Rheumatism, in Aajonus's framework, is acute and chronic stiffness of the muscles with pain in the joints. Rheumatoid arthritis is a specific and often severe manifestation of the same underlying pathological process, it is not a separate autoimmune disease as conventional medicine claims, but rather a condition rooted in terrain breakdown, specifically of the gut lining, resulting in food particles being digested in the wrong location: the joints rather than the intestines.

Arthritis in general, and rheumatism and rheumatoid arthritis specifically, is inflammation in the joints or the connective tissue that is accompanied by soreness or pain. Aajonus defined it as the result of volatile toxins causing damage in the joint tissues, with bacteria present not as the cause but as the cleanup crew.

He was categorical: the bacteria found in arthritic joints are not the cause of arthritis and rheumatism. They are janitorial bacteria, they are present to eat the dead, damaged cartilage cells and the undigested food particles that have lodged in the joints. The medical profession's assertion that bacteria cause arthritis is, in his words, a fiction. The bacteria are "the freaking janitors." They are doing exactly what they are supposed to do: dissolving damaged material so that it can be cleared from the body.

He also rejected the concept of autoimmune disease entirely in this context. He stated plainly: "There is no such thing as autoimmune disease. That's a fiction of the medical profession. It's an awful fiction. Your body never attacks itself." The body has janitorial bacteria and janitorial hormones, it is always working to clean and heal, never to attack itself.

Rheumatic fever is a related condition he defined as a detoxification of the connective tissue linking muscles, cartilage, and bone. It occurs mainly in children ages 4–18 whose lymph systems are impaired. It is characterized by fever, swelling and pain in joints, sore throat, and heart complications, and it is often caused by vaccines, antibiotics, medications, or toxins consumed by the mother during fetal development.

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Aajonus stated this with great consistency and specificity across many seminars and writings: 80 to 90 percent of all arthritis and rheumatism, including rheumatoid arthritis, is caused by leaky gut, which he also called Crohn's disease.

The specific figures he gave varied slightly across sources: - "90% of arthritis and rheumatism is from leaky gut" - "80 to 85 percent of arthritis and rheumatism is caused by Crohn's" - "75 to 80 percent of arthritis and rheumatism and rheumatoid arthritis is from leaky gut" - "85% I've seen of those diseases come from leaky gut" - "Ninety-percent of arthritis is caused by leaky gut, not bacteria" (newsletter) - "Almost everybody who, like 85% of people who have arthritis or rheumatoid arthritis or rheumatism have leaky gut"

The mechanism he described in detail:

The stomach and intestinal mucous lining is a complex structure. Under a microscope, mucus looks like layers of woven cloth, crisscrossed, meshed fabric. You can have anywhere from 8 to 14 layers, with some sources saying up to 16, though Aajonus stated he had personally only seen up to 14. When a person does not produce enough mucus, or produces poor-quality thin mucus, their own digestive acids, particularly hydrochloric acid, begin eating through the thin mucus layers.

Once the mucus is thin enough and the person eats a large amount of food at once, the gut rips. The intestinal wall tears. Undigested food, food that should have been digested in the intestines, now escapes into the body through these tears.

The body then has to figure out what to do with undigested food particles floating through the system. It sends them to the next most structurally resilient location it has: the joints. The knees come first, then the hips, then the shoulders, then the elbows. This is the pattern he observed in 80% of cases, though he noted it was not always that exact sequence.

Once the undigested food particles arrive in the joints, the body does what it would do in the intestines: it generates digestive acids and bacteria to break that food down. The same digestive process that should have happened in the gut now happens in the joint space. The cartilage, which was never designed to withstand digestive acids, begins to deteriorate. Bacteria generated to digest the food particles also end up in contact with the cartilage, causing further breakdown of damaged cells. This produces swelling, inflammation, redness, and pain.

The body sends bile to these areas as well, which is why you see darker knees and darker joints in people with this condition. The body is sending bile to handle the undigested food particles.

