RA is Rheumatoid Arthritis? Her joints hurt and it feels like she’s burning alive from the inside out? That’s how I feel, though I don’t have RA specifically. I do have other autoimmune problems though, and I think we’re eventually going to confirm that RA, fibromyalgia and other autoimmune diseases are just different expressions of the same problems.
I’ve been in chronic pain for most of my life, getting worse as I aged. Doctors were not very helpful until I got the right ones, but even then I had to do a lot of the work on my own.
If she’s in chronic pain and her diet is shit, then I’d bet you dollars to donuts it’s because of that (perhaps coupled with autoimmune issues). I recently had a Mediator Release Test done which measures food sensitivity. There are a ton of things that I eat on a regular basis that I didn’t know were bad for me, and I’d already stopped eating gluten a year ago.
I can’t have corn, soy, beans, jalapeños, sunflower, wheat, chicken, cheddar cheese (specifically), mushrooms, etc. Do you know how hard it is to find prepared foods that don’t contain any of those things? Nigh impossible.
I’m doing my best to get all of it out of my diet though because I can’t stand to live in so much pain all the time. It eats who you are as a person no matter how tough you think you are. Eventually it changes your brain to be wired differently.
Even if food isn’t what’s causing her problems, consider having her (and you too) read the book Back In Control by Dr. David Hanscom. It’s not just about back pain even though Dr. Hanscom is a back surgeon. He’s been through suicidal levels of chronic pain, driving him into unemployment and despair. He found his way back, and in the book he outlines the steps to get out of the Abyss your wife is in. The book should help her see straight enough to be able to do the work it’s going to take for her to get better. It’s possible I’d be dead today and not able to tell you about all this had it not been for that book - though it was only a starting point.
I’m cutting off my wall of text here, but if you have questions or whatever, let me know.