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Table of Contents

1. The Nature of Rheumatoid Disease

Rheumatoid Disease is Systemic

A One-to-One Correspondence May Not Exist Between Causation and Symptoms

Two Traditional Accepted Medical Hypotheses

Systems Affected by Arthritis

2. Table of Arthritides Symptoms and Their Classifications

Table I: Collagen Tissue Diseases (Rheumatoid Diseases) and Associated Rheumatic Disease Conditions

Table II: Arthritis (Rheumatic Diseases) and Related Diseases Caused or Suspected of Being Caused by

Bacterial, Mycoplasmic, or Viral Infections.

Table III: Osteoarthritis and Degenerative joint Diseases

Table IV: Rheumatic Diseases Known or Suspected to be Biochemical or Endocrine Abnormalities

Table V: Other Rheumatic Diseases

3. Rheumatoid Disease: Classified by Symptom

4. Rheumatic Diseases and Microorganisms: Classified by Symptom

5. Osteoarthritis and Degenerative Diseases: Classified by Symptom

The Nature of Rheumatoid Disease

Rheumatoid Disease is Systemic

The Arthritis Trust considers the nearly 100 rheumatoid diseases -- including Rheumatoid Arthritis -- as a systemic

disease. Since the disease can affect any organ or system in the body, manifestation of symptoms produced give rise to the

various name classifications often misconstrued as totally separate diseases. Breaking physician health specialties into

different practices according to parts of the body affected lends even more credence to the illusion that separate and distinct

diseases are presented.

According to the late Roger Wyburn-Mason, M.D., Ph.D., and one of this foundation's founders, the history of

tuberculosis demonstrates how misleading can be the identifying of diseases by name according to the body part affected.

Prior to the discovery of the tubercle bacillus there were 100 different diseases named depending upon the body part affected.

After identification of the tubercle bacillus, all of these different names collapsed into one -- tuberculosis! -- although now

it is called TB of the bone, TB of the lung, TB of the skin, and so on. We believe that this is what has happened to the disease

known as Rheumatoid Arthritis. There are 100 apparently different diseases, each with its own distinct and misleading name.

By knowing that the disease is systemic, and may manifest with differing symptoms in any organ or system, we've collapsed

all those names into one which we now call "Rheumatoid Disease."

A One-to-One Correspondence May Not Exist Between Causation and Symptoms

In the lists that follow, the different bodily systems are shown together with disease names that are often used to describe

various disease conditions but may often be forms of Rheumatoid Disease. Rheumatoid Disease can affect any part of the

body!

Do not be misled by the other extreme, however. While any of the following bodily systems can stem from Rheumatoid

Disease causations, other sources can create some of the same conditions! A good example is infestation by Candidiasis.

Perhaps 50% or more of Rheumatoid Disease victims suffer from systemic overgrowth of Candida albicans or similar

organisms, often due to sustained stress, use of antibiotics and/or birth control tablets, or, most likely, cortisone. Although

Candidiasis can present, among other symptoms, the same symptoms presented by Rheumatoid Disease, Rheumatoid

Disease will not necessarily be Candidiasis. Clearing up Candidiasis and/or food allergies might very well clear up

Rheumatoid Disease symptoms, but not necessarily the other way around.

If one does clean out candidiasis and the victim recovers, did the arthritic suffer from Rheumatoid Disease or Candidiasis

or what?

Similarly, Food Allergies can present with Rheumatoid Disease symptoms, but Rheumatoid Disease symptoms do not

necessarily present with Food Allergy conditions.

Rheumatoid Disease may cause Headaches, but Headaches may be caused by a multiplicity of other factors.

Rheumatoid Disease may cause plugging up of arteries, or other heart problems, but these conditions can be caused by

other agents.

And so on ---!

Two Traditional Accepted Medical Hypotheses

Internal medicine textbooks often accept two general over-simplified hypothesis for the cause of Rheumatoid Arthritis,

and related Rheumatoid Diseases. These are:

1. There is something wrong with the immune system. In this view, one must search for and try out various

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