[bsnyder]

My RA STARTED twenty years ago after I had a hepatitis B vaccine. All of these years of heal started with a vengeance just a few days after that vaccine. Before the vaccine I was healthy – afterward I was almost crippled. Since then I have read research that says the hep B vaccine can cause RA and other auto immune problems. SInce then I have never had another vaccine, I don’t trust them as I was one of the wounded.

[bsnyder]

All I know is that my knee swelled up after a smelly root canal was opened to replace a broken crown. That prompted me to have the root canal removed and have one of my real teeth destroyed to put in a bridge.

Well, the bridge doesn’t really match my real teeth and I still have the arthritis pain. Sorry to give you disappointing news but all that hassle and expense didn’t seem to do me any good at all. Just wanted to give you my experience. I wish I had left my very pretty teeth alone.

[bsnyder]

8:45 AM March 3, 2015

Haven’t posted in quite a while…so much for my resolve to keep detailed tabs on this thing. This frustrating, expensive RA has taken a turn for the worse. For three months I have been avoiding the foods I am sensitive to. How do I know? I took a $700 food sensitivity test. I read Barbara Allen’s book in which she discusses the supposed link between RA and food sensitivities. I say “supposed” because after three months on a VERY restrictive diet, although I did feel better during part of the time, I now feel about worse than ever.

My left knee is so swollen I walk with a limp (after the steroid I had injected there wore off last week after only about four weeks), my right elbow hurts, my upper back hurts, and I have assorted other aches and pains. I am also trying to bleach my teeth whiter to match the bridge I had installed which replaced the root canal I was convinced may be part of the RA. Well, after having whittled down a perfectly good, gorgeous tooth to be replaced by the bridge (and spending $1,600) I still have the RA. Here is a brief list of all the expensive things I have done to try and deal with this RA:

Been to Ida Grove to have IV antibiotics
Had a perfectly good tooth whittled down and replaced with a bridge after having a root canal removed
Become a vegetarian
Then become a carnivore after the food sensitivity testing found I was sensitive to almost every food I ate
Had Culligan install a water filter on my home faucet to get rid of chlorine which I am supposedly sensitive to
Bought I don’t know how many supplements and super foods
Did Yoga
Meditated
Had breast implants removed twice

WHERE AM I NOW? After about the past three years of the above and lots of confusion, and trying to do it through Mino (100 MG MWFR) and more natural means, I feel defeated. I also took a Celebrex this morning and am considering going to a rheumatologist. I initially had RA and was treated by a rheumy + I also took the antibiotics. Many years ago this brought me into complete remission for five lovely years, then the RA came back. I am wondering now if I should go back into standard medical treatment. In fact, I think I will ask that question and see what others think.

[bsnyder]

I had an old root canal removed about 5 months ago. Did a bridge to replace it which whittled down one more tooth. Have temp bridge now with permanent bridge coming in less than a month.

I have noticed NO difference in joint pain. Very dissapointed as I don’t love the bridge. Can’t floss between teeth there and worry it will need replacement in the future. Some wood say I may have cavitations under old wisdom teeth extractions but I’m not going there. This disease has prompted me to go to many expensive extremes. Breast implants removed. Replaced by breast fat injections. Drip Iv AP in ida grove. Weird diets.

This go round none of it has helped so far. This is frustrating disease. My advice? Go slowly.

[bsnyder]

Nov 16, 2014 SUNDAY

Have NOT reported here in months! Been a very bad reporter. Have realized something important though. Whenever I get my knee injected with sterioids I end up feeling wonderful all over my body. Unfortunately, this causes me to believe I don’t need AP anymore and that I am largely well.

I had knee surgery around Oct. Then I had a knee injection a week later. As a result of that I felt wonderful all over my body and had the CRAZY believe that the AP had put me in a 3 year long hertz and so I went off the AP. I have been off AP now for about 6 weeks. In the meantime the steroid wore off and I have MUCH more arthritis pain then i did before.

MY RIGHT ARM IS NOT IN MAJOR PAIN — shoulder and elbows. This was made worse when I thought I needed to start lifting light weights. This pretty much started the arm pain a couple of weeks ago and it has not quit since

NOV 14, 2014 I StARTED AP AGAIN MINO MWF and ZIthroMAX TuES AND SAT.

