Healing RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS
I received this letter from a dairy farmer.
Should any of your friends or relatives have
this painful condition, please feel free to
print this for them. Please also feel free
to post this on your internet site. I require
no credit or link to my website. Helping
people is my reward. Making a positive
difference in this world is one's highest
pursuit.
Dear Mr. Cohen,
You and I have stood on different sides
of the fence for a number of years, but
I've got a story to tell you, and an apology to
offer. Catherine (my wife of 21 years) and I
both grew up on dairy farms. We've been
raising Holsteins as long as we can remember.
Cath is just 42 years old, but she is crippled
with rheumatoid arthritis. There is no record
of this disease in her family, but she has been in
pain for the past two years, much of it bedridden.
We've tried traditional and alternative therapies
and medicines, but she only got a little short
term relief. We even tried acupuncture. Try
finding an acupuncturist in the rural midwest!
It was expensive, and didn't really work.
Catherine's pain has been unbearable at times.
Despite there being no information on the
internet linking dairy consumption to
rheumatoid arthritis, and nothing in
medical journals (I've searched online
medline), we made a resolution together
to discontinue drinking our own milk, and not
eat cheese or any other dairy product for
six months, just to see if there would be
some improvement.
Damn. I have to tell you this. Catherine
feels like she's been to Lourdes. She's
cured. There is some pain, but most is
gone. I've had changes too which I'll
discuss some other time. I thank you, and
curse you at the same time. Milking cows
is my livelihood. I've always believed that
what I was doing was the right thing. I'm
not going to sell my cows and sell my farm.
I love the business. I just don't feel that
good about it anymore. You were right
about the arthritis. I don't know about the
cancer and heart attacks, but you have
given us a miracle that doctors were not
able to provide. It did not take us three
to six months to learn the truth. It took
just three weeks. I've ridiculed your work
in the past. Please accept my apology.
Your friend,
Tom
Please do not give out my EMAIL address
or last name. I live in farm country and,
well, you understand. Thank you.
Dear Tom,
My dear friend, Jane Heimlich (wife of Dr. Henry
Heimlich, the "Heimlich Maneuver" physican),
included this in her book, "What Your Doctor
Won't Tell You."
"Of the nearly 7 million Americans who have
rheumatoid arthritis, most are women. Symptoms
are stiffness, aching muscles, fatigue, pain that
accompanies motion, and tenderness. Nutritional
therapy, not drugs, is the cornerstone of alternative
treatment. A treatment for arthritis that relieves
symptoms in a large percentage of patients is
based on the theory that most arthritic symptoms
are allergic reactions."
I've found many examples of physicians and
scientific studies linking dairy cosumption to
rheumatoid arthritis. I've included a few of the
following citations in my new book, MILK A-Z.
"Rheumatoid arthritis is more severe than osteoarthritis,is
most common in the hands and feet, and is characterized
by swelling of joints. Since this type of joint pain can be
a symptom of a food allergy, dietary change sometimes
has a profound effect. Dairy products, the most common
food allergen, are one likely candidate as a contributing
causative factor."
Vegetarian and Vegan Nutrition by
George Eisman, M.A., M.Sc., R.D.
"...43 patients with rheumatoid arthritis, those
assigned to a vegan diet...had improvement in
rheumatoid arthritis symptoms."
British Journal of Rheumatology, 36(1) 1997
"In the case of the eight year old female subject,
juvenile rheumatoid arthritis was a milk allergy.
After avoiding dairy products, all pain was gone
in three weeks."
Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 1985, 78
"Controlled trial of fasting and a one-year
vegetarian diet eased symptoms of rheumatoid
arthritis."
The Lancet, 1991, 338
"In 1964, I learned of the experiences of Dr.
William Deamer of San Francisco. He had pointed
out the frequency of milk protein's casual
relationship to musculoskeletal pain in children
and especially the so-called 'growing pains.'
Since that time, I have had several children
with what appeared to be early rheumatoid
arthritis relieved and returned to good
health by little more than reassurance
and careful dietary manipulation."
Don't Drink Your Milk, by Frank Oski, M.D.
"In systemic arthritis, like Rheumatoid, the
cause is coursing through the blood, and it
got there through the diet. When all of the
joints are involved, the cause is not physical,
but chemical. It's usually casein.(Eighty percent
of milk protein is casein). I once saw a 65 year
old man, Bob, who complained of neck stiffness
and headaches. His hands were so stiff and sore.
Bob lived to play golf. I instructed him to give
up all milk and dairy products. Since giving up
dairy products, he no longer experienced pain
and headaches, and his hands were also pain-free.
Joy, a 42 year old woman noticed that her knees
were pain-free after eliminating dairy products.
Once, after drinking a glass of milk, her knees
swelled within 20 minutes."
No Milk, by Daniel Twogood, D.C.
"There is a colossal amount of information linking
the consumption of milk to arthritis... and a multitude
of other problems as documented by Hannah Allen,
Alec Burton, Viktoras Kulvinskas, F. M. Pottenger,
Herbert M. Shelton, and N.L. Walker, among others."
Fit for Life, by Harvey and Marilyn Diamond
"Certain foods trigger the symptoms of rheumatoid
arthritis, and eliminating these foods sometimes causes
even long-standing symptoms to improve or even remit
entirely. It is important to avoid the problem foods
completely, as even a small amount can cause symptoms.
All dairy products should be avoided: skim or whole
cow's milk, goat's milk, cheese, yogurt, cream, etc."
Neal Barnard, M.D. www.pcrm.org
Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com