14 replies to this topic

[bearish04]

Recently I have been having a lot of joint pain- knees,ankles even hands. Its finally diagnosed as arthritis. The details will be known once all the tests are out. I am actually a vegan but the Dr has advised me to have an omega 3 fish oil as medication whcih i am having.I also avoid sodas, acohol or coffee& try to eat a healthy diet. The Dr told me to cut out acidic foods basically from my diet- like tomatoes etc. As mentioned earlier I a vegan and want to know what is the best diet for arthritis.- CC- anyone? Cheers B04

[EntropyModel]

Recently I have been having a lot of joint pain- knees,ankles even hands. Its finally diagnosed as arthritis. The details will be known once all the tests are out.

I am actually a vegan but the Dr has advised me to have an omega 3 fish oil as medication whcih i am having.I also avoid sodas, acohol or coffee& try to eat a healthy diet.
The Dr told me to cut out acidic foods basically from my diet- like tomatoes etc. As mentioned earlier I a vegan and want to know what is the best diet for arthritis.- CC- anyone?

Cheers
B04

About 2 years ago I also developed quite severe athritis out of knowhere, but have managed to get rid of it, though I cannot say precisely what change did it.

My doctor thought it was gout initially so severe was the pain in my small joints, but after blood tests showed nothing, well infact I was tested for cancer due to multiple symptoms, but nothing showed up and he offered no explantion or treatment so I had to sort it myself.

In my case I am in no doubt it was triggered by extreme stress at the time, and after studying the subject it does seem there is often a connection to auto immune conditions and stress, so that is something to look at.

Dietary wise I did most of the things you list, but also took MSM with vitamine C, cinnamon, and drank more water. You mention not drinking soda's, and that is a good idea, and I particularly noticed aspartame would set off pain very badly so avoid that like the plague.

It took about a year to go, on and off, but I've had no return of it for over a year now.

Hope you feel better soon.
Mark.

Edited by entropy, 31 July 2007 - 11:54 AM.

[calmcookie]

I PM'ed you ... let me know if you didn't get it. Kind regards, C.C.

[maineman]

Irritated joints is known loosely as "arthritis" but this says nothing of the cause. Any person alive will have life-related wear and tear on their bones and joints and this is what is usually seen. It can be called just "arthritis" or osteoarthritis or DJD (or degenerative joint disease). There is no treatment or cure or herb or diet or nuttin' for ageing. If you use a joint (like a skier or runner) it will wear out quicker. Aspirin, etc. will reduce some of the inflammation during a flare up of discomfort. So will rest, heat, rubbing, etc. Joints and bones can become inflamed from many other causes, ranging from infections (flu causes aching joints) to more serious problems like Lyme's disease. Usually your doctor can spot the difference. Other causes are less common and include the connective tissue disorders, including Rheumatoid disease, Lupus, Polymyositis, and others. The right blood test and the right examiniation will rule these in or out. So you can see why anyone who says that they have a "diet" for "arthritis" is just blowing smoke out thier...you know what. Like I tell my patients, the day there is a "cure" for "arthritis" it will be broadcast on Times Square on the Jumbotron, bigger than life on the front page of the NY Times, etc. It won't be some "well kept secret your doctor doesn't want you to know" type of malarkey. Don't get sucked in to some foolish diet. Caveat Emptor. mm

[PorkLoin]

Bearish, first of all - good luck to you. I have gout, and while it's easily controlled in my case, the pain of joints can be amazing. (I couldn't even take the weight of a sheet, in bed.)

Sounds to me like your diet is already pretty good from the standpoint of not eating stuff that would make pain appear or make it worse. Personally, if I eat a lot of salt, the fluid retention and swelling around joints is a bad deal.

I don't mean to sound like a quack, but I've heard that ginger is good in some cases, as it is said to inhibit the production of leukotrienes and prostglandins - which are involved with inflammation and pain. Don't know myself, same as for the "cherry juice" cure for gout. Presumably, the cherries or juice would make the body get rid of more uric acid, high blood levels of which often cause gout.

Drinking a good amount of water makes gut-basic sense to me. I've also talked to other gout sufferers, and a fair amount of them avoid tomatoes, because of "the acid," but the main thing there is ascorbic acid (Vitamin C), and there's not all that much in a tomato, like 20 milligrams or less per 100 grams of tomato, and you need some anyway.