He said: "The undigested food particles go to the knees first for digestion, and then other joints. So your knees start digesting food. It starts digesting its own cartilage. Then you have inflammation in here because you've got bacteria working on the whole area. And not necessarily working on your own joints, it's working on the food in the joints, but it causes the swelling in the joints, it causes the pain, and the redness all around that area."

The remaining 10% of arthritis and rheumatism cases, according to Aajonus, are caused by vaccine poisonings and other metallic poisonings that get into the joints. He was specific about this:

• Thimerosal (mercury preservative) sprayed on marijuana plants in Mexico by the U.S. government, he described a specific case of a young man who smoked heavily contaminated marijuana for approximately three years starting at age 15 and developed severe rheumatoid arthritis from mercury poisoning as a result
• Vaccines containing mercury and other heavy metals can deposit these toxins directly into joint tissue
• Industrial agriculture chemicals and food-processing chemicals can store in joints and cause arthritic conditions

He noted that when caustic toxins are stored in joints, the body may respond with mineral deposits, hardening and damaging the tissue. This is a different mechanism from the leaky gut pathway but produces similar joint inflammation and deterioration.

Aajonus described a third, less common pathway to arthritis and rheumatism: genuine mechanical damage from overuse or trauma. If a person is a runner on a bad diet and repeatedly bruises their cartilage, the body generates bacteria to dissolve the damaged cartilage. This is "true arthritis and rheumatism", where actual cartilage damage triggers the bacterial cleanup response. However, he was emphatic that this is the minority of cases: "most arthritis and rheumatism are the symptoms of digesting leaky gut food rather than bruised or damaged cartilage."

Lack of fat: Aajonus described arthritis also as resulting from a lack of fats in the joints. When the bursae, the fluid-filled sacs that lubricate joints, are not producing adequate fluid, they sometimes manufacture a toxic, acidic fluid instead. This acidic bursal fluid then irritates the joints rather than lubricating them. This creates an environment for viruses, infections, and yeasts in the joints, which then eat away at the cartilage. Once the cartilage is gone, typically in a person's fifties, the bones themselves begin to deteriorate.

Tendon shrinkage from extreme dryness: He described a specific variant where extreme systemic dryness causes tendons to shrink and buckle. When tendons shrink, the joints are pulled together and begin rubbing and grinding until they become infected and deteriorating. He noted this in patients with what he called a "diabetic nature", people who are so dry inside that even their fingers show the buckling. This is a different presentation from the typical arthritic and rheumatic condition because it is caused not primarily by toxicity but by the physical irritation of rubbing, though deterioration follows.

Low blood protein sugar: Aajonus described rheumatism specifically as often resulting from low blood protein sugar accompanied by a lack of enzyme-mutations for eating cooked green and yellow foods.

Uric acid and lipid oxides from cooked meat: He explained that uric acid and the lipid oxides that form from cooked meat cause a specific type of storage and problem in the joints, leading to rheumatoid arthritis, plain arthritis, or rheumatitis. These compounds need to be secreted, and when raw meat is introduced into the system, it can sometimes cause their expulsion, resulting in temporary symptoms of that disease.

Penicillin and antibiotic damage: Aajonus identified a specific connection between penicillin given at a young age and the development of Crohn's disease, which in turn causes the leaky gut that drives arthritis and rheumatism. He stated he found evidence in the irises that 90% of IBS, inflammatory bowel syndrome, and digestive disorders including Crohn's were caused by penicillin given at a young age.

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Rheumatism and rheumatoid arthritis sit at the intersection of multiple causal principles in Aajonus's framework:

Root Cause / Terrain Theory: The foundational explanation, leaky gut from insufficient mucus, digestive acid damage, joint digestion of foreign food particles, is a terrain breakdown. It is not germ theory. The bacteria found in arthritic joints are the body's response, not the cause.

Cooked Food: The enzyme-mutations deficiency for cooked green and yellow foods contributes to rheumatism. Cooked meat produces uric acid and lipid oxides that store in joints. Staying away from cooked food is fundamental to resolving these conditions.

