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Prolotherapy An Alternative Treatment for Pseudogout
Robert Filice, M.D.
Generally
Prolotherapy
is performed on patients suffering pain from chronic degenerative
arthritis
or injury to
tendons
or
ligaments.
Since Prolo works by restarting
inflammatory and reparative processes in the treated areas, one
might rightly ask how Prolo could be helpful for conditions that are
basically inflammatory in nature such as
Rheumatoid Arthritis, gout, and pseudogout.
One answer is that the inflammatory process damages joint structures,
and when applied in the non-inflammatory stage of these diseases can be
quite helpful. The other answer is based directly on our experience in
the clinic. Although it is supposedly an inflammatory joint condition,
pseudogout rarely present with inflamed joints that are red, hot, and
swollen. Instead, what we see is presentation with knee, wrist, or
ankle
pain in a joint that is NOT red and hot. Orthodox physicians treat
pseudogout with typical
anti-inflammatory
reimens: drugs, sometimes
steroids,
and removal of fluid from inside swollen affected joints. The cause has
been determined to be accumulation of crystals of calcium pyrophosphate
in the joint and joint structures. It is the separate and distinct uric
acid derivative sodium urate that crystallizes in the joints of patients
with true gout and causes the extremely painful and inflamed joints
(especially the big toe) characteristic of that disease. Gout and
pseudogout can be diagnosed and differentiated from each other by
microscopic examination of the crystals present within aspirated joint
fluid specimens. Pseudogout when left untreated will eventually cause
degenerative changes in the affected joint similar to those we see in
most patients for whom Prolotherapy is the best indicated treatment.
Clinical practice and experience is a crucial foundation for the
excellent practice of medicine, and provides a necessary counterbalance
check on the researchers. If you only read books, and only believed the
ivory tower academic “authorities” you’d come away with the idea that
pseudogout is inflammatory, and that the last thing you want to do is to
re-inflame it by taking Prolotherapy. On the contrary, we have seen
consistently outstanding results in pseudogout patients whether they
were being treated between or during the characteristic relapses.
Usually we see patients present with knee pain, and that pain resolves
completely with 3 or 4 Prolotherapy sessions. Here is a recent case
history.
J came into Caring
Medical with the diagnosis of Pseudogout. He was on Indocin for it. On
physical exam he had crepitation (crunching sounds) in his knees with
movement but the knee was not red or inflamed. He had significant
medial joint line tenderness. He was told he was a good candidate for
Prolotherapy but he needed to stop the Indocin and take Tylenol
instead. He received Prolotherapy on the first visit, and on his second
visit he said: "I was amazed how much better my knee felt right away."
He was 30% improved after one
Prolotherapy treatments. He went on to have
3 more visits and total resolution of his pain. On the last visit I
noticed that his knee crepitation was less."
You owe it to yourself to receive an evaluation for treatment by a
Prolotherapy doctor if you have known pseudogout, or experience undiagnosed
intermittent attacks of severe pain in the knee, ankles, or wrists.
Since this disease may have some important metabolic correlations, most
cases of pseudogout will also do well to have a comprehensive natural
medicine evaluation for disorders that may disturb calcium metabolism. |
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