Are Homeopathic Remedies Effective In Treating Rheumatoid Arthritis?

— -- Question: Are homeopathic remedies effective in treating rheumatoid arthritis?

Answer: Homeopathic medicines -- again, another complimentary medicine -- may have their role, but are really untested. Because of that, that's why I think doing more studies to see how effective they are will be very helpful for the future of whether we will be implementing them. Many patients take them -- many patients don't trust a lot of the traditional medications that we have -- especially with Vioxx being pulled from the market, if they were taking that -- and they're kind of going towards alternative medicines.

Arnica is a alternative anti-inflammatory agent used from a plant source, and there are some things that do show some promise. But I think again it's very important to partner with your doctor and decide what's best for you, from the east, from the west. You know, I think combining these two approaches really gives you the best opportunity for treating arthritis successfully. I should like to mention though that I have had some patients, and this is more of lupus patients, who have stopped their traditional medications, taken these homeopathic medicines who have gotten much worse. And so I'm always concerned about that. And I think that you need to monitor patients whether they're taking traditional or non-traditional therapies.

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