Arthritis treatment truth or hoax?

[Bakersdozen]

I saw a video on the internet yesterday for a kitchen remedy for arthritis.  If it's on the internet, it has to be true, right?  I thought I would check with youse guys to see what you thought.
The treatment involved golden raisins and gin.  Place golden raisins in a shallow dish and pour gin over until just covered.  Let set on the kitchen counter, covered with a paper towel, until the gin has evaporated.  Then eat 9 raisins per day.  It might take 6 weeks to see improvement.
What do you think?  Any scientific reason to think this might work?

[Ray4852]

 These people that put this kind of stuff on TV, make our society wacky. We have two kinds of Arthritis. RA and Osteoarthritis. Most of us get some form of osteoarthritis in our later years. I have a form of RA. There’s no snake oil treatment for RA. The medications for RA can be dangerous for some people. I have no problem taking these drugs. The drugs have help me maintain my same standard of living now for 15 years.  These medications are very expensive. I wish I could eat a few raisins. If this stuff worked. Do you think my insurance company would pay 5 thousand every 8 weeks for my Remicade treatment.

[Lburou]

Arthritis actually has three heads:  Rheumatoid arthritis, Osteoarthritis and Gout.  I'm almost sure that cure is quackery.  99.999999999% sure. 

I'd like to be wrong though, go ahead and try it then let us know how it worked. 

Bee stings help my osteoarthritis, but not the spots affected by rheumatoid arthritis.  FWIW, the only thing that helps my gout is pills.  JMO     

[LazyBkpr]

Getting STUNG on the hands has helped my poor beat up old hands more than anything I have ever tried..   It doesnt seem to help my knees or ankle, but the GRIP in this old mechanics hands is BACK.. even my 26 year old son doesnt like it when I have a hold of him..

[Jen]

Hi Baker   The first thing I wondered is where the anti-inflammitory agents are in the drunken raisin recipe. Quite a bit of speculation on this subject as I took some time to research. Interesting subject too. I posted from Snopes.com because this site is still concidered trustworthy.

http://www.snopes.com/medical/homecure/raisins.asp

Dear Paul Harvey News

I couldn't remember whether you said drink seven pints of gin and nine raisins or nine pints of gin and seven raisins, so I did both. Now I can't find the raisins ... BUT NO PAIN!
Read more at http://www.snopes.com/medical/homecure/raisins.asp#jsiG8sHie8hXXY6l.99

[lazy shooter]

If you stand back on your heels and pee on an electric fence it will not shock you.  I know because I have heard this several times.  I've never tried it, but I am sure it works.    Snake oil.

[Jen]

  Lazy

How ever! I do believe this: Doctor and Scientist Deepok Chopra teaches that your thoughts are more powerful and morphine... which means: If you really want this to work... It Will 

[LazyBkpr]

No...   I REALLY REALLY didnt want to get shocked when I peed on the electric fence, but I did, so the really wanting thing didnt work for me.. I was around nine at the time... flattened me on the spot, peed all over myself, while my cousin peed all over himself.. but his was because he was laughing so hard....

[Jen]

Well Scott... rolling eyes... electricity and medicine are two different things 

[riverbee]

"If it's on the internet, it has to be true, right?"

...............absolutely............
if i was trying the kitchen recipe out of gin and raisins to treat arthritis, something would get carried away. but it would have to be Absolute......i'd probably be eating the raisins and washing it down with the absolute, or oversoaking the raisins.  well one good thing the raisins would contribute to your daily fiber intake.........  

i am fortunate, i don't suffer from any arthritis as others do. when my son was very young, he developed a juvenile type RA. thought to be of the autoimmune type it was pretty scary. made him pretty sick, attacked his knees mostly, made them look like oversized cantelopes that had to be drained off every several hours.  don't think gin and raisins would have helped him.

i feel for those who suffer from arthritic conditions. i have three family members that do, mostly RA.  the steroid injections and as ray mentioned medications are expensive, but seem to be effective or give some relief.

i'm with others bakers.........a little snake oil..........

and btw, if someone of the male gender decides to pee on an 11 or 12,000 volt electric fence you WILL regret doing so..........