I tried to do a juice fast a month ago to determine if I was allergic to any foods. I am embarrassed to admit that I could only do the fast for two days before I broke it! I am SO mad at myself for that!!! I wonder if food allergies could be part of this thing, but can’t fast long enough to find out!!

[bsnyder]

Saturday, September 20
Haven’t posted in FOREVER as my old computer went south and I just got a new one. The low starch/meat diet left me wracked with pain! Also, I went to have an MRI on my left knee and ended up at a surgeon who said the meniscus was VERY torn up and my knee joint was surrounded by arthritis and even my knee bone showed damage from inflammatory arthritis. The surgeon didn’t even know I had arthritis so he seemed surprised to have found “inflammatory arthritis” damage. He is doing the operation a week from Wednesday. It is arthroscopic so won’t leave any scars, however, he did say I would be lucky not to need a knee replacement within 5 years.

PAIN LEVEL – Where 10 is unbearable pain, I am at about an 8! Achy pretty much all over. Left knee swollen and terrible, but also hip ankle, elbow shoulder pain. In prep for the surgery I can’t take any fish oil, vit C or any pain relievers at all. Ouch!!!

I am REALLY trying to clean up my diet this time. NO SUGAR!!! More salads, good foods, etc. Green tea instead of coffee. Will start back on yoga when I get back in town – am at a car race in Austin with hubby and the boys. After the surgery, I may try meat again. Am disheartened and totally confused. Still on the mino though. Had the root canal extracted with the temporary bridge placed. The surgeon wants me to see an RA doc he recommended. I really don’t want to go that route but I have not been having much luck on my own. I am considering that. Bless you all.

[bsnyder]

Hi there AS sufferer. I also have AS and I have some TREMENDOUS info for you! I am on the antibiotic protocol. I am on the original protocol which was 100 MG minocycline MWF. I have also added 500 MG zithromax T SAT. The newer protocol is 100MG minocycline 7 days a week! I used the original protocol years ago to put my AS into remission – I was in total remission for five years but stop taking the Mino and my arthritis returned. When I started the AP back again about 2 years ago I tried the newer 7 day protocol and I was in a CONSTANT flare. I think I wasted the first year and a half of AP by being on TOO strong a dose. I cut back to the MWF dosing about 6 months ago and I am seeing improvements.

HERE IS THE GREAT NEWS! Go visit http://www.kickas.org. Even with the AP I was often in painful flares. Once I found that website and got on a NO starch diet it reduced my pain to almost ZERO! It is a scientifically based diet called the London Diet for the hospital that introduced it and did the research. It is kind of like the old Adkins diet. Lots of meat, veggies and fruits but no processed foods, beans, rice, bread, flour, very little sugar, etc. I have only been on it about a week and a half and my pain level which was at a 7 or 8 is really about 0 now, although I still have a swollen left knee which I am dealing with.

Interestingly, about a year before the return of my arthritis after I had been in remission for five years I became a vegetarian and LIVED ON beans, tortillas, brown rice, other grains, bread, etc. According to the London diet people AS is accompanied by lots of Klebsiella bacteria in the bowel. Starches are what klebsiella bacteria feed on. When you reduce the starch you reduce the klebsiella and the joint pain often subsides. Please read all the positive reviews of AS patients who have gotten well on this diet. They are on the website!

[bsnyder]

TUESDAY, AUGUST 12

I am on DAY 6 of the no starch diet. I have even been testing foods with the iodine before eating them as I have found strange foods like brats have starch. Yesterday I woke up in a fairly major joint flare as I had had a HUGE amount of pumpkin seeds the day before. The NSD says you should generally avoid most nuts and seeds at least until you get into a bit and and can test them out.

RESULT? My JOINTS feel MUCH better this morning. Really no pain at all. My left knee is still swollen though. I truly think the knee swelling started when I had the root canal messed with. Toward the end of September I get that bad old tooth removed though so I am hopeful the healing of my knees will begin then. I really am impressed with how the NSD seems to be helping. WoW!

I am having a Cabi clothing party tonight though so I will have lots of starchy chippy bean dip type goodies around though, but I will eat first and stick with the raw veggies. No starch for me!!

Even in terms of the knee swelling, I know the NSD can’t perhaps heal everything within the first week so maybe over time the NSD will even help my knee.

