- Excerpt
Rheumatoid arthritis involves a much broader spectrum of conditions than plain arthritis, but the terms rheumatism and arthritis are commonly used interchangeably by doctors and patients. Rheumatism ranges from morning stiffness to complete loss of function, immobilization, and even deformity of the joint. The onset of the inflammation marks the disease when the joints become swollen and painful. Most of the patients suffer from increasingly severe and frequent attacks. The official medical doctrine tells us that there is no cure for arthritis. The only thing that can be done is to alleviate the pain by way of pain killers and anti-inflammatory drugs such as indomethacin and ibuprofen. Gentle exercise may help to keep the joints flexible.
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The synovial fluid is the viscous substance in the joints that makes movement possible. Most of the freely moving joints are synovial joints in that the joints are surrounded by an articular capsule enclosing the space that is lined by the synovial membrane. The membrane produces and holds hyaluronic acid as the fluid that lubricates the joint[s]. That membrane has a capillary network that forms the connection between the synovial space and what is outside the membrane. Through this capillary network, the body is able to maintain the quality of the synovial fluid.
Free radicals are the culprits
Free radicals can degrade hyaluronic acid. Obviously, when they are present in excess, free radicals can seep through the synovial membrane’s capillary network, reach the synovial fluid, degrade it, and thereby make the joint less flexible. This may then lead to the first stage of arthritis: the inflammation of the synovial membrane. In later stages, the inflammation may destroy cartilage, bone capsule, and parts of the muscle that control the joint. During the final stage of arthritis, fibrous tissue invades the joint, and eventually, this tissue may calcify and completely immobilize the joint.
The multitasking OPCs
Since rheumatoid arthritis is an inflammatory condition, the many facets of OPCs’ activity may interfere with many of the aspects that cause and perpetuate this disease. I know that I speak an optimistic word here and I do so very cautiously because in the more severe forms of rheumatoid arthritis, much irreparable deformation has already taken place and flexibility may be lost forever. Yet, OPCs’ capacity to scavenge free radicals will protect the hyaluronic acid or what's left of it against degradation. But this is not the only way in which OPCs protect hyaluronic acid. OPCs also offer protection by inhibiting the activity of hyaluronidase, which is the enzyme that breaks down hyaluronic acid. Moreover, OPCs’ vascular activity contributes to the maintenance of the capillary network in the synovial membrane. On top of this, OPCs’ inhibition of various inflammatory mediators (such as histamine) may very well result in less pain and swelling.
Masquelier's American antioxidant patent
Basically, OPCs work in many seemingly unrelated conditions because they scavenge an excess of free radicals that disturb several biological pathways. This is why the number of claims made by Masquelier in his American antioxidant patent (U.S. Patent 4,698,360 / exp.) is stunningly large. Any condition resulting from the direct or indirect action of free (meaning excess) radicals responds to OPCs. In Masquelier’s words, some of which I have emphasized: “The free radicals, when they escape from the biological and nutritional systems provided for eliminating them, attack first of all the fragile architecture of the membrane. The alterations thus produced accelerate cellular aging, characterized by the collapse of the primordial functions of the membrane system. Inflammation and ischemia bring such mechanisms into play, and so treatment by OPCs is indicated. Similarly, alterations of the synovial liquid by depolymerization of hyaluronic acid during articular diseases as well as collagen degradation during so called collagen diseases (for instance, multiple sclerosis) spring from the action of free radicals and so enter into the therapeutic indications of OPCs.”
Mitigating the side effects of pain killers
Please note that this website is not intended to give medical advice; the treatment of arthritis is best left to medical doctors and other qualified health professionals. So, health professionals should be aware of the fact that OPCs play a safe and essential role in interrupting and reversing the many events that determine the inflammatory process. And, what's just as important in the case of rheumatoid arthritis where the use of Aspirin or NSAIDs is indicated, OPCs help prevent the negative effect these drugs have on relative capillary permeability. In the broader perspective of health, degeneration, and disease, OPCs’ antioxidant and anti-inflammatory capacities are probably their most dominant feature. It is the reason OPCs have a remedial effect on the many correlations between the factors that negatively influence our health, leading to such varying diseases as asthma, gastritis, and the inflammation of nerves and joints as well as other inflammatory disorders and allergies.
