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I have started AP therapy (Minocin M-F 100mg 2x per day)about 10 weeks ago and all is well, very little relief and I know thats to be expected this early in the game. But is there anything that I can do to better my body through nutrition, possibly avoiding certain foods or eating more of other foods? Any advice.
Thanks Rebecca
Rebecca – that is a BIG question and you will receive many different responses. My AP Doc now has me on a pretty strict diet (you can read what that is FOR ME in the Personal History and Progress Threads section). I posted this fact sheet under the Massage thread but will do so again here. It is from an excellent website with a great deal of useful information – it's run by the food allergy specialist at one of our major teaching hospitals – the website is http://www.fedup.com –
This fact sheet is about arthritic pain and some common myths and misconceptions about foods that affect inflammation. If you are going this alone, you may want to test cutting out gluten, dairy and sulphur compounds – they are often major culprits. (3 months is a good time for testing because that is at least the amount of time the body requires to rid itself of the antigens). However, sensitivities are not the same for everyone – they are not a one-size-fits-all scenario, hence why you may need to try some things out for yourself. However, I will conclude by saying that I had excellent results on mino without making any changes to my diet. So take it slow and don't stress out about the dietary aspect. Best to you on your Road Back. Lynnie
Be well! Lynnie
Palindromic RA 30 yrs (Chronic Lyme?)
Mino 2003-2008 100mg MWF - can no longer tolerate any tetracyclines
rotating abx protocol now. From Sep 2018 MWF - a.m. Augmentin Duo 440mg + 150mg Biaxsig (roxithromycin). p.m. Cefaclor (375mg) + Klacid 125mg + LDN 3mg + Annual Clindy IV's
Diet: no gluten, dairy, sulphites, low salicylates
Supps: 600mg N-AC BID, 1000mg Vit C, P5P 40mg, zinc picolinate 60mg, Lithium orotate 20mg, Magnesium Oil, Bio-identical hormones (DHEA + Prog + Estrog)Hi, this has only been for 3 weeks, but I have removed gluten from my diet, and within 3-4 days I stopped feeling my feet were busted when I get out of bed, and the morning stiffness is almost all but gone. I suggest trying it to see if it will help you..
MissyI just try to eat well. I'm on no “special” diet, and have had a very good result. Do we need to be on a special diet? I don't know but SD seems to be very individual so do whatever you feel you need to. I think that anything is ok as long as the diet is not causing it's own set on problems.
Lynnie gave a good answer. Dietary changes have helped me a lot. Giving up gluten and dairy products have been the most important changes. There's a lot of info on the web, including some recent research about the benefits of as vegan diet for those with RA.
Sierra
I just returned from Ida Grove yesterday. I specifically asked Dr. S at my appointment if a specific diet or elimination of particular foods, such as night shades, played a major role in healing RA. We discussed this for several minutes. His response to me was often times not. However, he did say for some dietary changes can be helpful and significant, but his goal was to try and get the infectious issues resolved. He did say that a major part of healing is to work hard on my part to stay as “healthy” in habits as possible with exercise and eating healthy, natural foods.
In other words, I took this to mean, I don't have to do radical elimination diets, but don't be delusional in thinking one can eat poorly and not have it be detrimental to health regardless of treatment type or disease. My understanding was that he feels that for some dietary changes may change how they feel, but that isn't his area of expertise. He was focusing on my infection and arthritis history. He did not say that diet did not matter. Quiet the contrary, he stressed that he thought if I continued to watch what I ate and exercised (without hurting or stressing painful joints) it would be very beneficial.
DX Rheumatoid Arthritis- 3/2008, Began AP 8/2008-continued various forms of AP through present. It's long and complicated- have a question re: my protocol, just ask 🙂
Maybe I should have been more clear. My wife also directly asked him the question in reference to the treatment, and he said in his experience diet did not affect the results of AP. However, I agree that you would be hard pressed to find any doctor that would not recommend a good diet for good overall health.
Here is what The Arthritis Foundation has to say about diet and its affect on your RA.
http://www.arthritis.org/autoimmuni-tea.php
http://www.arthritis.org/foods-and-inflammation.php
http://www.arthritis.org/more-fiber-less-inflammation.php
http://www.arthritis.org/live-longer-ra.php
For me, change of diet, before I did any other treatment, brought about 50% improvement in my pain and inflammation. Food alone brought me from housebound to walking 2 hrs before having to sit.