I also read a book by an old-time positive thinking type guru, Francis Scoval Chin. She gave an affirmation for “Rhuematism”:

The Light of the Lord floods my consciousness dissolving all my acid thoughts.
I love everyone and everyone loves me
I give thanks for my radiant health and happiness.

Interestingly, when the arthritis initially started and when it returned after five years remission I was involved in family/business struggles which were very acrimonious. They were both times when I had tons of resentment. I am not saying all that anger caused my arthritis, but I’m sure it didn’t help.

Following are the things I am doing EVERY DAY:
Taking Mino MWF and Zithromax T SAT
Drinking Apple Cider Vinegar and baking soda each morning (in water)
Taking 10,000 mg fish oil (5K morning and 5K at night)
Taking 8K of fit C (8K in AM 8K in PM)
Drinking lots of water/drinking green tea

I am feeling better lately. Yea!

[bsnyder]

Thanks Milo. I just started low starch a few days ago. This morning I woke up in more pain than ever. Maybe teh Klebsiella are dying off. Darn!!

[bsnyder]

SATURDAY, AUGUST 9, 2014

I have AS and have found the kickas.org website. This website has very compelling evidence that a no or low starch diet help halt the progression or even reverse AS. The theory is that people with AS have too much klebsiella bacteria in their bowels along with leaky gut where the bacteria seep through the intestinal lining and cause an auto immune response and swelling in the joints. Coincidentally, my RA has been starting to flare for about the past 3 years and about 4 years ago I became a vegetarian. On the kickas.org website I read that vegetarians, due to their VERY high start diet have 40 TIMES the number of klebsiella bacteria in their gut!! WOW!! I thought vegetarianism was good for me!! Turns out it was just the opposite of how I should be eating!

Amazingly after years of not eating meat, I have started to eat meat again. For the most part it does not gross me out that much although I find myself running to brush my teeth after eating meat to get the taste out of my mouth. I had a three day apple fast followed by two days of the no starch diet. I am not really noticing any differences yet but I need to have patience. I purchased some iodine to test my food and amazingly I found that cole slaw I had purchased from a grocery store salad bar contained starch! I need to be really careful to make sure I am getting all the starch out of my diet. I need to give this the best chance possible. I will let you know.

I have to say though that today I feel NO energy. I got my hair colored this morning and we have a party tonight so I am going to nap this afternoon. Maybe I am undergoing withdrawal from the starches. My joint feels a little better – maybe a 5 on a scale of 1-10. My knee, although less swollen than before the apple fast, is still very swollen. I would say my knee swelling is about a 7 with 10 being horrendous.

[bsnyder]

THURSDAY, AUGUST 7

I am in the third day of an apple fast. Tonight I will drink two tablespoons of olive oil. Amazingly I am not really hungry, although apples really aren’t my favorite food. When I started this on Monday morning my left knee was so swollen and hard it truly felt like solid bone! In fact, I worried maybe it had calcified. Monday night I awoke with my knee more swollen than every and in great pain, but by Tuesday evening my knee was getting softer and mushier again. Now, on the third evening my knees is visibly less swollen, it feels like fluid and not bone and I can bend my knee more than I could before.

This apple fast is in preparation for going on a very low start diet. This will be tricky for me since I am currently a vegetarian and have been for 4 years. After reading the many, many success stories on the kickass.org website I have decided I will radically change my diet in hopes of beating this thing. I was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis years ago. I will keep you posted.

[bsnyder]

MONDAY, AUGUST 4
I have been doing horribly badly recently and have really fallen off the RA wagon, so to speak. My pain and swelling is still about a 4, with 10 being perfect. My right knee is very badly swollen. I don’t really know what happened other than that my colonoscopy prep when I had to quit the fish oil and vit C really started the return of my swelling. Then I felt sorry for myself because regardless of what I do I seem to end up in the same bad place. I had to help my hubby move my son to Nashville which necessitated a lot of fast food stops, etc. I even had read that recovering from the dental work I am about to do really entails eating meat for the protein as reportedly vegetarians heal MUCH more slowly if at all. For these reasons and many more I feel wildly off my good eating! I EVEN AT CHICKEN!!!! AARRRGGGHHH To eat the chicken I had to have it fried in batter to disguise it as it grossed me out after 5 years or so of being a vegetarian. That was gluten and for a few days I didn’t have any bowel problems, but then they started coming back with a vengeance.

