Diet and arthritis: One woman's story

[Susan LymeRA]

From the beginning, before any medication, diet change had such a huge positive impact on my inflammation.  I learned about it from Dr. McDougall's article “Hope for Arthritis”.

Here is another woman's experience

http://www.drmcdougall.com/stars/star06_jean-brown.html

[Kim]

Thanks for the inspiring story, Susan.  A nice reminder as we are all surrounded with holiday foods and watching our ankles swell. 🙁

I love the new pix, you look like you're 20 years old! 🙂

Take care…..kim

[sierrra]

[user=86]Susan Lyme/RA[/user] wrote:

From the beginning, before any medication, diet change had such a huge positive impact on my inflammation.  I learned about it from Dr. McDougall's article “Hope for Arthritis”.

Here is another woman's experience

http://www.drmcdougall.com/stars/star06_jean-brown.html

Diet has been very important to me, too. Eliminating wheat and other sources of gluten has been the biggest thing. Greatly reducing dairy has been the other. Red meat and pork cause inflammation for me, but poultry and fish are o.k, even strengthening. I've substituted black and green tea for coffee, and eat fresh and dried fruits instead of anything with refined sugar in it. Recently I found out I was slightly pre-diabetic, a reversible consition, so I've been learning about how to eat lower glycemic foods. Good-bye white potatoes! Dramatically changing our eating habits takes a ton of determination and willingness to tolerate some social awkwardness, but for me, the payoff has been great.

[DragonSlayer]

Hi, Susan:

I was influenced by those who claimed that diet helped arthritis and became a vegetarian for 22 years; there were great results, initially.

The problem I have with the article is that it states that there is no set diet for arthritis and also mentions AS!

There IS an effective diet for AS (and this entire family–Crohn's, long-term Reiter's, Psoriatic Arthritides) and it includes great quantities of meat.  First discovered by Giraud Campbell (who did not make the distinction between types of arthritis) but re-discovered by many, but explained best by Professor Ebringer et al at Kings College, London:  The Low (prefer NO) Starch Diet.

RA and AS are VERY DIFFERENT.  We call them “Arthritis,” but a vegetarian diet is the absolute worst thing for anyone with AS.  My condition greatly accelerated as a result of the notion that meat is bad for “arthritis.”

I regret very much that McDougall still does not make proper distinctions.  Although I have written to him, asking for anecdotal information about former AS sufferers, and told him of my own experiences, he was unable to provide anything but a terse glad-hand response.

It would be my personal preference if being a vegetarian was the best thing for AS and for the world in general.  It is not, but I still believe that about 60% of the population should be vegetarian–and considering the poor and large portions China and India we almost approach that now.  The SAD diet here is too meat-centric, and I appreciate this awareness, but diet as therapy for arthritis should be a very distinct and more accurate, scientific discussion.

I'm happy that You have had good results, but we should encourage our friends to study the problem more thoroughly.

Sincerely,
John

[Susan LymeRA]

Hi John,

You are absolutely right, but I wasn't trying to go that far with this thread.

When I was first diagnosed RA and hit the google highway searching for solutions, I quickly ran into others for whom diet has helped.  However, about half were vegetarian or vegan and the other half were like you, heavy on the meat and skip the carbs.  It was daunting at first but I followed what I have always known about my body.  I do very well on vegetables and not so well on just about anything else.  I have never fared well with red meat.  So, I tried the vegan diet of Dr McDougall.

I also must share that the very first place I turned to was God.  I had my pastor and a couple of elders annoint me as per scriptures.  They obliged even though my church does not follow that practice.  But I was so crippled and sick, I don't think they had the heart to say no.

I do believe God led me to the right doctors.  It is just amazing how I have not had to suffer through the medical arrogance of so many others.

A food sensitivity test quickly revealed which foods I was sensitive to.  I was happy to add meat back into the diet.  I had to eliminate dairy and soy, red peppers, lettuce, halibut and lobster.

I was heavy metal toxic (lead and mercury), bathed in yeast infection, loaded with cell wall deficient bacterias, 2 parasites and 3 viruses.  With that much wrong with me, I had great hope for getting well.

One diet is not for all people.  Some are protein types, some are carb types and some are mixed.  If you believe the bloodtype diet, my bloodtype (A) is supposed to be vegetarian.  Again, that flows with what I have always known about my body. 

Interesting that AS needs meat. 

For sure, none of us need MSG, food additives and preservatives, plastic residues nor even sugar.  So whole, fresh foods of all types would be a great start for so many of us who rely on convenience foods.

Thanks for sharing John.

[Susan LymeRA]

Kim,

Thanks for the compliment.  20, wow!   That was at Thanksgiving.  I swear it is the bucketload of supplements my doctor has me on.

My youngest just celebrated his 30th this weekend.  So hard to believe, isn't it?

