Extreme Food Triggers and RA

[Kathleen H.]

I just made an appointment with an AP physician. It will be three weeks before that appointment and another six weeks before I can start AP therapy. I’ve been struggling with muscle and joint pain for a year and a half. I was diagnosed with RA a year ago. I’ve been managing the pain with methotrexate and a very, very strict diet (no grains, no meat, no dairy, and only specific foods in the following groups: fish, beans, nuts, veggies, and fruit). I react to so many things that all of my meds have to be compounded to avoid inactive ingredients like corn, potato, rice, dyes, etc. My current rheumatologist told me that if I were to abandon my diet and eat normally (like chicken and peas or other trigger foods), he would need to put me on the strongest injectables available because I am so sensitive.

Is there anyone else who has had a similar experience? I am hoping that these sensitivies will improve with AP. I cook food for my family every day that would put me in bed for a week if I ate even a little of it. I haven’t seen any one else mention such strong food sensitivites, except in Barbara Allan’s book “Conquering Arthritis.”

[Kalinda]

I am very sensitive to yeast, gluten and dairy. I have to read everything because yeast extract seems to be the new MSG.
Kalinda

[Rosemary Perth Aust.]

The good news for me was the allergies, and sensitivities were removed down the track with A/P
However the pain has always been a constant problem. The A/P, H202 & magnesium are the only things that has honestly
been definites for relieving the pain but I am sure there are others like the MSM however I had problems with that.

Kathleen have you ever used magnesium to help with the pain of your muscles? You probably herx
from everything and would even from the magnesium.

Read up about herxing because it is important to know that you do get worse before it gets better, because of the die back even when you start the therapy so you can distinguish between a herx and the disease getting worse.
Remember to ask for something for the pain when you start to help you get going.

Had the same difficulties myself in the beginning. Its a hard road but you are on the right track with and A/P doctor. So
sorry you have to wait so long to get help.

[Kathleen H.]

Thank you for your replies! I’m sorry to hear that the food triggers can continue with AP. I had hoped to increase my list of safe foods. I do use magnesium, but it doesn’t help much anymore. It was a great help at the very onset. As for what causes the food sensitivities, our guess is that whatever my body is attacking has a similar surface protein to the foods, but I’m sure it’s more complicated than even that. I started this painful food elimination diet on 8/1/12 and stopped at the end of July 2012. The pain was no longer worth the hope of adding a new food. I’ll live with what I have now. I have read that some doctors advise against nuts and seeds. I think I would die without those fats in my diet. Does anyone know why nuts would be excluded? Or why beans would be discouraged?

When this all started, I read Barbara Allan’s book “Conquering Arthritis” and have been following her model for the past year. It’s kept me alive, but I can tell that the disease is progressing because I can’t bend my right pointer finger all the way and my hands and feet joints are all sore. And I trigger to so many ingredients and foods that it’s hard to get enough probiotics (thank goodness sauerkraut is safe!). I worry that this will be a problem for me with AP.

Here is my personal list of safe and trigger foods (I have a column of foods that I consider more ingredients than foods, like coffee, rosemary, etc. I don’t drink coffee anymore, and I avoid sugars.) I did the ALCAT blood test. It helped me know which foods to avoid completely (there were about 60), but the foods they listed as safe were hit or miss as far as triggering pain.

Safe Foods:
avocado, grapes, plums, banana, pear, peach, pineapple, cantaloupe, honeydew, fig, cherries, date, blueberry, blackberry, apricot, mango, pomegranate, rhubarb, papaya

yellow squash, carrots, cabbage, green beans, kale, asparagus, turnip, edamame, pumpkin, seaweed, cucumber, Brussels sprouts, butternut squash, cauliflower, chard, bok choy, romaine lettuce, beets, iceberg lettuce, radish, collard greens, dandelion greens, sunburst squash, spaghetti squash, leek, artichoke, kohlrabi, horseradish

sweet potato, water chestnut, malanga, arrowroot, lotus, yam, white swt potato, (garbanzo, soy & almond flour)

cod, sardines, swordfish, N Atlantic saithe, rainbow trout, sea bass, tilapia, scallops, fresh salmon, striped pangasius, shrimp, lobster, crab, yellowtail, arctic char, catfish, squid, halibut, white fish, tuna, mahi mahi, sole

