When Star Duek awoke one morning with pain in her joints, she feared the worst. Her mother had just died after a long battle with rheumatoid arthritis. In addition to joint pain, Star was suffering from insomnia. After many tests, Star discovered that she did not have rheumatoid arthritis, she had lupus. Lupus is an incurable, auto-immune disorder. Antibodies which normally fight foreign bacteria instead attack the body’s own cells. Lupus can attack the skin, the heart, the lungs, or the nervous system. It may affect one or more of the body’s systems.

Star began to live with constant pain. Her kidneys shut down, and her joints ached. She says, "I came to the point that I thought, if this is living, God please take me home. I’d rather die than have to live like this the rest of my life." Although she’d been a fighter her entire life, Star was ready to give up. Her doctor wanted to prescribe cortisone anti-inflammatories to treat her stiffness, but Star had seen the side effects of these drugs. She explains, "I really got scared because my mom lived on so much of this cortisone and I’d seen how it ate her joints." Disappointed with what conventional medicine had to offer, Star looked for alternatives.

Star visited a chiropractor who treated the stiffness in her muscles and joints, and recommended that she visit a naturopathic doctor. Her naturopathic doctor, Doug Amell, urged her to change her diet, eliminating some of the causes of her joint inflammation. Adding fish oils, leafy green vegetables, and anti-inflammatory herbs further reduced the inflammation. To rebuild Star’s damaged cartilage, Dr. Amell prescribed glucosamine sulfate. He encouraged Star to take acupuncture treatments to mobilize her body’s energy.

Although Star was apprehensive about alternative treatments, the results have been positive. She recollects, "[Dr Amell] said you will need around a hundred acupuncture needles at ten needles per session and it would take forty, fifty before you get relief. By the time I hit forty it had cut my pain level right in half." Star worked to develop a holistic health care regime, consulting her family physican as well as Dr. Amell. Her treatment was very personalized. Dr Amell says, "I would treat six different people with lupus differently. There would be a lot of similarities in the treatments but there would always be something based on their individual symptoms." For Star, this treatment has made an incredible difference. She exclaims, "it’s given me a life again so I can live without pain."

"I thought, if this is living, God please take me home." – Star Duek

Although Star was apprehensive about alternative treatments, the results have been positive.