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It took my savings and 14 years but I’m about to beat arthritis

thetimes.com

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Re: It took my savings and 14 years but I’m about to beat arthritis

#141

Post by TeaBrain »

Buttons840 wrote: post #33

> The drug is based on a molecule he discovered while working at Pfizer, and can be delivered via a once-a-month EpiPen-style injection, where it restores protective processes to diseased joints and enables the regeneration of affected tissues. It works by blocking a compound that supports the nerve cells involved in transmitting pain signals to the brain. So, it restores lost tissue by numbing nerves? This makes no…

The drug blocks NT-3, which is involved in nerve signaling and regeneration, but also is thought to play a role in causing the excess inflammation that leads to joint degeneration in osteoarthritis. By blocking it, it seems they believe it may allow the joints time to heal from the excess inflammation that had been causing degeneration.

Re: It took my savings and 14 years but I’m about to beat arthritis

#142

Post by pdfernhout »

vjk800 wrote: post #101
brianleb wrote: post #20

My only commentary would be that these results do not read like clinical success, but rather something suggesting they should move on to phase III clinical trials. This is the only publication I found in a quick search: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37976118/ >> Abstract Objectives: Nerve growth factor β (β-NGF) is a protein which is important to the development of neurons particularly those involved in the transmi…

It sounds like, even in the best case scenario, the drug doesn't really cure arthritis but just blunts the pain. I was thinking it would be something that helps the worn ligament grow back. That I would consider a real cure.

A cure for much arthritis is possibly a Nutritarian Diet promoted by Dr. Joel Fuhrman which reduces inflammation and helps the body rebuild: https://www.drfuhrman.com/blog/119/a-progressive-approach-to... "The traditional treatment of rheumatoid arthritis revolves around medications which typically include steroids and chemotherapeutic agents such as methotrexate, Imuran®, Gold®, Plaquenil®, Arava® and Remicade®. These medications are considerably toxic and can result in serious disability. My approach to treating rheumatoid arthritis differs in that it incorporates dietary modifications and nutritional supplements, avoiding the use of toxic drugs in the vast majority of cases. The recommendations are customized to the needs and response of each patient to treatment and involve more than just putting them on a special diet. However, in most cases, dramatic improvements and even complete recoveries occur. In spite of well-conducted scientific investigations and the clinical experience of many physicians, this effective nutritional treatment of autoimmune disease is generally ignored. I have seen scores of patients with rheumatoid arthritis as well as lupus, fibromyalgia and connective tissue disease obtain complete recoveries through these natural interventions. Also, I have many patients who have made complete recoveries from allergies and asthma. Not every patient obtains a complete remission, but the majority is able to avoid the use of medication."

The big problem in our current society is that there is no substantial money to be made by big companies in promoting these sorts of cures.

Re: It took my savings and 14 years but I’m about to beat arthritis

#143

Post by nwienert »

robbiep wrote: post #94
nwienert wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pathways that remove pain can be due to healing though, it's a mildly positive indicator.

This is at best a fallacy with occasional exceptions and in this particular case, just plain incorrect. If it works by 'blocking a compound that supports nerve cells in transmitting pain' it isn't doing anything to correct the pathology. You are, in the truest sense of the way that people naively talk in derogatory terms around modern medicine, ' treating the result, not the cause '

It's definitely not a fallacy that things that relieve pain can also help heal or prevent damage, NSAIDs are a great example. It mentions it may do more than just blocking the signal in the article.

Re: It took my savings and 14 years but I’m about to beat arthritis

#144

Post by nwienert »

aszantu wrote: post #78
nwienert wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I found some relief in the GLP-1 agonists, a surprising amount actually, and that was not due to any weight loss.

not surprising, I also get inflammationary symptoms when I eat carbs, like heavy joints and drepression.

It's orthogonal to the diet, I actually force myself to eat normally including eating carbs, I actually take it specifically only because it has a strong positive effect on my immune system. There's some research showing as much.

Re: It took my savings and 14 years but I’m about to beat arthritis

#145

Post by DataDive »

dhmallon wrote: post #99
thomassmith65 wrote: post #7

The title is misleading. It's not a "cure for Arthritis"; it's a pain killer.

Two patients can have identical knee x-rays/MRIs - loss of joint space and osteophyte formation etc. But one has pain and the other does not. Do they both have osteoarthritis? They clearly don't have the same dis-ease. Patient don't care about having cartilage or bone sclerosis or subchondral cyst formation; they care about pain that stops them moving (which in turn can increase their weight further exacerbating the…

The issue that people have here is whether being a pain-killer merely masks the disease temporarily and leads to people ignoring the problem and hence aggravating the disease even more. Pain is usually a signal of a real and valid problem.

