Complementary Medicine for Rheumatoid Arthritis: Strategies and Opportunities

Running head: COMPLEMENTARY MEDICINE
COMPLEMENTARY MEDICINE
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

1
COMPLEMENTARY MEDICINE
Answer 1:
Uncertainty can be defined as the ability that helps to determine the real meaning of the different
types of illness related events and are mainly seen to occur when the decision maker become
unable to assign effective as well as definite values to different events or objects or when she
becomes unable to predict outcomes accurately (Bannuru et al., 2015). In this case-study, it is
seen that starting from the time when she was affected by the disorder of rheumatoid arthritis in
the age of 18, she had gone through many treatments and consultations where the treatment did
not result in effective outcomes. Moreover, the professionals also seemed confused with their
approach and stated the patient to be contented with the treatment as this was the best that the
interventions can offer. However, she suffered from poor quality life with the symptoms
worsening over the years. However, this situation can be considered as an opportunity because of
a number of reasons. Mishel has stated “we can see an uncertainty as opportunity, strategies to
maintain uncertainty are initiated. When the coping strategies are effective, adaptation occurs.
Mishel after facing many disappointments through her allopathic treatments tried to take chances
with a new form of medication with the hope that it would cure her health. Moreover, in the
initial phases also, she tried her best to cope with the situation by taking leaves from her
organization as well as from her studies in order to develop the quality of life. Therefore, these
uncertainties helped her to find out new ideas for revaluating her lives and establish priorities.
Answer 2:
A search on Google was conducted and it was found that exercise is one of the ways by which
one can reduce the pain of the arthritis. Moreover, physical therapy with the use of heat, ice,
range-of-motion exercises, transcutaneous electrical stimulation, gentle strengthening moves and

2
COMPLEMENTARY MEDICINE
many others can be used effectively for treatment of arthritis relieving the pain. Occupational
therapy helps in identifying the different problematic areas of the patient’s life and thereby plans
effective ways to eliminate them and develop independency. Moreover, proper mind-body
therapies as well as counseling are extremely helpful for the patients suffering from the disorder.
Fish oil capsules are also found to be extremely important for effective management of the pain
and to relieve patients from inflammation (Hazelwood et al., 2016). Hot and cold treatments as
well as acupuncture are debatable yet have proved to bring out successful result in many of the
studies. Massage and rest are also stated to be procedures that help patients in relieving from
pain.
Answer 3:
Marino et al. (2015) has put forward therapeutic strategies that help in counteracting the
rheumatoid arthritis symptoms and progress. They are of the opinion that natural products with
the proven roles of the of the anti-oxidant and the anti-inflammatory actions like that of (−)-
epigallocatechin gallate, resveratrol, oleuropein, quercetin and the flavonoid fractions of the
bergamot juice has been found to bring out the positive results on the patients and their
sufferings. Many of the researchers like Moudgil and Berman (2014) had also talked about the
efficacy of Chinese medication in this disorder treatment with special reference to acupuncture
and use of herbal products in the treatment. The mechanisms that underline the different
mechanisms of the immunomodulatory as well as anti-arthritis activities have been discussed,
however, the researchers believe that more randomized trials are required to establish it as
effective treatment opportunity. Moreover, Farzaei et al. (2016) has talked about the traditional
use of the medicinal Persian plants in the effective treatment of the disorder. Cellular mechanism
that include downregulation of pro‐inflammatory cytokines such as TNF‐α, IL‐6 and NF‐κB,