almonds, cashews, sunflower seeds, walnuts, sesame seeds, brazil nuts, hazel nuts, macadamia, pine nut, hemp seeds, chickpeas, pinto beans, aduki beans, fava beans, lentils, navy beans, white kidney, Great Northern, red beans, canned soy bean

coffee, green tea, black tea, chamomile, rooibos, cane sugar (brown sugar, molasses), agave, stevia, cinnamon, vanilla, anise, sea salt, garlic, turmeric, thyme, cilantro, chives, sage, rosemary, parsley, oregano, olive oil, grapeseed oil, canola oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, baking soda, cream of tartar, camu camu, guar gum

97 safe foods/48 trigger foods

Trigger Foods:
8/1/12 black beans, 8/4 eggs, 8/6 wheat, 8/10 chicken, 8/14 millet, 8/16 broccoli, 8/18 turkey, 8/23 beef, 9/1 rice, 9/4 quinoa, 9/5 black-eyed peas, 9/7 acorn squash, 9/9 nectarine, 9/12 spinach, 9/29 citrus, 10/4 chocolate, 10/18 smoked salmon, 10/22 apple cider vinegar, 11/4 Repair Vitamin, 11/28 tofu, 12/14 anchovies (canned), 12/22 soy milk, 12/29 black olive, 1/1 yeast, 1/10 ostrich, 1/16 vitamin (Super Nutrition), 1/24 sorghum, 2/7 white tea, 2/16 cow butter, 2/26 eggplant, 3/4 teff, 3/6 goat butter, 3/13 red kidney beans, 3/18 flax seed, 3/20 peanut, 4/10 apples, 4/14 cardamom, 4/22 cloves, 4/26 white potatoes, 5/1 chia seeds, 5/10 kombucha, 5/25 watermelon, 5/28 mung beans, 6/9 roasted nuts (raw are fine), 6/12 mustard greens, 6/20 green olives, 6/30 mulberry, 7/3 kiefer, 7/21 yerba mat

[Maz]

@Kathleen H. wrote:

I have read that some doctors advise against nuts and seeds. I think I would die without those fats in my diet. Does anyone know why nuts would be excluded? Or why beans would be discouraged?

Hi Kathleen,

Welcome to the RBF discussion forum! Although, as we always say around here…sorry you had to seek us out.

One of the reasons why nuts and seeds may need to be excluded could be due to their high arginine content, which seems to feed mycoplasma and other cell-wall-deficient organisms. These types of bugs also thrive in a cholesterol-rich environment, as they require cholesterol to reproduce and maintain their outer lipid layers:

http://rainforest-database.com/plants/myco.htm

I’d have to do some more research on the specifics of beans, but if memory serves, they belong to the family of ligands and contain lectins, which may cause damage to the gut lining, cause leaky gut and lead to immune complexes (bound antigen to antibody reactions, which are significant markers of autoimmunity). It was a long time ago that I read about this, but this article may help. Others may have better articles to share:

http://www.krispin.com/lectin.html

“Lectins are hardy proteins that do not break down easily. They are resistant to stomach acid and digestive enzymes.

Lectins may bind to the gut wall and damage the gut lining, are not altered by digestive enzymes, and may alter gut permeability and pass through the gut into general circulation. Lectins can cause alterations in gut function that may be related to colitis, Crohn’s Disease, Celiac-Sprue, IBS and gut permeability.

Lectin damage to the gut wall may allow other non-lectin proteins to cross undigested into general circulation and cause allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis. Having gained access to general circulation various lectins may bind to surface cell membranes in arteries and vessels, organs and glands, including the thyroid, pancreas, kidney and adrenals, in susceptible animals and humans.

This binding may begin antigen antibody reactions leading to autoimmune disorders and so-called degenerative diseases. Different lectins have been implicated in different diseases. Dairy lectins have been implicated in juvenile onset type I diabetes. Wheat lectins have been implicated in juvenile nephropathy.”

[cavalier]

Quik note but in your journeys look at candida & also do a blood test not a salivia one for your adrenal cortisol function ATCH test i think is the acronym. Reason is both of these can be a player & can be found in Rheumatic diseases. If the adrenals are off and they are often stressed then the immune system does not function as well leading to more food like allergies intolerances & airborne allergies.