[Jen]

Riv- "i'd probably be eating the raisins and washing it down with the absolute

       

[Ray4852]

RB

I’m sorry to hear your son has some form of RA. There’s so many different strains of RA. Its not all the same in everybody. I see more woman with it than men. Its sad to see a young woman with it in her early 30s. I wonder what kind of drugs do these doctors start these young people out with. The go to drug is Methotexate. The side affects with this drug is enough to scare the birds away. This drug is very demanding that you must change your lifestyle. Woman or men cant have any children if you choose to take it. All alcohol beverages are forbidden. It can shut down your kidneys and liver. Methotexate has been around for a long time. Its a cancer drug. Its very potent. The new drugs work well with metho. If you read the side affects with these new drugs. They are dangerous too but not as bad. I was 48 when I develop this stuff. It started out with my eyes first, two years later I had it in both wrist and hands and now I have it in my shoulders. My doctor made me start out with methotexate right away. After 10 years they added the remicade with it. I can still lift 100 lb honey boxes. What I don’t like about it. These drugs are very expensive. Remicade saved my eyesight. If I didn’t have it. I probably would be blind today. 

[Jen]

Good Evening Ray    I have a dear friend who is in her early 20's. Unfortunately, she was born with RA, she actually remembers crawling around on her hands and knees as a toddler with her ankles up in the air cause of the painful swelling in her ankles. She has so far avoided the methotexate, but does go through painful boughts of swelling. Her rheumotologist is strongly advising her to go on the methotexate, but she would have to stop nursing her baby or it would give the baby brain damage. She's not willing to stop nursing her baby boy, so the metho is not an option at this point.

On top of it all, she is on the heals of obtaining a degree in Physics. She is such an inspiration to me of sheer will.

I am an apitherapist. Two years ago she came to me for bee venom therapy to see if it would help her hip stop aching and stop her  limping. We did three sessions of bee stings up the outside of her right leg, from her ankle up to her hip bone. Not to my surprise the pain went away and she stopped limping. We did this process every 5 days for 3 treatments. But alas, she went off to college and was not able to continue with the treatments.

Presently, she is back in town, and her RA is in remission and she is comfortable. She is still considering bee stings if she needs them until her baby boy is finished with nursing.

[Ray4852]

Jen

 Bee stings wont work for everybody with RA. Its a temporary pain relief. You can get the same results taking celebrex. Its safer to get the Bee stings. Its up to the individual what treatment they want to try first. I didn’t have any choices. Take metho or risk loosing my eyesight. It was pain seeing an eye doctor twice a week plus taking 7 different eye drops to control the inflammation in my eyes. Its hard for young people to understand what this stuff is all about. RA destroys the body. Your joints become red and inflamed with inflammation. Inflammation is acid trying to destroy your joints. The sooner you get the inflammation under control. The sooner You will feel better. If you wait and try taking these snake oil treatments, your doing damage to your body. I feel sorry for these young people that have this stuff. Woman suffer the most with it. Your friend that’s in remission has some good news on the horizon soon. The patent will come off  some of the newer drugs soon. This will open up more opportunities for the people that cant afford these drugs. Good news they will have it better 50 years from now than what we have it today. People that lived 50 years ago died taking the older drugs. My grandmother had RA. She lived to be 84 with it. The older drugs shut her body down. Read the side effects on metho and remicade. I don’t think you will be loosing any patients soon. I'm glad I took the chance with these drugs. I made the right decision. 

[caesarsfish]

The raisins and gin sounds great to me but why let the raisins dry out, just add an extra double shot and make a toddy, seems this would work better.

[Jen]

  How about adding those drunken raisins and that shot into a rum cake recipe? Now we're talkin'