This Is Medicine
by Mary Anne Dunkin

Some of the best "medicine" for arthritis can't be bottled.

When you hear the word medicine, what comes to mind? Prescriptions you fill month after month? Hard-to-swallow capsules? Painful injections, messy ointments, unpleasant side effects? If that's what you think of when you think of medicine, think again. Some of the best medicine is not painful, messy or expensive, and it has no unpleasant side effects. You don't need a prescription to get it, or a doctor to administer it. 

What's more, even respected medical journals report it can really help your arthritis -- and many other medical conditions as well. What is this miracle medicine, you ask? It's what you do for you -- eating right, exercising, resting, praying, meditating and even playing. 

Unlike a pill that you take twice a day or an injection you receive once a week, this "medicine" is a whole-life approach to your health that requires a commitment 24/7. Its biggest benefit? You select the combination, control the dosage and then savor the results. 

While this medicine shouldn't -- and can't -- replace the ones your doctor prescribes, it can certainly enhance their effects and give you a sense of wellness that no pill or injection can provide, says Bernard Rubin, professor of medicine and chief of the division of rheumatology at the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Denton. And that sense of wellness, he says, is key to being well. "Unless you can think of yourself as a well person who has arthritis, you're going to feel like a sick person, even if your doctor-prescribed medication does what it's supposed to." 

If you find this a bit hard to swallow, read on for some evidence that may help convince you.

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