With your diet I doubt you'd get gout, and the location of your pain is atypical for it.

I hope you let us know what the docs find out.


Best,

Doug

[maineman]

Pork, Thanks for bringing up Gout - another cause for inflammation of some joints. Typically gout affects the toes, and is usally unilateral. It would be highly unusual to have hands and knees affected without the toe and be gout. Still, its all diagnosed by a simply blood test, for Uric Acid. Gout is a genetic disease. When protein is broken down there are several intermediate steps, just like on an assembly line. If you lack enough of one of the intermediate enzymes then you will build up an excess of one of the intermediate break down products - uric acid. If you have too much uric acid floating around it will crystalize on a joint (usually the big toe, but other joints can be involved) and cause irritiation of the joint. What hurts is your body's immune system going after those uric acid crystals. The inflammation from the attack is what hurts. That's why an acute attack of gout is made much better by simply anti inflammatories like aspirin, ibuprofen of indomethacin. We've seen a resurgence of gout in the past few years, due to excess protein intake, like in Atkins diets ... too much protein. If you are not a glutton and not overweight it will likely not be a problem. Unless you are genetically prone, then you ought to follow a gout "diet". You can find this on any medical web site. Unlikely that gout is the cause of bear's arthritis, at least as he describes it above. MM

[Rogerdodger]

Hi B04
Any chance you suffer from gout?

Gout (also called metabolic arthritis) is a disease due to a congenital disorder of uric acid metabolism. In this condition, monosodium urate or uric acid crystals are deposited on the articular cartilage of joints, tendons and surrounding tissues due to elevated concentrations of uric acid in the blood stream. This provokes an inflammatory reaction of these tissues.

I've found that beer affects me, causing joint pain, especially in my knees.
My dad had gout, which was bad since he was a representative for a beer distributor and had to have a "social" drink on his sales calls to local bars. And he also had to do "quality control" tests.

If you drink beer you might cut it out and see if there is any improvement.
There also may be other foods which could cause such pain.

Beer, Spirits Increase Gout Risk
But Wine May Be OK, Researcher Says By Salynn Boyles
WebMD Medical News

April 15, 2004 -- For centuries, gout has been known as the "disease of kings" because overindulging in rich food and drink is a major cause of the painful joint condition. But it now appears that when it comes to alcohol, the biggest culprit is the beverage long favored by the common man.

In the largest study of its kind, researchers found that as few as two to four beers a week increased the risk of gout by 25%. But men who drank at least two beers a day were more than 200% as likely to develop gout as non-beer drinkers. And the more beer they drank, the more likely they were to suffer an attack of gout.

Edited by Rogerdodger, 31 July 2007 - 11:18 PM.

[maineman]

Typically a few beers won't precipiate an attack of Gout except in the rare individual with severe uric acid genetic disease. More typically we see a combination of heavy alchohol use along with poor diet. Many things preciptiate gout besides alchohol. Some very common blood pressure pills do, drugs required by organ transplant recipients and obesity. Bottom line with gout. Most folks with bad geneitc gout know they have it at a young age. For everyone else, the tell tale sign is an attack of pain and swelling of (usually) just one big toe, and the key feature is an overlying redness, warmth and pain of the skin which often makes the patient think they have a skin infection over the joint. Very easy to diagnose. RUn of the mill wear and tear "arthritis" is less exotic. Usually both knees hurt or both elbows or both thumbs or your neck or your low back, etc. Usually its obvious, with a little thought, that its been brought on by yardwork, computer work, writing, or exercising. Or being obese and having your joints begin to cry uncle. Finally, a joint that's been traumatized in life, like an old sprained ankle, or an old broken bone, or where you fell on your butt on the ice, etc. will show up with accelerated degenergation over time and become a problem "arthritic" joint for you. mm

[bearish04]

Reply thanks all for your messages. I got your PM, CC- will go thru the pages on yr website and will order the book suggested by you.Thanks B04

[Rogerdodger]

Finally, a joint that's been traumatized in life, like an old sprained ankle, or an old broken bone, or where you fell on your butt on the ice, etc. will show up with accelerated degenergation over time and become a problem "arthritic" joint for you.

As the old man said: At my age, if it don't hurt, it don't work.