Pain relief from "Over The Counter" or prescribed drugs, while providing a degree of pain relief, can work against you in the form of dangerous side-effects. Natural, or herbal, medications will not create dangerous side-effects when properly used.

All forms of arthritis involve some degree of pain. Patterns of pain differ among the different forms and parts of the body that suffer from one form of arthritis or another.

Five of the most common forms of arthritis are:

1... Osteoarthritis
2... Rheumatoid arthritis
3... Septic arthritis
4... Gout and pseudo gout
5... Juvenile arthritis

Osteoarthritis gives us the most pain during night time hours.
Rheumatoid arthritis gives a good deal of pain in the morning. One interesting point is that this type of arthritis doesn't show any arthritic symptoms after a morning shower.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is considered a chronic, inflammatory autoimmune disorder that causes the immune system to attack the joints. It is a disabling and painful inflammatory condition, which can lead to substantial loss of mobility due to pain and joint destruction.

Septic arthritis is bacteria forms in the joints and causes inflammation.

Gout, or metabolic arthritis, is a disease caused by inborn uric acid metabolism. Middle-aged males are the most prevalent victims of gout and is hereditary in nature. The most famous victim of gout is King Henry VIII(1491-1547).

Juvenile Chronic Arthritis (JCA) targets children between the ages of one and four. Currently there is known cause for this type of arthritis.

In elderly people and children, pain may not be the main feature, and the patient simply moves less (elderly) or refuses to use the affected limb (children).

A physical examination will confirms the diagnosis of an onset of arthritis. Diagnostic radiography is often used to follow progression or assess severity in a more quantitative manner.

Many steroids and Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, both over the counter and prescription drugs, are used as a pain reliever for the different forms of arthritis.

While it's true that these types of drugs can, and do, a very good job of providing pain relief there can be a trade off in getting arthritic pain relief; side effects from the drugs.

An adverse effect is a harmful and undesired effect resulting from a medication and can begin when the drug is first taken or when increasing or discontinuing a treatment.

Some of the adverse side effects are:
1... Liver Damage
2... Kidney Damage
3... A rise or lowering of blood pressure
4... Muscle pain in the arms and legs.
5... Weakness in the arms and legs
6... Fatigue

The harmful side effects must be pointed out when a drug is advertised on TV by law. It may be my imagination but it seems that a faster pace and lower volume is used when the side effects are mentioned.

I believe that is to downplay the possible harm and risk involved. In the real world the sale of the drug comes first. One would have to wonder if the benefit of the drug is worth the risk when considering the possible side effects.

PAIN RELIEF NATURALLY

People in all continents have long used hundreds, if not thousands, of indigenous plants for treatment of various ailments dating back to prehistory. Using herbs is a folk and traditional medicinal practice based on the use of plants and plant extracts.

The healing properties of plants is an ancient practice. Research has identified specific active anti-inflammatory ingredients in herb. In animal studies, these herbs have been shown to reduce inflammation significantly in several ways and improved blood flow to the joints.

Many of these natural herbs help to ease symptoms of osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. One herb ingredient, knows as Boswellia, can be taken internally as well as applied topically to affected joints to relieve inflammation associated with these joint disorders.

The use of and search for drugs and dietary supplements derived from plants have accelerated in recent years.

Pharmacologists, microbiologists, botanists, and natural-products chemists are combing the earth for phytochemicals (pronounced photo-chemicals and is a non-nutritive bioactive plant substance, such as a flavonoid or carotenoid, considered to have a beneficial effect on human health.) and leads that could be developed for treatment of various diseases. In fact, many modern drugs have been derived from plants.

Dangerously low blood pressure may result from the combination of an herbal remedy that lowers blood pressure together with prescription medicine that has the same effect. In particular, many herbs should be avoided during pregnancy.


Some herbal remedies have the potential to cause adverse drug interactions when used in combination with various prescription and over-the-counter pharmaceuticals. This essentially means that you should not mix over the counter or prescription drugs with herbal type drugs. It really isn't necessary.