I found a doctor trained in nutrition and leaky gut syndrome and heavy metal toxicity and in one year we brought my RA from high to weak positive. At the same time, I also began AP, but the diet change was before I began AP.
Bloodtest for food allergies identified foods I must avoid. Milk protein (cow only) was one and Soy Protein the other. To this day, if I eat dairy, within 2 hrs my joints will hurt badly.
Did food cause my RA? No. Did food cure my RA? No. Did food help my RA? YES! SIGNIFICANTLY!
Susan
Wow Susan!
What an awesome testimonial. I personally notice sugar and excess starch irritate me. Of course I don't have a specialized physician to help with that; which is why I asked Dr. S. about dietary restrictions or limitations. I don't know if I articulated it well above, but he didn't disagree with food as irritants/triggers for pain, etc. just didn't focus on it.
I plan on seeing an integrative physician this week who specializes in complementary medicine. He has an herbalist/nutritionist on staff. I am curious to speak to them and see if my body has an issue with food. I do Personally, and this is just my opinion, think the perservatives and chemicals added to food are more of the problem then food itself.
Thanks for your post and links. I am sure they will be helpful to many of us!
Amy
DX Rheumatoid Arthritis- 3/2008, Began AP 8/2008-continued various forms of AP through present. It's long and complicated- have a question re: my protocol, just ask 🙂
Amy – my AP doc is really gung ho about diet and leaky gut being major components of our problems – even though she says they will try to get the abx to do all the work when patients aren't willing to embrace the dietary changes. Preservatives especially sulphites are bad in almost all respects for health. Here is a fact sheet about them from the web site that I keep quoting. Best, Lynnie
Be well! Lynnie
Palindromic RA 30 yrs (Chronic Lyme?)
Mino 2003-2008 100mg MWF - can no longer tolerate any tetracyclines
rotating abx protocol now. From Sep 2018 MWF - a.m. Augmentin Duo 440mg + 150mg Biaxsig (roxithromycin). p.m. Cefaclor (375mg) + Klacid 125mg + LDN 3mg + Annual Clindy IV's
Diet: no gluten, dairy, sulphites, low salicylates
Supps: 600mg N-AC BID, 1000mg Vit C, P5P 40mg, zinc picolinate 60mg, Lithium orotate 20mg, Magnesium Oil, Bio-identical hormones (DHEA + Prog + Estrog)Whoa Lynnie! That is scary. I do buy almost everything whole, simple, fresh or frozen. I try to avoid packaged anything but I work fulltime and eat out more than I would like. Of course, then I have less control. However, vinegar and horseradish are two favorite seasonings. I buy organic vinegar, but horseradish?
We do have a really good deli at our local healthfood store and I always feel safe eating their foods. Also, they label the ingredients and are more than willing to help me order food that is soy and milk protein free.
Susan
thanks for the fact sheet, Lynnie. I definitely notice I feel better overall when I am extra careful about my diet. Organic veggies, fruit, chicken & fish are fine, if I add too many grains or worse, sugars, I have problems. This isn't surprising as I have had Candida issues in the past. It just hard to not let life 's other demands on time take away from the time it takes to watch food intake so closely. We all get tired enough, it is sad our food is so processed an polluted it is an effort to ” eat whole & organic”.
But we all must do the best we can, when we can, with what we have. AND hopefully have some fun along the way!:dude:
DX Rheumatoid Arthritis- 3/2008, Began AP 8/2008-continued various forms of AP through present. It's long and complicated- have a question re: my protocol, just ask 🙂
Thanks to all who responded I really appreciate all the feed back! Im just trying to do whatever i can to become as healthy as possible so the minocin can kick this scleroderma in the butt! xoxoxo
Hi, sure not an expert, and I've only been on the AP for a week now but my new Dr had a lot of great advice about diet. When he found out I had already been off gluten for 2 weeks before my appt, he was very happy about that. He says avoiding gluten and staying away from red meat were the 2 most important things I could be doing. I think he said like 80% of feeling better was diet? So, it's been 3 weeks since I've abstained from gluten, and I think I noticed considerably less pain upon rising within 3-4 days..I know it may not work for all of you, or be easy to do, but it's worth a try for at least a week to just what happens, you think?
Also, I admire everyone's willingness to try new things and just being open to new ideas here at this site. Do you know any people with a chronic illness are just so down on anything new, they just “know” it will never work without even trying? I know a few and just want to say it's so refreshing to be around positive upbeat folks like here..
Missy
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