How does diet influence possible rheumatoid arthritis/inflammation?

RunningOnWontons

Hi,

I'm hoping to get some feedback to this question from others who either have RA or have dealt with some of the issues I'm about to describe. First of all, I have been tested for RA and have been told I do not have it, which is great, but I still seem to have the symptoms of it. I'm talking about randomly swollen, inflamed joints that turn red and are unusable for days at a time, only to resolve themselves before some other unrelated joint suddenly flares up. After two years of putting up with this (during which time I had two kids and gained 50 lbs, ugh) I have come back to MFP to help get my eating habits under control. The great thing is, for the past three weeks since I have been back on here, I have had NO joint problems. Maybe it's just coincidence, but if so it's a coincidence that I want to keep having.

So here's my question: how do you think I can I best continue to avoid these "flare-ups" in the future? They are debilitating. And yes, I know consulting "Dr. Internet" is not optimal ( ), but I have spoken to several docs about this and all I've been told to do is to take NSAIDs. I have read that obesity itself causes inflammation, so is it possible that the weight loss I have started experiencing has already been enough to reverse this process? Of course, I'm still obese, but I have begun losing--I'm down ten pounds over the past three weeks.

Or could it be something else dietary? I'm eating far less sugar, and no diet soda, compared to what I was doing before coming back here. It's still v-e-r-y early in this weight loss/lifestyle change process for me, though. I guess what I'm looking for is reassurance that perhaps I can put this pain permanently behind me with just diet and lifestyle modification.

Any dietary advice, or personal experiences about this kind of issue, that folks would care to share?

srk369

My sister has RA and she read a lot of books that suggested a gluten free diet. She mostly eats Paleo and had gotten off of all medication. Her last flare up was after eating Halloween candy that she later realized had gluten.

I never recommend gluten free as a diet because my husband is celiac and I know how hard it is and who would want to do it?? But I do know my sister has found a lot of success and anything that means less pain is good!

GottaBurnEmAll

I have psoriatic arthritis which is in the same family of diseases. Has your rheumatologist considered that you might have another form of seronegative arthritis since you obviously didn't test positive for the RA antibodies?

A lot of people would recommend LCHF to you, but I low carbed for a good portion of the time I had the disease without reaching a low enough weight and saw no beneficial affects from it.

What has helped? Reaching and maintaining a low BMI and becoming active.

I still have flares, even with being on a biologic, but I am a lot better than I was when I was obese. Losing weight and exercise are the two best things you can do for yourself, in my experience.

GemstoneofHeart

I have never been diagnosed with anything either but my story sounds a lot like yours. I had a baby a year and a half ago, gained 40 pounds, ate terribly, and had so much pain and I'm only 26. I would wake up achy and constantly would have calf pain. It was awful.

I've now lost 25 pounds and cut out dairy and eat a lot less sugar. I can absolutely tell you that I feel 100 times better since I am in better shape. Dairy and sugar are highly inflammatory, so I would recommend decreasing if not eliminating both of those and just see what it does. If you can eliminate both for a month and feel better, then suddenly add them back in to your diet and the pain starts back up, then you know you've found the culprit!

Heather4448

Maybe you should try the whole 30 diet on the off-chance that this is a food allergy/ sensitivity problem. I've heard it helps to identify food triggers.

RunningOnWontons

@GottaBurnEmAll Wow, I was only ever tested for RA. I didn't realize there were other forms of arthritis that would show up on a test for antibodies. Whatever I have (had?) is intensely painful, and even heavy-duty doses of Ibuprofen only take the edge off. I'll ask my doc (a general practitioner) about getting more tests at my next physical. Thanks!

ccsernica

Could it be gout? That's well-known to be affected by diet.

RunningOnWontons

Thanks for all the advice! And @GemstoneofHeart , that's great to hear! Congrats on the weight loss, too. @ccsernica , I think I've been tested for gout, too, but I'll ask my doc.

GottaBurnEmAll

RunningOnWontons wrote: »

@GottaBurnEmAll Wow, I was only ever tested for RA. I didn't realize there were other forms of arthritis that would show up on a test for antibodies. Whatever I have (had?) is intensely painful, and even heavy-duty doses of Ibuprofen only take the edge off. I'll ask my doc (a general practitioner) about getting more tests at my next physical. Thanks!

The other forms won't show up on blood tests for the rhuematoid factor because only RA shows up with the antibodies. But there are other forms of seronegative spondyloarthropathies you can have. Ask him for a referral to a rheumatologist.

HippySkoppy

OP - I have RA/OA combined with CRPS/RSD (chronic pain syndrome since I was 35 [now 54] that has become systemic) and about 4 years ago deteriorating health saw me diagnosed with Lupus... so pretty much I'm in pain to some degree or another 24/7.