Detoxification: When a person starts the raw diet and introduces raw meat, the uric acid and lipid oxides stored in joints from cooked meat begin to be expelled, producing arthritic symptoms during the detox phase. These are healing crises, not new disease. Additionally, all diseases a person has previously experienced will revisit in reverse order during the healing process, arthritis and rheumatism included.

Microbes: The central misunderstanding Aajonus addresses is the role of bacteria. The bacteria present in arthritic joints are janitorial microbes cleaning up food particles and damaged cartilage. They are not pathogens causing disease. This is the Terrain Theory/Microbes relationship of his philosophy.

Sovereignty: The rejection of conventional medical interventions, joint replacement, antibiotics, nerve-deadening injections, and the assertion that the body can heal given the correct raw food inputs.

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Since 85–90% of arthritis and rheumatism comes from leaky gut, the foundational treatment is rebuilding the mucous lining of the intestines. Aajonus stated: "whenever I have somebody on Crohn's or who has arthritis and rheumatism, I put them on two, three milkshakes a day. And with a very quick time, their symptoms are mitigated by 85%."

Milkshakes are the best food for forming mucus in the intestinal lining. The mucus must be rebuilt to stop the gut from tearing and sending undigested food to the joints.

Formula for Crohn's/Leaky Gut correction (Aajonus's updated method): He described using cheese as a critical tool. Cheese eaten at intervals, every 15 minutes, every 20 minutes, or every 30 minutes, acts as a sponge to collect digestive acids that would otherwise eat through the intestinal lining. He stated: "Where it used to take me sometimes 5 to 6 years to reverse Crohn's, now I can do it in 6 to 8 months." The coloration changes, digestion improves, skin improves.

Raw meat is fundamental to resolving both rheumatism and rheumatoid arthritis. Aajonus stated that avoiding raw meat and being vegetarian is a major contributor to arthritic conditions. When people stop eating meat and the arthritic symptoms temporarily subside, it is because the system is no longer processing cooked meat's uric acid and lipid oxide load, but the person also "didn't feel good as a vegetarian" and is not actually healing.

Eating raw meat at least 5 days weekly was his general baseline recommendation. The raw meat helps the body expel the uric acid and lipid oxides stored in joints from cooked meat consumption, and it provides the protein necessary for joint tissue regeneration.

Meat ratios specific to rheumatoid arthritis cases: - For one woman with rheumatoid arthritic symptoms and massive signs of anemia: 60% red meat, 40% white meat (mainly chicken or any fowl, turkey, ostrich) - For most general arthritic conditions: 60% chicken, 20% red meat, 20% fish, with the instruction that anytime red meat is eaten it should be combined with fish; chicken is fine alone - For someone with mold in nails and cartilage moving toward rheumatoid arthritis: 75–90% red meat, 10–25% white meat, with a nut formula once every 10 days

Fat deficiency in the joints is a direct cause of arthritic conditions. Aajonus was emphatic: "it's a lack of fats, again, in the joints." The bursae need fat to produce proper lubricating fluid rather than toxic, acidic fluid.

Specific fats recommended:

Chicken and chicken fat: Chicken is loaded with fat and is specifically good to lubricate the joints. Aajonus recommended getting a whole chicken and using the pockets of fat around the back end, eaten raw. He called this his favorite fat. Chicken is especially recommended for cases where tendons are shrinking and causing joint-rubbing arthritis, because it "will help the shrinking of everything" and "provide the fats to lubricate the area so it can allow it to stretch, so it has elasticity."

Raw cream: When a person can get raw cream, Aajonus said to "just drink it as if it were water." For the joint-rubbing variant of arthritis, raw cream combined with eating lots of chicken is the primary recommendation to provide lubricating fats and build-out cells so joints won't be so tight.

Coconut cream: Described as "very important to help get rid of this joint toxicity." He recommended eating some whole coconut as well. A specific formula he mentioned for one arthritic case: 8 ounces of carrot juice with 4 ounces of cow's cream and 2 ounces of coconut cream, taken once every 16 days. He warned this may cause nausea and inability to eat for 4–5 hours afterward, but that this is acceptable.

