Just my simplified take on arthritis, as more and more I am swayed to think that there is only arthritis, and that arthritis is caused by low metabolism, and very much so because CO2 deficiency from low mitochondrial metabolism makes the ecf acidic, enough so that some salts, urate salts being one, precipitate, and cause the formation of crystals that cause wear and tear on our joints.
I profess ignorance though, on the matter of the different forms of arthritis, as when I attempt to understand the different forms of arthritis, the explanations given in the literature always lead to draw blanks, which makes me either an embecile thet fails to comprehend or simply that the literature is just playing on words and terms that give different names to a banana. The added complexity is a ploy to distract from the one true cause of arthritis, if I may dare say so.
Which is why Ray points to hypothyroid as the cause of arthritis, which I first thought of as a rather simplistic explanation. But if I can relate to cause and effect, and dig deeper into it, it is not as complicated as it appears to be.
The key is acid base balance. As simple as that. When we have an abundance of CO2 because our body makes a lot of it at our disposal, we have the best pH buffer available for our lungs and kidneys to manage acid base balance. When alkaline, it can turn into an acid called carbonic acid, and when acidic, CO2 can turn into bicarbonate. This is based on Le Chatelier's principle, where the direction of a reaction is in the direction of the stress that it relieves.
What better way to provide a surfeit of CO2 in our body than to be producing energy using mitochondrial oxidation. Vitamin B1 is a crucial link in a chain of nutrients and substances and processes that enable mitochondrial oxidation. Simply being deficient in one link makes rhe chain broken, and a broken chain only leads to low metabolism, and the resulting imbalance in pH, usually acidic, will just cause the formation of salt crystals that irritate and inflame and destroy tissues.
I know enough how to monitor my acid base balance, so I know what remedial actions to take to keep my acid base balance from being chronically in an imbalanced state. Many bad things happen in a chronic state of acid base imbalance.
I have high uric acid, yet I don't have any arthritis, much less gout. Only because my optimal acid base balance keeps uric acid crystals from forming.
I don't have tachycardia (high heart rate) because my heart muscle pumps well and isn't strained because the muscle contracts and relaxes effortlessly because of good acid base balance.
I don't fear cancer because I believe that an acidic ecf is what causes regulatory and harmless and commensal microbes to turn into virulent parasites that cause cancer to develop.
Yes, vitamin B1 is important, but such studies are subordinate to putting all the pieces of rhe puzzle together to form a whole picture. This is where we need work on, as without this perspective one can end up taking one supplement after another and not progressing from his poor state of health.
