My mom has lupus & rheumatoid arthritis, and her health is declining pretty quickly. She was diagnosed last year and was doing pretty well for a while. She only had flare-ups when the weather was cold, but now she's pretty much always sick and she stays in bed almost all day because it's too uncomfortable for her to move around.

She doesn't want to take a lot of different medications because the side effects are almost always worse than the symptoms the drugs are supposed to help.

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone can suggest any natural remedies that she could take to help with her stiffness and fatigue. She also is losing a lot of weight, but she doesn't have much of an appetite, so if anyone can suggest calorie-rich (preferrably vegan) foods, that would be wonderful.
Also, if you could please keep her in your thoughts and prayers, that would help as good as anything.
Thank you.

With conditions of such nature, she should be seeing a rheumatologist. Is she taking any medications right now (ie. Naproxen, or other NSAIDS)? Don't forget that taking any sort of natural remedy can interact with medications being taken.

As for the hesitation for medication, it is understandable. However, both conditions have the ability to go into remission (I know people with both conditions, and have a variety of chronic pain conditions). I worry that by only focusing on remedies, she could be potentially causing some harm in the future. Rheumatoid Arthitis (and I'm not sure about lupus, though I do know someone who's mother died from it) can become even more crippling if appropriate measures are not taken in due course.

The only suggestion I have would be start doing some research, and looking on some health specific boards. She might benefit from being able to talk to people with similar conditions (if her RA isn't so bad that she can't type, if so, maybe she could dictate to you?) Anywho, I post on this forum as well and it can be quite helpful. There may be some information from other people who are going through a similar experience, and either can't afford medication (physically, financially, etc...) and/or are taking natural remedies in conjunction with medications prescribed by doctors. (ALWAYS CONSULT A PHARMASIST WHEN ADDING ANY SUPPLIMENT, MEDICATION, and even some foods - grapefruit, into your diet)

URL to forums for arthitis: http://www.arthritis.ca/open%20forum/boards/default.asp?s=1

Best of luck.

If you would like talk about this further, or in more detail (as it can be very hard on the you to see your parents go through that), feel free to PM me.

Good luck, and wish your mom the best in her journey to stabilizing her health.

- Skyla

off the top of my head, turmeric and blueberries are both great at reducing inflammation which is the cause of both arthritis and lupus symptoms.

any strong antioxidants will do the same.

I would suggest looking into Dr. Fuhrman's dietary/treatment recommedations. Lupus and rheumatoid arthritis are two conditions he treats regularly and has great success with curing or at least improving. He also does phone consultations.

You can read a brief outline of his recommendations for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases here: http://www.drfuhrman.com/disease/Other.aspx (under "Nutritional intervention is effective for autoimmune and rheumatologic diseases")

Thank you all for your help.

Skyla: She was taking Prednisone, but she stopped because of the side effects. She now just takes the occasional Advil when she's in pain. And both of her conditions have gone into remission before, so I know all about that kinda thing. I just wish it would happen again so she wouldn't be so uncomfortable. And she has been seeing a rheumatologist since last year, and I think that's one of the best things she has going right now.

Again, thank you for your help, everyone.