It is now time for me to return to the fold, so to speak. I am going to return to my vegan ways today, add lots of water and fresh fruits and veggies. I just really need to make sure I have enough beans and that sort of thing for protein. No more dinners of a sweet potato and green beans!

I didn’t stop my antibiotics though so at least that is good. I am going to have my dental work done in early September since we have a pretty important meeting coming up later this month. I really feel that removing the root canal tooth and possible cavitations may help. I am also returning to my apple cider vinegar and baking soda today – I had run out of both.

I feel it is back to square one again. That’s the way this thing goes. Two steps forward, one step back. I am still overall better than I used to be before I had the breast implants removed, so that is good.

[bsnyder]

WEDNESDAY, JULY 24, 2014
Just want to the dentist in Wichita. He says be can safely remove my root canal tooth and also replace the hole with a bridge. I am set to have this done Thursday, August 14. I can’t wait to get that stinky ol’ thing out of my mouth! I have heard from some others that their healing really started on the AP after they got rid of dental-type issues. I can hardly wait!

Woke up this morning with VERY swollen knees. With 10 being perfect, I am feeling at about a 4. I did have a good BM this morning (gross I know) but after the colonoscopy I am very glad to see things returning to normal there. I have heard colonoscopies can really strip your intestinal bacteria.

I took a Celebrex this morning. I am going to take them every day for the next week or so in hopes of getting my knees to go down. If they don’t I will have to go and have my knees drained again soon. I really don’t think the steroid injections helped at all. The swelling was back within about 3 weeks both times. The swelling started after my root canal was messed with for my last crown. Maybe getting rid of the dental infection will help my knees be able to heal.

Every is such a shot in the dark! This is a FRUSTRATING condition!!!!!!!!

[bsnyder]

Colonoscopy 10 – Me 0

Ouch!! I had a colonoscopy yesterday. I am convinced a large part of RA is in the bowel – leaky gut and bad things in the intestinal lining. Well. a colonoscopy wipes out everything and my feeling is that you have to start over in repopulating the bowel with good bacteria. Also, during the prep, I couldn’t do my fish oil or high dose vitamin C which I feel makes a big difference in my overall swelling/inflamation.

Last night I still had diareha and this morning I woke up stiffer and creaker than ever. I guess that’s not true because during my first round of RA, I felt like I nearly needed a wheelchair. This morning is not that bad but on a scale of 1 – 10 where 10 is perfect, I feel like I am about a 4. My left knee is swollen and achey and I have assorted aches and pains in many of my joints. I also didn’t do yoga at all for about the past week or so – just lazy so that could be part of it. Last night I restarted my 5000 mg of vitamin C and 50000mg of fish oil and this morning I will do my 20 mins of yoga. I also hope to begin forming normal poops. I am also eating saurkraut once daily as I have heard this “fermented” vegetable – cabage – helps repopulate your bowel.

Tomorrow I go to my new dentist to see if, after having a “biologic” dentist remove my root canal tooth he will go back in with a bridge. I have read that dental implants can cause the bacterial and/or immune problems to continue so I want an implant. I will lose a third tooth (it will become fake) but I would rather have all porcelain in my mouth. A bridge replaces the missing tooth plus it whittles down the two teeth around it and they in effect become crowns. I already have a crown on the tooth behind the root canal and so I will have another crown on only the tooth in front of the root canal.

My! This disease is expensive!! I am trying about anything to heal. I have the bridge/root canal removal in about a month and I will report on that process.

In the meantime I need to drink lots of water to detox, get my supplements going again and get back on the yoga track. In addition, I want to get my diet in order with lots of fruits and veggies – anti-inflammatory foods.

[bsnyder]

MONDAY, JULY 21
I got up this morning. Knees still kind of swollen but aches and pains seem to be less. I did my LDN last night. The night before I had pain I forget to write it down but I didn’t take the LDN. Maybe LDN is truly helping my pain and swelling.

I have my colonoscopy tomorrow. On Wednesday I will be able to add my high doses of vitamin C and fish oil back in. I can hardly wait as I truly think they were helping me feel much better. I will report then!

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