Jennifer Bennett, ND, LAc
Adjunct Faculty and Graduate, Bastyr University
“Many patients show improvement in their arthritis symptoms, and some are even able to come off their medications with time. One patient of note was a woman diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis when she was 32. She had been on a combination of Leflunomide and methylprednisolone for many years with limited success. Her other symptoms included irregular menstrual cycle (cycles swinging from 65 to 33 days), chronic migraines and chronic stress. After one year, we were able to regulate her menstrual cycles with herbs like flax and vitex to every 31 days, which consequently reduced her chronic migraines and joint pain. We also worked on implementing an anti-inflammatory diet and corrected her gut microbiome with berberine and high dose probiotics. We were eventually able to taper her off her steroid with minimal joint pain or flares, and we are currently working to taper her off her Leflunomide dosage. To date, she remains relatively pain free and recent imaging shows no progression of joint damage after a year and a half.”