Losing weight definitely helps with joint pains - was 278 lbs now 110 lbs. Exercise too which I made more difficult and strenous over time definitely was difficult in the start but really did do a lot to help my situation.

In fact do everything you can keep up with exercise for mobility and strength train.

These last 4 years have seen me go from being active and strong to being housebound often and very sedentary and weak. I now have osteoporisis which caused a back fracture at L 1 and the facet joints at L4-L5 have disintegrated, the pressure that has caused has formed a cyst on my spinal column and causing *kitten* loads of pain with sciatica.

Food wise - I have found issues with nightshade vegetables and tend to either avoid or severely limit my intake. I am gluten free due to having ulcerative colitis in the past and a Specialist suggested gluten as an issue. If I do eat it often in the company of highly refined and sweet foods, Yeah that hurts, both physically and contributes to the mental fogginess of Lupus.

Like wise Gotta Burn says get your Doctor on board to help and test you for any markers. Be proactive. Lose any excess weight and keep up with exercise. Also experiment with your diet and any responses you feel you have, keep a diary alongside the logging on here, might give you insights.

All the best I hope you find relief and answers.

Evamutt

I have a friend who does not have RA BUT her joints get swollen if she eats gluten, just a thought. Diet makes a difference. I feel awful if I eat pasta & get bloated

kshama2001

Try an elimination diet and see what triggers you when you add foods back? Count me as another voice mentioning nightshade vegetables. This article discusses gluten as well.

https://health.clevelandclinic.org/2014/07/simple-food-swaps-to-ease-arthritis-pain/

croftie4

Yep I was tested for allergies and since going gluten and wheat free my pain as but almost gone. Due to another allergy I had already cut out most sugar 20 years previous but when I was told I needed to be GF and WF I also cut out 95% of sugar cutting out the most sweet fruit. Once the pain started to go I started at the gym and now you wouldn't know how bad I was even last october.

mom2my4boys

Hi,
I have a disease very similar to RA called palindromic rheumatism. If you do a quick search on Google I think you'll find it matches alot of your symptoms. I'm treated (by a rheumatologist) with the usual cocktail of rheumatoid arthritis drugs. I started experiencing flare ups at the age of 17 and still have mild ones now at 35.
Since loosing 100lbs, exercising regularly, starting medication, quitting pop, quitting smoking, changing my diet ect my flare ups are much more manageable. Unfortunately, I can't pin point which thing I did that helped the most. I have noticed that potatoes,peppers, (actually most night shade veggies) beer and pork cause me to flare every single time. Oh, how I miss these foods!!!
Feel free to send a friend request for some support or message me if you have questions. Good luck finding your answers, take care.

polvirl

I have had RA for 15 years and have never tested "positive" for RA. You need to see a rheumatologist because a RF test is really unreliable and some GP's base everything off of that. I went untreated for 10 years because of that and have extensive joint damage.

But to answer your question, I did really well with the Schwarzbein Principle and gluten/sugar free diets. It kept some of the pain and swelling at bay.

catalyst4514

I'm a medical coder for a rheumatology group which means I read a lot of visit notes. Every now and then I read of someone who didn't test positive to any food allergies but gave up gluten and had such significant improvement in joint pain they came off their pain meds (and some of these are heavy duty) and were maintaining well without them.

I've read "Wheat Belly" by Dr Davis and his findings support gluten creating inflammation in the body. He has some great testimonials on his website and in his book. He's a cardiologist.

We are all different.... your mileage may vary.

ronjsteele1

Really, this is repeating some things that have already been said but they're worth repeating. Nightshades are a HUGE inflammatory food group. Potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, peppers. For whatever reason, those foods really "like" to inflame joints. I would honestly start by pulling those out first and seeing how you feel. If you improve, but not completely, you can try removing gluten as well. It's usually best to remove one thing at a time for a few weeks before removing anything else or it gets difficult to tell what is helping and what isn't. Sugar is also very inflammatory but I would try removing those in that order and seeing what happens.

The other thing to know about AI's, and especially RA and lupus, are people very often will test negative for them for years but have all of the symptoms. Somewhere along the way, retesting will show up either positive antibodies for RA or positive lupus tests. The other thing to consider that will cause symptoms you're describing is lyme disease. I have a friend who's only 33 that has had severe joint pain for years that finally figured out she has lyme disease. When they treated it (and antibiotics don't work on chronic lyme) her joint pain went away. So there are some other possibilities to explore as well.

But to answer your initial question - diet plays a huge role in inflammatory illnesses and in particular autoimmune diseases. You don't really need a "diagnosis" to test out if there are foods aggravating your condition. That is fairly easy to determine with an elimination diet.