Nutrition for Optimal Health Association, Inc.

Sharon Feldman

NOHA member and panelist Sharon Feldman is the author of an article, "Rheumatoid Arthritis: Patient Follow-up after Hospitalization in a Comprehensive Environmental Control Unit," in Clinical Ecology, Archives for Human Ecology in Health & Disease, Volume VI, Number 3, 1989. In 1983 she became patient educator in Dr. Theron G. Randolph’s Comprehensive Environmental Control Unit at Henrotin Hospital, remaining in this post until the unit closed in 1985. By eliminating chemical exposures and by identifying and eliminating the foods to which they had been reacting, approximately 18 of the 20 patients with severe rheumatoid arthritis whom she observed improved substantially during their three-and-a-half- to four-and-a-half week stays in the unit.

As a part of a degree program at DePaul University, Feldman did a follow-up study of six of the patients approximately three years after their discharge from the hospital unit. Four of the patients were doing well. They had reduced their chemical exposures and were following their individual diet recommendations. They were free of symptoms except when they had an inadvertent chemical exposure or when they ate contaminated (not "organic") food. After such exposures, their symptoms quickly subsisted. In stark contrast, the other two patients, who had failed to follow instructions, were suffering from progressive rheumatoid arthritis.

After her own stay as a patient in the unit, Feldman started working there as a full-time typist – an amazing improvement, since before entering the unit she was severely crippled by rheumatoid arthritis, unable to use her arms or do any fine motor coordination. Since July 1980 she has strictly followed all instructions of this program as to avoidance of implicated foods and chemicals and "remains healthy and well-nourished; by controlling her food intake and chemical environment, she has succeeded in minimizing the effects of a severe case of rheumatoid arthritis."

Nutrition for Optimal Health Association
P.O. Box 380
Winnetka, IL 60093 www.nutrition4health.org
Phone: 847-60HEALTH (847-604-3258)