Hello! It's been a while since my last post. In the meantime, I retired from teaching after 34 years and am working fulltime in my business. I am doing very well with my diet and MC thanks to everyone here. It has been a long haul, but worth every minute. For a few years, my inflammatory arthritis has calmed. It seems now to be back. I first noticed that my feet hurt terribly when I first got out of bed. It got better as the day went on, but they still hurt. Now, my fingers and hands hurt all day. I can feel a hard bump on my thumb's knuckle. I feel achy and puffy. My energy level has dropped. My mother's hands and feet are nearly crippled, and I would like to try to prevent that. I also want to avoid medicine if I can. Any thoughts? Thank you!
Kathy
Update and Arthritis Question
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Hi Kathy,
Your experience reminds me of my own. I had the same problem with osteoarthritis symptoms after I had been in remission for several years.
I don't see casein or dairy in your list of food intolerances, so I assume that you tested negative to casein sensitivity at EnteroLab. I didn't have any EnteroLab tests before I developed an elimination diet because I wasn't even aware that the lab existed. So after my initial recovery, I tried dairy again and discovered that it didn't seem to cause any symptoms (at least not for a year or so), so I added it back into my diet. But eventually some of my fingers began to grow crooked and twisted and the joints became distorted. My back was stiff and sore every morning when I tried to get out of bed. So I ordered a casein test from EnteroLab and discovered that I was sensitive to casein. I cut it out of my diet and after a few months all of the osteoarthritis issues came to a halt. It appears that casein is somewhat notorious for causing arthritis symptoms.
But note that an anti-gliadin antibody test at the same time showed that my diet was also cross-contaminated with gluten. I tracked that problem to someone else using wheat flour in the house. You can't open a bag of flour without particles of flour escaping into the air and drifting all over the house. So it might help to double-check for gluten cross-contamination. For some of us, even a tiny trace is too much.
Unfortunately it's possible to develop food sensitivities as time passes. Roughly 8 or 10 years ago, after I had been in remission for a year or 2, I ordered some EnteroLab tests to check out eggs, soy, and yeast. All 3 results were negative. But I began to have suspicious symptoms last summer, so in September I ordered a soy test. Lo and behold I am now sensitive to soy.
And to help to relieve the aches and pain faster, I recommend topical magnesium. Hopefully you will find the article at the following link to be enlightening and helpful:
Inflammation and Pain Management with Magnesium
Tex
Your experience reminds me of my own. I had the same problem with osteoarthritis symptoms after I had been in remission for several years.
I don't see casein or dairy in your list of food intolerances, so I assume that you tested negative to casein sensitivity at EnteroLab. I didn't have any EnteroLab tests before I developed an elimination diet because I wasn't even aware that the lab existed. So after my initial recovery, I tried dairy again and discovered that it didn't seem to cause any symptoms (at least not for a year or so), so I added it back into my diet. But eventually some of my fingers began to grow crooked and twisted and the joints became distorted. My back was stiff and sore every morning when I tried to get out of bed. So I ordered a casein test from EnteroLab and discovered that I was sensitive to casein. I cut it out of my diet and after a few months all of the osteoarthritis issues came to a halt. It appears that casein is somewhat notorious for causing arthritis symptoms.
But note that an anti-gliadin antibody test at the same time showed that my diet was also cross-contaminated with gluten. I tracked that problem to someone else using wheat flour in the house. You can't open a bag of flour without particles of flour escaping into the air and drifting all over the house. So it might help to double-check for gluten cross-contamination. For some of us, even a tiny trace is too much.
Unfortunately it's possible to develop food sensitivities as time passes. Roughly 8 or 10 years ago, after I had been in remission for a year or 2, I ordered some EnteroLab tests to check out eggs, soy, and yeast. All 3 results were negative. But I began to have suspicious symptoms last summer, so in September I ordered a soy test. Lo and behold I am now sensitive to soy.
And to help to relieve the aches and pain faster, I recommend topical magnesium. Hopefully you will find the article at the following link to be enlightening and helpful:
Inflammation and Pain Management with Magnesium
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
Hi Tex,
Thank you for your reply and suggestions. I did test negative for casein and do eat cheese and use cream in my coffee. I didn't stop to think that could be the problem.
I eat out a couple of times a month. I have felt safe eating there. The chef knows me and makes a special dinner for me when I'm there. But, now that you mention it, there could be unintended cross-contamination even though the chef is very careful.
So, my plan is to order new tests. I'm also going to go back to the basics and take a fresh look at everything in my environment. I'll try the topical magnesium. It's tough to get the energy to make changes when not feeling my best, but I know I'll feel better when I eliminate the source.
Thank you for helping me get, and keep, my life back!
Kathy
Thank you for your reply and suggestions. I did test negative for casein and do eat cheese and use cream in my coffee. I didn't stop to think that could be the problem.
I eat out a couple of times a month. I have felt safe eating there. The chef knows me and makes a special dinner for me when I'm there. But, now that you mention it, there could be unintended cross-contamination even though the chef is very careful.
So, my plan is to order new tests. I'm also going to go back to the basics and take a fresh look at everything in my environment. I'll try the topical magnesium. It's tough to get the energy to make changes when not feeling my best, but I know I'll feel better when I eliminate the source.
Thank you for helping me get, and keep, my life back!
Kathy