Coconut cream with banana: Gradually dissolves hardened mineral build-up in joints.

Raw citrus with raw fat: Also dissolves mineral buildup, though more slowly. Combinations: live pineapple with avocado, live pineapple with raw cream, raw eggs with raw orange juice, raw orange and avocado, raw orange and raw cream.

Butter: Described as essential for lubrication. "And lots of butter. Butter is going to help you a lot." Recommended liberally for cases moving toward rheumatoid arthritis from mold in the cartilage.

Lubrication formula: Aajonus mentioned "lots of lubrication formulas" for cases moving toward rheumatoid arthritis. Walnuts blended with egg, peanut oil or butter, and honey (without carob) are mentioned in one specific protocol for joint joint problems.

Specifically mentioned for resolving rheumatism: "Eating raw foods, including raw pineapple with raw meat and raw fat usually resolve rheumatism." Pineapple is used as a lymphatic breaker, to help break up congestion and get the lymphatic system moving. He recommended it specifically for joint toxicity cases, while noting that pineapple can cause over-emotionality, so it should be eaten cautiously with awareness of moods.

Eggs with lots of dairy were the specific foods that corrected a 14-year-old girl's Crohn's-related rheumatoid arthritis in nine months. "Lots of eggs and lots of dairy. Corrected very quickly." Eggs provide the protein for rebuilding the intestinal wall and restoring the digestive tract.

Cheese is described as an "incredible tool" for joint problems. For pain management specifically, he mentioned: "if you're having pain, cheese and this pain formula are your best bet. It doesn't work in some cases like migraines, but it works in joint and tooth problems, bruises, knee injuries, any kind of injury."

Cheese eaten continuously at intervals (every 15, 20, or 30 minutes) collects digestive acids that would otherwise damage the gut lining. "The change is great. The coloration, the digestion is improved."

Aajonus mentioned eating raw cartilage as part of the solution: "Eating cartilage gradually", implying that eating raw cartilage can help supply the material the body needs to rebuild joint cartilage. He connected cartilage consumption to the 90% correction of arthritis and rheumatism from leaky gut.

Raw dairy of all kinds, milk, cream, milkshakes, cheese, forms the foundational mucus-building component. Milkshakes specifically for gut lining repair. Cheese for acid absorption and pain. Cream for joint lubrication.

For cases with signs of anemia and bone marrow problems (which often accompany severe arthritic conditions): - 80% celery, 20% parsley for a couple of weeks, then shift to 85% celery, 15% parsley - Carrot juice formula: 8 ounces carrot juice, 4 ounces cow's cream, 2 ounces coconut cream, once every 16 days

Aajonus described an experience where snake, specifically sidewinder rattlesnake, caused "almost all my pain went away" and relief of "rheumatic and arthritic symptoms usually within two hours." He stated: "one teaspoon of that will get rid of arthritis and rheumatism." He attributed the medicinal property to snake oil: "it helps the bones and the joints." He recommended eating bees rather than using bee stings for arthritis, and similarly eating the snake rather than using venom injection. The snake oil reduces joint congestion similarly to whey.

Mentioned as a substance that dissolves joint congestion, comparable to how bee venom supposedly helps dissolve joint congestion. Whey is preferable to bee stings as a method of delivery.

Recommended for their mineral content, since cartilage and bone are very mineral-concentrated because they are solid. Deep sea fish, oysters, and shellfish provide the proper raw mineral profile for cartilage and bone support.

For athletes with joint concerns: whole orange (most of the orange, not seeds or rind) blended with cream and sparkling mineral water, sipped in small amounts.

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Recovery from arthritis and rheumatism on the Primal Diet is a slow, multi-year process. Aajonus was emphatic about this. He stated: "it takes many, many years to reduce that. It takes 40 years in the amount of that to reduce it completely", referring to the accumulated toxins in heavily affected joints. However, using cheese at 15–20–30 minute intervals accelerates the process substantially, and the improvement in symptoms, coloration, and digestion begins relatively quickly.

