I have rheumatoid arthritis. Is it okay for me to fast in Ramadan?
Yes, it's okay
Provided your disease is mild or moderate in activity, and provided you do not make unneeded changes in your diet, we mean increasing or maybe doubling your caloric intake, Ramadan fasting should be good for you.
A study was lately conducted to review all the data on Ramadan Fasting and its relation to autoimmune arthritis diseases and their treatment. In this study it was found that Ramadan fasting may reduce the inflammation in your body. Why? Because it reduces the inflammation substances released as part of your disease process and also because it reduces the fat in your body; fat tissue augments the inflammatory state in your body by the way. Ramadan fasting can, indeed, be considered a good complimentary non-medication approach for managing the inflammation in your disease.
And as for medication use, Ramadan fasting will not interfere with compliance to medications or tolerance to them.
Patients with very active disease who might require more frequent medication doses over the day are considered a very special group of patients and their options should be discussed individually with their doctor.
Reference:
The potential effect of Ramadan fasting on musculoskeletal diseases: new perspectives. Ben Nessib et al. Review Clin Rheumatol
. 2021 Mar;40(3):833-839. doi: 10.1007/s10067-020-05297-9. Epub 2020 Jul 18. Reference on the internet: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32683662/
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This post was prepared and published by Dr. Hatem Eleishi. Dr. Hatem Eleishi is a professor of rheumatology at Cairo university (Egypt) and is especially dedicated to supporting arthritis patients with online educational videos and articles about arthritis causes and treatment. He also runs a rheumatology clinic in Cairo and a center for online medical consultations that, in addition to providing online rheumatology consultations, also provides online medical consultations in several different medical specialties by expert consultants from Egypt, Canada and the United States.
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