Susan

[mschmidt]

John,

Very good point.  I think it's important to mention that there is no “one size fits all” diet. I did the vegetarian thing, the vegan thing, the raw food thing.  Then, I went to a seminar on nutritional typing, and it made more sense to me than anything I had read about before.  I figured out that my nutritional type is “Mixed” meaning that I need to have both veggies and protein with my meals.  I may have felt pretty good being a vegetarian but, I was HUNGRY all the time, and didn't have a lot of energy.  I work out a lot, and as soon as I added protein to my diet, I didn't feel hungry, had more energy, and had less swelling in my body. (I did the Eat Right for Your Type diet for 6 months–since I'm an A type, vegetarian was the suggestion)  You couldn't convince me 6 months ago that adding animal protein would make me feel better but, I do.  The only thing that I have to watch is pork (which I don't eat anyway), and chicken, which is very acidic. (I thought red meat was the worst but for me, chicken is worse.)  I eat mostly seafood (fish), occasional turkey, chicken, and red meat.  I find that eating 50% of my vegetables raw (and including them with every meal–even breakfast) has made a huge difference. 

Thanks for sharing your experience.

[Susan LymeRA]

The point of this thread was not to say you have to be vegan.  I too am a “mixed type”.  The point is that diet matters and so many doctors will tell you that is not so.

 

[suera]

I just started gluten free Dec 1st and I think I feel a bit better…to early to tell and I don't want to jinx anything. I hope the gluten free will help me as it has so many others.

Susan are you still doing the Enbrel?

[Susan LymeRA]

Yes.  I recently dropped back to one shot every 2 weeks.  Still doing great.  However, in January, I will be starting chelation therapy for the heavy metals and my doctor wanted to wait until after Christmas so I could enjoy the holidays.  I asked if she thought I was going to flare from it and she does.  gulp!

[suera]

That's great that you have been able to go every two weeks before “the shot”!!
Good luck with chelaton….maybe the doctor will be wrong about the flare, we can hope.

[carries]

Hi Susan! So if i was sensitive to these certain foods it would show up in an allergy test like it did for you?? Just curious because i would hate to eliminate any food that i didnt have to.

[Susan LymeRA]

Carries,

My first doctor, the one I credit with saving my life, ran a bloodtest called the ALCAT test.   They test the blood's reaction to specific foods.  (That is my “make it simple” layman's understanding of the test)

https://www.alcat.com/index.php

The allergist's skin prick test found no food allergies.   My own body revealed to me the truth of the ALCAT test in that I was severely inflammed in all my joints except my spine and hips at the time of the test and cutting out the foods reduced the swelling dramatically.

Back in those days, it was a 1 step forward, 2 steps back kind of progress.  For a year I felt I was teetering on the edge of a cup of soup and I could either fall away from the cup into health or back into the cup of sickness.

The second year, I began to get stronger and the pain became very minor.  More a nuisance than anything else.  I would experience flares during the second year.

Year 3 life returned to normal except I do many things to support my immune system.  Year 4, I would kiss it all off to a very bad memory except my bloodwork still shows positive RA.   So we continue the work. 

At this level, most rheumatologists would deem me in remission.  But my rheumatologist is still seeking to resolve the triggers and she fully expects my bloodwork to drop to normal one day.  So do I.

 

 

[Conniel7777]

Hello,

 

 I will quickly add my 2 cents:

I think Dr. McDougall pretty much walks on water. If I lived closer to him and had a little more money, I would definitely have him as my GP.

As the for the diet, I beleive in it 150%.. I personally dont think there is a better diet on planet earth. I have been on the diet in the past ( before my diagnosis.. back then, I did it just for weight loss and out of compassion for animals ) and it worked fabulous for weight loss: 15 lbs lost in 6 weeks, never hungry, never felt better.

After my dx, I tried to go on it again, and I did for a while.. but sadly, I fell off the wagon. for me, a whole foods, low fat, vegan diet is one of the most difficult diets for me to stick to, for about a million reasons.. too many to list here.

Unfortunately, I am one of those people for whom there is no “gray” area.. everything is black or white, all or nothing.. and what happened was, when the vegan diet got too hard to stick to, my “food pendulum” swung the other way, and I went off the deep end, and ate every kind of garbage food I could find: fried food, sugar, cookies, junk, etc..  and these are foods that normally dont even appeal to me, but because the vegan diet was so far to one side of the spectrum, when I fell off it, I went as far as I could to the opposite side of things. this is the type of personality I have… so, not good.

Right now, I am working on having the pendulum settle in the middle… not totally 100% vegan, and not the typical, american, “freak out and eat 3 pounds of butter and sugar per day” diet…  once the pendulum settles, I will try and incorporate more and more of the healthy stuff, but do so in a way that is not so strict that it has me going crazy and running for giant 2 lb chocolate bars.

 constant struggle. :doh:

Connie  

[Susan LymeRA]

Connie,

My prayers will be for your success.  My husband has the exact same “all or none” personality.  And the diet is difficult unless you stay home and prepare every single meal. 

Even sweating over one's diet can produce unhealthy stress, so I hope this illness will be an opportunity to learn how to master the art of moderation in all things.

It is amazing what lessons I have gained from my RA experience.  Letting go of the reins was a big one for me.

I have discovered God's hand in every aspect of my life and it is very comforting.

Susan

 

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