Chlorine Dioxide: Emerging Therapy for Autoimmune Arthritis

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Autoimmune diseases are a complex group of disorders characterized by the immune system mistakenly attacking and destroying the body’s own healthy tissues. This process is known as an autoimmune response. Autoimmune diseases can affect any part of the body, including joints, muscles, skin, red blood cells, blood vessels, internal organs, and endocrine glands.

• The Immune System and Autoimmune Diseases

Normally, the immune system protects the body from pathogens such as bacteria, viruses, and parasites. It does this by recognizing and attacking these foreign invaders. However, in autoimmune diseases, the immune system loses the ability to distinguish between self-tissues and foreign substances, leading to attacks on and destruction of normal cells and tissues.

The exact causes of autoimmune diseases are not fully understood. Genetic factors are thought to make some individuals more susceptible to these diseases. Environmental factors, such as viral infections, exposure to ultraviolet light, certain drugs, and chemicals, as well as lifestyle factors like smoking and dietary habits, may also play a role in the development of these diseases.

• Classification and Symptoms

Autoimmune diseases can be classified into two major categories: organ-specific and systemic. Organ-specific autoimmune diseases primarily affect a specific organ or tissue type, such as Type 1 diabetes affecting pancreatic islet cells, while Hashimoto’s disease targets the thyroid. Systemic autoimmune diseases, such as systemic lupus erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis, can affect multiple parts and systems of the body.

The symptoms of autoimmune diseases vary from person to person and depend on the affected tissues and organs. Common symptoms include fatigue, fever, joint pain and swelling, skin rashes, muscle pain, and functional impairments. These symptoms can range from mild to severe and sometimes may even be life-threatening.

• Diagnosis and Treatment

Diagnosing autoimmune diseases typically involves a combination of medical history review, physical examinations, and laboratory tests, including blood and urine analysis, imaging studies, and specific antibody tests. Since symptoms of these diseases can mimic those of other conditions, the diagnostic process can be complex and lengthy.

Treatment options for autoimmune diseases are limited, aiming to alleviate symptoms, control the autoimmune response, and improve the patient’s quality of life. Treatment approaches include medications, physical therapy, and lifestyle modifications. Medications may involve nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), immunosuppressants, and biologics to control inflammation and immune responses. Physical therapy can help improve joint function and muscle strength. A healthy lifestyle, with a balanced diet, regular exercise, adequate sleep, and effective stress management, is also crucial for disease management.

• Arthritis

In clinical settings, rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a common form of arthritis. RA is a systemic autoimmune disease that primarily affects the joints. It occurs when the immune system attacks the synovial lining of the joints, leading to inflammation and tissue damage. RA can affect individuals of any age but is most common in women between the ages of 40 and 60.

Symptoms of RA typically include joint pain, swelling, stiffness, and limited function, especially upon waking in the morning. As the disease progresses, joints may become deformed and eroded, potentially leading to permanent functional disability. Besides joint symptoms, RA can also cause systemic symptoms, such as fatigue, fever, and muscle pain.

Diagnosing RA relies on symptoms, physical examination, blood tests (including rheumatoid factor and anti-citrullinated peptide antibody tests), and imaging studies. The treatment goals for RA are to relieve symptoms, control inflammation, prevent joint damage, and improve quality of life. Treatment options include medications, physical therapy, surgical intervention, and lifestyle changes.

Under current treatment protocols, medication is the cornerstone of RA management, including NSAIDs, disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs), biologics, and corticosteroids. DMARDs and biologics can slow disease progression and prevent joint damage. Physical therapy helps maintain joint flexibility and muscle strength. In some cases, such as when joint damage is severe, surgical treatment, like joint replacement surgery, may be necessary.

In the current treatment paradigm, therapies for autoimmune diseases mainly focus on symptom relief. However, if the underlying causes of the diseases are not addressed, patients may experience persistent or even worsening symptoms. The crux of autoimmune diseases lies in the immune system’s inability to distinguish between self and foreign substances, leading to an erroneous attack on one’s own cells and tissues. Thus, a fundamental cure for autoimmune diseases should aim to restore the immune system’s ability to correctly identify self and to halt its misguided attacks.

In essence, compared to the complexity of directly correcting the immune system, a more feasible treatment approach is to remove the foreign substances that trigger the immune system’s incorrect responses. Even if this process may involve some damage to normal tissues, once the targets of misidentification are eliminated, the immune system naturally ceases its attack on specific areas. Humanity has not yet managed to systematically correct immune system functions. Once the signals that trigger the erroneous responses are removed, the immune system’s self-regulatory mechanisms should quickly intervene to stop the incorrect attacks. Ideally, using immunomodulators could further promote this process, potentially leading to a cure for autoimmune diseases. Given that chlorine dioxide has the capacity to clear damaged tissues (and cells) and balance immune responses, it is highly probable that chlorine dioxide can treat autoimmune diseases, including arthritis.

Although eczema, psoriasis, vitiligo, and alopecia areata are autoimmune diseases, they are relatively easier to find participants for treatment trials because they are skin conditions. In contrast, it is nearly impossible to find trial participants for other autoimmune diseases. Multiple trials I mentioned before have demonstrated that chlorine dioxide can treat autoimmune skin diseases, with a large number of people included in these use cases. However, to verify the treatment of arthritis with chlorine dioxide, I had to resort to self-experimentation.

I cured my nearly 20-year-long arthritis by injecting chlorine dioxide into my hip joint about ten times.

Combining the potential roles of chlorine dioxide in clearing damaged cells and modulating immune responses, and the treatment principles for autoimmune diseases mentioned earlier, I deduce the following mechanism for chlorine dioxide’s effectiveness in treating autoimmune diseases:

• Chlorine dioxide might help clear the damaged cells that trigger the immune system’s misidentification through its oxidizing action, reducing the immune system’s attacks on healthy tissues. In this way, it could temporarily eliminate the signals causing the immune system’s mistaken attacks, thereby slowing down or stopping the destruction of one’s own tissues.
• Chlorine dioxide might have a balancing effect on the immune system’s response, helping to regulate an overly active immune reaction. This regulation could contribute to restoring the normal function of the immune system and reducing the erroneous self-attacking behavior.

In theory, any localized, rather than systemic, autoimmune diseases with inflammation could be effectively treated by delivering chlorine dioxide directly to the affected area.