
on the whole system, and doesn't just treat the pain and inflammation.
In addition, while it does not affect the Cox-2 enzyme, it does work in
a similar method to the cox-2 inhibitor drugs.  FURTHERMORE, (as if the
previous stuff wasn't good enough) it also inhibits leukotrienes, which
if you watch TV, you know are one of the leading cause of allergies and
the mechanism of drugs like Singulair...It could easily be considered a
DMARD Biologic medication-the most effective type of med for RA and
other autoimmune disease.  It truly has the potential to be a wonder
drug for not just RA, but to auto-immune disease in general.  Here are
some links that you can read.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/10/061030071152.htm
http://curcumalonga.com/
http://www.article99.com/health-tips/age-and-aging/article.php?art=27277

So you can bet that I am not giving up on Turmeric.  No way. It would be
worth taking for allergy reduction alone, IMO.

As far as how long it will take to work, my guess is 2-3 weeks based on
how it works and the length of time other similar drugs(enbrel,
placquenil, celebrex) take to become effective.  That is why I am only
giving it a one month trial.  I hope that makes sense to you.  I spent a
good deal of time researching and planning and thinking it out...

Bev

--
"Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will
not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius
will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the
world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone
are omnipotent. The slogan 'press on' has solved and always will solve
the problems of the human race"

~ Calvin Coolidge