Sometimes the adrenals as we regulate the thyroid if that has been off then really become evident & with that said test the thyroid levels not just the TSH but free T3 & T4 & reverse of the same.

It’s like being a detective but you dont want hormones to throw your system off more making RA or other rheum. diseases worse or a immune system not working well to fend off from bacterias etc. getting infections or co infections as it cant fend it off well.

It’s like a chicken & egg thing – hard to know which came 1st but paying attention to what you eat is important – it’s also your hormonal levels go hand in hand.
My 2 cents for what it is worth.
Best – jill

[Kathleen H.]

Thanks Maz for the info about the nuts and beans. I guess I need to avoid nuts, but they are a big part of my diet, so I may make a commitment to that once I finally start AP. The beans must stay! I need something to eat! Thanks for all of that info.

Thanks Jill for the reminder about adrenals and thyroid function. My thyroid seems to be well enough managed. Not so sure about my adrenals. The naturopath I went to when I was first incapacitated was starting to treat my adrenals, but I had to go off her meds because I wasn’t sure what I was triggering to. I might try her meds again now that I’m more stable. Thanks for the reminder!

And thanks to everyone for just being there. I wish I had more time to read, but I’ll squeeze in time for that as best I can.

[Kathleen H.]

Hi Ruffian,

We do share many triggers. Sorry about the bananas! When I eat a food that triggers me, I usually get intense, sharp pain in any joint that I have ever so slightly overused. So, say that I was gardening and pulled too hard on a plant; I might then get a pain near my shoulder joint, sort of in the muscle. One time my jaw locked up. There is very minor swelling, but the pain is sharp and intense and lasts from two to ten days. McDonald’s coffee caused the ten day reaction; they put additives in their coffee. Mustard greens caused one of the worst reactions; both wrists siezed up and I couldn’t move them for three days. Most of the time, however, the reaction is in one of my thumbs. After the initial pain on the first day, the pain radiates up to my hand and fingers or down my arm. The pain is usually minimal by day three and gone and/or replaced by a different pain by day four.

I did an elimination diet for a full year to get that list of safe foods. Hellish time. I get fewer reactions now, although I think I experienced a Herxheimer reaction after taking prednisone for two days and then stopping. I highly, highly recommend an elimination diet (as miserable as it is being the test subject) because it really identified my personal food triggers. Barbara Allan believes that you can heal arthritis by staying on safe foods for long enough. In a way, she might be right. Starve the mycoplasma and it will eventually die. Still, I’m looking forward to AP to help me with the process. I asked my rheumatologist what he would recommend if I said that I wanted to give up the diet and eat anything I wanted (not cake but chicken or peas, etc.). He surprised me by saying that he wouldn’t recommend it (and here I thought he didn’t respect my diet but I guess he sees that it’s working). He also said that I’d have to go on injectable Enbrel or Humira for the pain because I’m so sensitive. So, I’m grateful for Barbara Allan’s book that helped keep me on just an average does of methotrexate rather than the harder drugs. But I’m ready for the next step (AP)!

Kathleen

[JoAnnC68]

One of the reasons why nuts and seeds may need to be excluded could be due to their high arginine content, which seems to feed mycoplasma and other cell-wall-deficient organisms. These types of bugs also thrive in a cholesterol-rich environment, as they require cholesterol to reproduce and maintain their outer lipid layers:

http://rainforest-database.com/plants/myco.htm

🙁
I think I’m having withdrawal symptoms from not having nuts (cashews) for 3 days now…my hands and feet are really painful today. Herxing or normal RA pains 😕 , I don’t know which, but I think maybe soaking my hands and feet in epson salt water for little while might release some of the pains.

Take Care!

Diagnosed with RA Jan 2012
Oct 2015- RF has dropped to 19!!! Isn't that Great! ?! I'm feeling wonderful! I'm still taking Mino 2 x daily...if I don't forget!
Oct 2014 RF has dropped to 23.1!! Taking Mino 100mg 2 x daily. No Pains & doing great!!
Oct 2013-RF has dropped to 40.9!!! Feeling Wonderful!!
7-17-2013 I'm going Great!! Still taking mino 100mg twice daily. No pains or Complaints!
5-9-2013 RA Dr said I was doing good, I could stop taking prednisone since I dropped to 1/2 mg...so will

[Author]

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