RA Nobules & Gnarly Bits

[Suni-One]

Hi – this is the first time I’ve posted. I am a 66 year old female, diagnosed with RA about 10 years ago. I broke up with my rheumy about 2-years ago and am now on AP for 5-months. I take minocin 2 x’s a day, 100 mg. ea. time – I think I am noticing a bit of a difference but some days are better than others and I have read that the longer a person has RA the longer the minocin can take to work. I have began cutting down (out when possible) gluten to see if this helps, also sugar and other “white” stuff. I take a host of supplements which I will list.

My question is: I have bumpy nodules on the sides of my fingers and grarly bits, like when you cook a roast beef and have gristle in it, in the palms of my hands. I had 4 or 5 of the nodules (on my thumb) surgically removed a few years ago and 1 large one has returned. I was wondering if anybody on this forum has nodules and gnarly bits and if they’ve had any success eliminating or reducing them, without surgery – as in taking as supplement or applying something topical. Any help you could give me would be most appreciated. Also I can find “0” info on why some body’s with RA make these while others don’t.

Thank you & Happy Thanksgiving

[lynnie_sydney]

Hi suni-one
it may take a bit of time for others (in the U.S.) to respond given the Thanksgiving weekend.
However, in the meantime, you may want to do a search through some past discussion – there was some recent discussion on nodules in fact. Go to front page of General Discussion area – i.e. where all topics are listed – and use the search box at the top. If you type in “nodules” a lot of past discussion on this will come up for you to look through.

BTW in terms of gluten, you will need to cut it out completely to feel benefits. And it will be around 6 weeks before it’s completely out of your system when you do. When I was inadvertently still getting a tiny amount of gluten (from choc sprinkle on cappuccino) all that did was make me ravenously hungry!

p.s. I love the way you said you ‘broke up’ with your rheumy. 😆

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)

[Valsmum]

Hi There,
Sorry to hear about your nodules, they get so tender sometimes. They are so painful too.I had 4 nodules around my wrist and two big ones near my elbow. My elbow was frozen and would not straighten out for two whole years, it had limited range of motion. Then I started a juice fast for about 3-4 days and then just kept eating or juicing a lot of raw fruits and veggies. I did allow some other junky stuff in my diet, like dark chocolate bars. Eventually my elbow started to bend & straighten out and the big nodules disappeared!!!!!!!! I cannot believe it some days. Also the nodules all over my wrist are all gone , except one that is getting smaller. They just got smaller and smaller over the course of 6months, until they disappeared.

My opinion is that some of us with RA stay sick because what we eat is making us sick and we don’t remove the problem so we stay sick. In addition, sometimes we remove so much from our diet but do not replace it with fresh fruits and veggies, that are body NEEDS. Juicing is great because you can get the vitamins from two carrots, two pieces of kale, and two apples all in one glass. It has helped me so much.
Take care!!

[Suni-One]

Thank you both for taking the time to respond. Lynnie, I did type “nodules” into the search and read what others had posted.

Juicing: I was doing this then we were on-the-move again and I didn’t have the opportunity to juice. Now that we’re settled (in an RV in Tucson) for the winter, I got out my juicer and have been juicing for about 5 days now. I make a double-batch so I have some for the next day too. Also, in Dr. D. Brownstein’s book about arthritis, he says often people with RA are gluten sensitive. I began paying attention to how I felt 48-hrs. after eating. For instance, we brought down a tin of Scottish shortbread to have with tea in the afternoon. I realized (after a painful flare) that maybe I shouldn’t be eating shortbread – it has gluten-laden, white, starchy flour and sugar – it certainly doesn’t agree with me and I haven’t had even one ever since. I also bought no-gluten, wheat-free “bread” made with nut flours and brown rice flour – allow myself 1 slice with raw almond butter and sliced banana’s every second morning – this seems to work as the other mornings we have eggs, split an avocado and an orange. I am also making a large salad every night and bought organic hummus to dip my organic carrots into. In just 3 or 4 days this change in diet has seemed to make a difference. I notice the difference in my knees – I used to hike with the hiking club here and when we first arrived I couldn’t even walk, slowly, around the RV Park because of the pain in my feet and knees. Yesterday I spent a few hours outside, up on my feet and I felt confident enough today to go out on my own and do a bit of grocery shopping. So these small changes have made quite a difference.

One weird thing I am doing/trying is: In the evening, I get my coconut oil from the kitchen cupboard and slather both knees and feet with it. I had read that coconut oil is anti-bacterial so maybe by applying it topically it is getting absorbed into the skin and my body and helping. Any thoughts on this?

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