It is not understood exactly how gold works to treat rheumatoid arthritis. But gold salts appear to accumulate slowly in the body and, over time, they reduce inflammation and slow the progression of rheumatoid arthritis.Gold injections are given every week for the first 22 weeks. After that, gold may be given less often if it is working.Gold is used to reduce inflammation and slow disease progression in people with rheumatoid arthritis. Gold is not usually the first treatment given to people with rheumatoid arthritis, since methotrexate and other disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs are available. Gold salts taken by mouth (oral) have not been found to be as effective as gold injections, and it can take up to 6 months before benefits are noticed from oral gold salts.
Side effects may develop after a significant amount of gold has accumulated in the body.
Oral gold has fewer side effects than gold injected into the muscle. Common side effects of oral gold include:
- Decreased appetite, nausea, and diarrhea.
- Problems with the skin, blood, kidneys, or lungs (rare).
Common side effects of injected gold include:
- An itchy skin rash.
- Mouth sores.
Rarer side effects include:
- Kidney problems (kidney damage that causes loss of protein in the urine).
- Suppression of blood cell production, which may increase the risk of infection or serious bleeding. (A return to normal blood cell production may take several weeks after the drug is no longer taken.)
Extremely rare side effects include bowel or lung inflammation.
This is really interesting. I visited India last year and noticed that a suprising number of people (more than I expected) were using gold plated dishes for their meals. Of course you have to have a certain socio-economic status, but most epople were doing it more for health reasons. However, a lot of people were also using silver and copper plated dishes. Do you know any specific health related benefits associated with silver or copper?
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