Rebuilding the mucous lining of the intestines, the foundational fix for the 85–90% of cases caused by leaky gut, can happen relatively quickly once the correct foods are in place. Milkshakes two to three times daily can mitigate symptoms by 85% "with a very quick time." With the cheese protocol, Crohn's disease itself, which used to take him 5–6 years to reverse, can now be reversed in 6–8 months.

Using the case of the severely crippled woman in the wheelchair as the documented timeline: - After one year on the diet: she was able to feed herself, able to stand a little, able to touch and work a recording device, knees had shrunk about 50%. Still had significant limitation.

A 14-year-old girl with Crohn's-driven rheumatoid arthritis with knees "as big as my head" after nine months on the diet (lots of eggs and dairy): she was essentially normal. Children heal faster because "they have the growth hormones already working for them."

• The wheelchair woman: able to stand, could be mobile with a walker, still could not play cards due to hand deformity, but functional mobility restored.

• The woman who came to Aajonus in 2006 completely crippled in a wheelchair, knees the size of basketballs, elbows the size of softballs, all hands buckled, unable to feed or dress herself: after approximately 6 years on the diet and with daily 90-minute hot baths, she was back to playing cards with her friends. She walked on her own, got up out of the wheelchair, without even a cane. All joints normal except a little swelling on one knee.

He noted about this specific case: "I would say she didn't heal much in that time. In that whole 6 years that she's been on the diet, I saw little healing. It was cleaning out garbage out in the waste products that were causing all the blown out joints." The improvement was primarily the removal of the toxic material that was driving the joint enlargement, rather than positive tissue regeneration in the conventional sense.

• Another woman described: after 7 years on the diet, joints that had been grossly enlarged were down to one-tenth of the previous swelling, no pain whatsoever, no longer in a wheelchair, fully functioning.

• The young man with mercury/thimerosal-driven rheumatoid arthritis (on crutches/wheelchair at age 20): by age 30–31, married, had a child, working, typing, walking. His joints were "just a little bit bigger than normal" but he had a completely normal functional life. The doctors had told him he would never work again.

Aajonus distinguished between someone healing properly and someone stuck. In proper healing: "your symptoms will change. Things will clear, heal, and it'll be a cycle that you go through." If a person is eating properly, symptoms change continuously, different aches, different locations, moving and cycling. If stuck, someone with arthritis and rheumatism "have an ache in the knee, it can last six months to a year because they're not eating properly." The movement and change of symptoms is the indicator of proper healing.

Hot baths at 105 degrees were described as transformative for rheumatoid arthritis recovery. Aajonus evolved his recommendation over time: - Initially: two days per week, 90 minutes minimum - Then: three to five days per week - Finally: daily, 90 minutes, for people who are really sick

The daily 90-minute bath protocol at 105 degrees was what produced the results in the wheelchair woman in 6 years. The baths cleanse the lymphatic system, which carries the toxic burden out through the skin. "The more she does her hot baths, the better she does."

He described this as "a virtual miracle" in the context of medical expectations: "in the medical model, they say that nobody ever recovers from rheumatoid arthritis that's that advanced. She was crippled. She couldn't do anything herself."

For local joint pain, hot water bottles are "so important for any kind of joint problem." This is a localized version of the heat therapy that drives lymphatic clearing.

For people who have had knee and hip replacements: "Yes. That's about it. It's so gone, so eaten away. There is no regenerating that. It would take as long as it took them to deteriorate to rebuild it. So it's a big problem." At this point the only management is the right kinds of fats and the dietary protocols, but the structural damage is permanent.

As part of the healing journey, all diseases a person has previously experienced will revisit in the exact reverse chronological order in which they were last experienced. "So the diseases you had as an infant will be the last ones you go through again as adulthood." Arthritic and rheumatic symptoms may therefore recur during the detox process, these are cleansing events, not setbacks.

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