Ray (Calgary) on 01/11/2014

Involvement of the Hypothalamic/Pituitary/Adrenal/Gonadal Axis and the Peripheral Nervous System in Rheumatoid Arthritis by Rainer H. Straub and Maurizio Cutolo

ARTHRITIS & RHEUMATISM, (Official Journal of the American College of Rheumatology) Vol. 44, No. 3, March 2001, pp 493-507

The idea is that the initial trigger (bacteria, virus etc infecting us) is met with by the usual reaction of our body, by our immune system attacking the microbes, as usual. But, in fact, these trigger microbes that set off the inflammation are usually eliminated by our powerful immune system and are long gone by the time that RA sets in. So in RA we are not interested in treating only that infection.

RA is a chronic condition, not a normal infection, where our own immune system does not want to shut down it's attack. (Like an army that has destroyed the enemy and has gone berserk, shooting at it's own ranks or at innocent civilians.) It is well known that RA is characterized by macrophage activity even though there is NO infection. The word macrophage just means "big eater" since they basically eat up the enemy bacteria and viruses. But in RA they eat our own cartilage.

Why does the army of our immune system not shut down the fight and realize the "war is over" and that the enemy bacteria are dead? Why does our immune system not just stop, stop attacking our innocent cartilage? Why does our gone-berserk immune system turn a short term fight against a short term infection, that ended long ago, into a long term, chronic battle against our own body? Because the local nerve supply has been affected.

Our nerves shrink away from the scene of the inflammation or are damaged in the battle. But they grow back. Nerve fibers of the Central Nervous System grow back FASTER than the nerve fibers of the Sympathetic Nervous System. There is then a long term imbalance, more CNS fibers than SNS nerve fibers in the joints of those with RA. So what? Lots of what.

Those CNS nerve fibers secrete Substance P, long recognized as the leading chemical that our body uses to continue the inflammation reaction, the fight against invading bacteria etc. The CNS fibers, with substance P, are the hawks of the immune system. It is like they shout out over and over again, "kill, kill, kill." The over supply of CNS fibers and Substance P means the macrophages are encouraged to go on with their berserk killing. They have only the hawks to lead them. And if some bacteria have learned to avoid destruction by looking like the body cells, then the marophages, in a reverse sense, think the body cells are enemy cells. And what can stop them. All they hear from headquartes if the CNS orders to "kill and fight."

All because the CNS fibers are there in greater supply than the SNS fibers. They grew back faster. If the Sympathetic Nerve System was there then the macrophage soldiers would get other orders from headquarters. The SNS fibers try to shut down the inflammation, to call an end to the war. They do this by secreting epinephrine and adenosine. But they have not grown back. So there is no epinephrine. But lots of Substance P. So the soldier Macrophages only hear the command of Substance P, to kill.

Of course the inflamed area (our joints) still sends out messages to the brain and the rest of the body. (Chemicals such as cytokines) These are known to circulate throughout the whole body. The inflamed area sends out the cytokines as urgent messages, "request for orders sir, request for orders, please send orders, Emergency. Hurry. Send orders urgently." But no orders come from the SNS. No epinephrine arrives with a message to "Stop fighting", the only orders that come are from the hawks of the CNS, the Substance P message to "kill and go on killing."

As well the Adrenal glands should send out Cortisol, and epi-nepherine, that should also inhibit the inflammation reaction. And the gonads should send out testosterone and DHEA that would inhibit the infection (Men have less chance of RA than women). But it doesn't happen. It is well known that Cortisol production by the Adrenal glands is low in RA. So the Adrenal glands should send out orders to stop the inflammation, stop the fight. But for some reason they don't (Maybe they are overwhelmed by the huge amount of cytokines etc. coming out of the joints, which imply that a huge battle is going on. If there is a huge battle then the Adrenals would be wrong to interfere. But unfortunately the Adrenals are a lone, and weakened, voice for peace. They have found no support from the Sympathetic Nervous System. They are alone and so keep quiet. The Hawks win the day.

Hence the diet,

(1) Do something to shut up that Substance P messenger. To shut up the CNS and it's hawkish commands to fight. The best way is by capsaicin. Apparently, the FDA has approved it's use. Capsaicin can be found in Cayenne Peppers. Of course eating lots of Cayenne Peppers means the drug circulates all over in the body. So if you get a real infection somewhere then what? Stop the pepper for a while. Yet even the FDA approved it as a cream. So rub the spice, cayenne pepper on your sore spots. Or get capsaicin creme prescribed by your doctor.

Note: cayenne peppers are in the biological genus of "Capsicum" and related to bell peppers. So some "health stores" sell you stuff with "Capsicum" as an ingredient. That only means it has pepper in it. Bell pepper. Black pepper. Capsicum is not Capsaicin, the active ingredient. (Some say even black pepper is helpful with RA) It's worth a try to use the Cap-si-cum stuff, but just don't think you have Cap-sai-cin, the active concentrate. (note the spelling difference). Save your money and just buy peppers or ground cayenne spice at the grocery store.

(2) Do something to increase the low cortisol levels in RA. Increase cortisol so the areas affected by RA can get the message to shut down the fight. Where to get cortisol? Licorice (real licorice, please, not that junk they sell in candy stores that's made of flour and molasses) and coffee and grapefruit (also other citrus like lemon). It's easy to drink coffee.

(3) Do something to increase the low epinephrine levels in RA joints. A good source is the peel of a banana, though a banana pulp isn't bad. I wash the banana peel and blend the whole banana up and eat it. Another good places to get it is chocolate. Also helpful in building epinephrine is avocado, nuts, chicken, eggs, wheat germ. Of course this is not a local supply, where it is needed in the RA joint, but hopefully the extra supply in the whole body should allow more than usual to seep to the affected area.

(4) Cortisol and epinephrine work even better when taken together. Yummy, chocolate covered licorice (real licorice please) or chocolate in coffee. Or licorice mixed with banana.

(5) Some other substances the body needs to help build epinephrine are lysine, methionine, tyrosine, vitamin C, vitamin B6, manganese and MAGNESIUM.

This diet above is based on recent scientific observations, but has never gone to clinical trial. So it is "not scientifically proven" but personally I try everything I find on earthclinic. My initial results from this remedy are good. Hopefully it will continue for more than just a few weeks and is not just a placebo effect. Hope you find hope in it.