Benefits of Turmeric for Psoriatic Arthritis
Having psoriatic arthritis I am always looking for ways to treat it. I am very proactive about my own health. I do all the research staying up on all the current medications out on the market. Each time I go see my rheumatologist we have a conversation about my pain level. That is usually followed by how long I am stiff in the mornings. I take a biologic that is doing wonderful with my psoriasis. However, it does not seem to be doing anything for my psoriatic arthritis. I stay on the go with having a mother and mother-in-law that are seventy years old. I am their caregiver. Between things they need done, their various doctor appointments, plus having my own home and doctor appointments to deal with, I never seem to stop. That can be very hard to deal with when you have psoriatic arthritis. My body is always hurting.
Finding new ways to deal with PsA symptoms
As I said I am always looking for ways that will help with psoriatic arthritis. Since the biologic is not doing anything toward it the doctor has put me on gabapentin and sulfasalazine. The gabapentin does help me to sleep at night without the hip or back pain keeping me up all night. Before I was taking it I was definitely not getting a full night sleep which was keeping me exhausted. The sulfasalazine I could take in the morning and late afternoon to help with the body pain throughout the day but it never seemed to be enough to keep the pain away. I did not want to increase the medications I am currently on. Still being in my late forties I do not want to take a lot of pain medication in case I need it further down the road. I was talking with a good friend of mine who suggested I try turmeric.
Learning about the benefits of turmeric
My mom's doctor had suggested to her about taking turmeric for her arthritis. Why had I never thought of trying it for my psoriatic arthritis? On the day he suggested it all I could think of was the issue she was having, not how it could help me. It wasn't until my friend suggested taking turmeric that it hit home to me. There again I value this friend's opinion. It also helped with the fact that this friend had been taking it for a while and could tell a major difference. Of course, I asked what brand she was taking. However, as I said I do my research. To my amazement, there were several different brands of turmeric out there. I purchased a brand that could be shipped directly to my house. I sure was hoping that it would work for me the way it worked for my friend. Anything would be better than living with the daily pain that I felt.
My experience taking turmeric
Let me just say that I go into taking anything with pure pessimistic thoughts. I do that because one time I put my whole faith in my first biologic. I just knew it was going to be my wonder drug. It was not. In fact, it did nothing. After that experience, I do not put my hope into any new medication. It has to show me that it delivers results before I will believe in it. So I start taking the Turmeric. To my surprise, within a few days, it really did start making a difference. I was not in a lot of pain throughout the day. I am taking two pills first thing in the morning along with my sulfasalazine. It helps. It truly does.
Do your own research about turmeric
I will give one piece of advice if you are reading this and thinking about looking into turmeric. Be diligent in your research. Turmeric is hard to break down in body fluid. However, there are great turmeric products out there that have been manipulated in a way that it will break down fully. It has to be one that will break down fully for you to get the benefit out of it. It truly helped me. I hope you will try it if you are still having joint pain with psoriatic arthritis and get the same relief I did.
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