Today's post is going to be a cross between a rant and something that is a genuine concern to me, from a medical point of view. I have been noticing over the past few years the amount of websites out there that say they have the "CURE" and it is all diet related. Firstly before I carry on, you will know from previous posts that I very much agree that diet plays a large part in our health generally. This post is by no means meant to suggest that a healthy diet is not helpful to our illnesses, as many diets can be completely tailored to your specific condition.
So here is why I get so annoyed. I started with a simple search on Google for "diets that cure lupus" and in total there was over 1 million items on the web. That is a scary figure when websites that offer medical advice are not regulated in any way. I mean, I like many of us, get desperate from time to time and search for new ways to take away the pain or the fatigue and imagine stumbling across a diet that can actually CURE you....well I would take on that offer quickly as many of us would. The first website I cam across is an excellent example of why I am getting so frustrated by this type of information.
So, the website told the story of Julisa who had her Lupus cured by a specific diet...the story goes like this......
In 2004 Julisa found out she had a very severe case of Lupus and was put on immuno-suppressants, steroids and some of the worst kinds of medications. Now one could expect that Julisa was given the same information as we all are. There is no cure, it can be controlled through drugs and medications and you will go through periods of respite between flares. This is the very least of the information that she will have been given as we all are.
looking for extra help, Julisa did what we all do and looked for extra help with her battle. She came across a doctor who could offer her a new treatment that will eventually mean she can come off all drugs and eventually be lupus free. The new treatment was a plant based diet that gradually would give her all the natural products her body would need to fight the disease.....
Feeling great about this, she embarked upon the new regime and 1 year (yes only 1 year) later she was off all her medications and her kidney function has returned to normal.
What is wrong with this picture?
Ok so here is my response to this! What a load of tosh....and that is the polite way of me saying so. IF Julisa exists in the first place, I am very pleased that she is now lupus free. However that is a big IF! The first point is that anyone can set up a website, write a story and publish it online with no facts checked and no one looking into the integrity of what is being written. Take this blog as an example, I set up the blog in only a few days and although mine is open and honest, there is no one regulating what I say. So, my first thought is does Julisa even exist?
For now we shall take it that Julisa is real and had very severe lupus. Medically, this means that the cells that make up her immune system are not functioning properly, right down to the nucleus of the cells. Now, if someone has found a cure through food for lupus, this means that they have discovered a way of changing the cells within our body......something that scientists have been trying to do for decades. That on its own makes this suspicious in the first place. Then you read the article again and I even question the way that Julisa was diagnosed. It doesn't give any background to her symptoms, other than to say she had a rash.....well we all have rashes don't we. It doesn't mention years of waiting to be seen by doctors, years of symptoms, just a rash. Well from my experience, doctors WILL NOT diagnose lupus from a rash alone. Maybe there is more background needed to the article in the first place to make it more believable.
Now, as I have said before, I do believe in the power of the food we choose to put into our body. It may well be that Julisa feels ten times better from simply changing to a lupus friendly diet and experiencing less symptoms because of this. There is many articles online that offer actual useful advice for diet and fitness and for me they have worked, even just to help my immune system to fight off cold.
Another sad thing about this kind of post is that even if it is true, they are offering hope when some of us are at our lowest. The comments on the post only go to show this. If lupus could be cured, doctors would not provide medications to help keep us going. They would send us information like this in order for us to help ourselves and trust me I would be the first to jump at it.
My questions about this article comes down to how it is marketed. It can be very destructive to offer medical advice and HOPE without being able to back up the facts. Offer us more information about Julisa's journey, medical proof of her conditions improvement and then give these FACTS to doctors working to help us to find a cure. IF they then decide this is it and food is the over all answer, then great, but until then I urge you all to take caution. If you are looking to change diets or medications, this has to be done through you doctors, they need to be involved as simply stopping your medications can be extremely dangerous.