I am merely explaining what the issue at hand is - I am not saying that is what the proposed medicine does. Another way to say it, is the compound treating the symptom or the problem - or perhaps both.

Imagine you have a hernia that hurts and you take medicine that masks that pain, do you still have hernia?

Re: It took my savings and 14 years but I’m about to beat arthritis

#146

Post by LoganDark »

vjk800 wrote: post #101
brianleb wrote: post #20

My only commentary would be that these results do not read like clinical success, but rather something suggesting they should move on to phase III clinical trials. This is the only publication I found in a quick search: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37976118/ >> Abstract Objectives: Nerve growth factor β (β-NGF) is a protein which is important to the development of neurons particularly those involved in the transmi…

It sounds like, even in the best case scenario, the drug doesn't really cure arthritis but just blunts the pain. I was thinking it would be something that helps the worn ligament grow back. That I would consider a real cure.

> It sounds like, even in the best case scenario, the drug doesn't really cure arthritis but just blunts the pain.

> I was thinking it would be something that helps the worn ligament grow back. That I would consider a real cure.

As far as I can tell, that is what it does:

> The drug is based on a molecule he discovered while working at Pfizer, and can be delivered via a once-a-month EpiPen-style injection, where it restores protective processes to diseased joints and enables the regeneration of affected tissues. It works by blocking a compound that supports the nerve cells involved in transmitting pain signals to the brain.

This doesn't say it just blocks the pain, it says it directly affects the nerve cells involved in transmitting pain. Those nerve cells could also be responsible for other unpleasant things, like generally complaining and always being inflamed and inhibiting proper healing.

Re: It took my savings and 14 years but I’m about to beat arthritis

#147

Post by DataDive »

I used to work in life sciences data analysis.

Many times, I met people who genuinely believed they were super close and about to achieve a "huge" breakthrough.

In each case, the scientists themselves, in their minds, were absolutely convinced they were on the brink of unfathomable achievements: curing Alzheimers, or some cancers etc.

Particularly true for the scientists in biomedical startups - they were like Mulder from X-Files; they all wanted (and were desperately eager) to believe. Like Elizabeth Holmes of Theranos, I think she completely believed her own exaggerations and BS - at some point, fact and fiction merge.

Thus I've become extraordinarily skeptical of articles like these.

Re: It took my savings and 14 years but I’m about to beat arthritis

#148

Post by ncr100 »

fsckboy wrote: post #37

where it says he took all his savings and "beat arthritis": it doesn't appear he has arthritis, he's an entrepreneur who took all his savings and founded a drug startup company with an idea he had around the time Pfizer laid him off

I disagree with the critique - his JOB was / is to FIGHT arthritis on a scientific basis.

Reasoning: He does not come off as a person without sympathy, and without empathy, so I feel comfortable assuming he FEELS it when the downstream users of his discoveries achieve improvement in their life due to his "fighting" medical work.

Re: It took my savings and 14 years but I’m about to beat arthritis

#149

Post by ncr100 »

cqqxo4zV46cp wrote: post #83
fsckboy wrote: post #37

where it says he took all his savings and "beat arthritis": it doesn't appear he has arthritis, he's an entrepreneur who took all his savings and founded a drug startup company with an idea he had around the time Pfizer laid him off

Yeah. It’s completely unambiguously slimy. As a result, I feel absolutely zero connection with the author. Guessing that wasn’t the intention.

Notice the audience --

A national general daily newspaper.

> Guessing that wasn’t the intention.

No guessing needed.

Therefore the article itself is slimy, it is overt, and you are reading it VIA a tech-blog.

The slimy idea COULD be valid if there is the belief that BECAUSE this article is linked by a tech-blog (HN), that it is a technical article. The OP, https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=shoggouth could be the person you'd want to direct the critque at. However since the mandate of HN is not restricted to tech articles, merely interesting tech related stuff often with an entrepreneurial bent, it is appropriate.

So, not slimy in any way.

* https://www.thetimes.com/static/about-us/

Re: It took my savings and 14 years but I’m about to beat arthritis

#150

Post by ncr100 »

bilsbie wrote: post #107

Has anyone treated arthritis with diet? I feel way better when I get off processed foods for a few days. (Not sure if I have arthritis but really sore hips and lower back.)

Q: Do sore hips, and sore back .. could that be a FRONT of body issue .. or internal organs? Like, kidneys?
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