Arthritis

It is therefore, in order to commend him for his relentless effort in raising awareness of diseases and in particular Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs). NCDs are the leading cause of illness and death the world over, and it is projected that in the next 10-20 years the developing world will be bearing the largest burden of these diseases.

Back to rheumatoid arthritis (RA); a disease that could be debilitating to the sufferer. For me, my encounter with the disease was when my mother in-law succumbed to it.

As Professor Bhagat has indicated in his series, there is no cure for RA. Drugs, which he describes only help to reduce inflammation and related pain. While some drugs, especially immune-normalisers can stop RA on its tracks albeit with side effects, by and large the rheumatoid arthritis remains and has to be cared for.

To complement RA drugs research is increasingly favouring consumption of certain foods, which have been shown to counteract mechanism of factors (tumour necrosis factor (TNF) and certain interleukins) that are associated with RA. In particular, omega-3 fatty acids have been shown to reduce RA factors. While these mechanisms continue to be studied, there are strong indications that omega-3 fatty acids, which are found in oily fish if taken at a certain level for a specified period and beyond could reduce the use of Non-Steroid Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAID). Furthermore, consumption of green leafy vegetables, fruit have also been found to be helpful in RA. Conversely, diet high in saturated fat (particularly animal fat) could worsen the RA.

My advice therefore is;
Increase intake of fish in your diet (at least two servings a week). A serving of fish is 140g. Your better choice is oily fish (salmon, sardines, pilchards, fresh tuna, sword fish, mackerel and  jack fish are some of them).

Eat  five serving of fruit and vegetable a day

Avoid or significantly reduce food high in saturated fat

Finally follow the drug and dietary advice, and remember there is no cure for RA and the best you can do is to mitigate it with diet and drugs.

My uncle who suffers from arthritis but is in denial always says "Mma ke e (nama) eje hela le ha e tlaare ka moso ke bo ke le molwetsi". This is a bad attitude to a disease that if left unchecked could adversely affect quality of life.

Lemogang Kwape

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