Food

YellowFish

Hi everyone,

This is my situation. I've got RA. I have tried sulfasalazine which made me sick and gave me insomnia, so stopped that! Since November I've been on hydroxychloroquinine.

Whilst waiting for it to build up the GP prescribed slow release anti-inflams, and although December was a bit sticky, in January things got better and better. I have gone back to my old pilates teacher and at first I could only manage 10 minutes, and was doing 2 of each exercise (when the others were doing maybe 10 repetitions) but each week I got a bit stronger and managed a little more. Happiness! I started to be able to manage normal things like a couple of hours in town looking round the shops . . .

And then in the middle of Feb I got socked with a big flare up. Woke up one morning and could hardly walk. I had about a 10 days like that, and then had a bit of relief - that's happened three times now since in a space of about 5 weeks and each episode has been harder.

I saw the GP this week and she's given me a steroid injection and signed me off work for a week. She said she wanted to bring forward my next appointment at the hospital so I can discuss trying something stronger - basically I need to face up to the fact hydroxychloroquinine aint working. :-(
Which is a shame. I'd really hoped we'd nailed it.

However, my boyfriend (husband to be - we're getting married on 9th August!) has just got a job in Yorkshire (we're in Brighton at the moment). He starts next week. I am going to finish the year with my class (I'm a teacher) and be moving at the end of July. I explained this to my GP and actually we think in the short term I'm going to keep having the steroid injections for the next 4 months or so, rather than starting a new course of treatment which will need monitoring - it'll be better to start that 'oop north' with my new consultant/gp.

So now I have a week off and have had some time to actually sit back and think about things. I am wondering if this would be a good time to try out some non medical approaches. Has anyone tried an 'arthritis' diet and had any success? (Obviously I'm going to keep having the steroids and hydroxy whilst I wait for move to Yorkshire. But during this 'lull' there's no harm in trying some other tactics, I think).

And secondly, thinking a bit further ahead, in your experiences, what do you think the hospital will suggest I try next, after little success with sulfasalazine and hydroxychloroquinine? Is this something I am going to need to brace myself for . . . ?

valval

hi there is no such diet but there are foods that are hi in anti inflamatory factors that are good to include in you diet red berries pinapple etc also some people find certain foods make matters worse keep a food diary for a few weeks see what going on very strong chedar sets me off and i love it everything in moderation best but cut back on certain fats in baked goods fried foods etc good luck val

jillyb1

Hi , Yellowfish , fellow brightonian here ; we're all different but after 31 years of RA ; consider myself an expert in RA diet for me ! Chances are though that if you followed my diet rules , it wouldn't make a scrap of difference to you as what suits 1 may not suit another . I avoid dairy , citrus , red meat , potatoes , aubergines , raw tomatoes , alcohol and caffeine . It doesn't do any harm to go for a bit of trial and error with foods , might not help at all , but it works for me in easing some of the discomfort . Good luck with it and congratulations on the august wedding . Jillyb

stickywicket

The basic rule is to eat a healthy diet and not carry too much weight as that obviously makes it harder for all weight-bearing joints.

Having said that, it does seem that some things help or hinder some people - unfortunately not the same things. The 'nightshade' veggies, which jillyb mentions, keep coming under suspicion tho' I don't seem to have a problem with them. I felt better after giving up meat, about 20 years ago. I also find that alcohol either makes it worse or stops the meds making it better so I'm horribly sensible about that these days - well, most of these days. :roll:

Whatever you do or don't do, yellowfish, eat sensibly. None of these crazy diets.

Oh, and, when you get to Yorkshire, you'd better stop writing 'oop north'. It's a phrase beloved by southerners. Here we write 'up north', just as we pronounce it. Down south they write 'up' but say 'ap'. :roll: (But we're very friendly, really. )

tjt6768

my dear Sticky is right.. We're a reet friendly bunch up here.. With done decent hospitals..
What part of Yorkshire?
Oh, and by the way, it's red meat and wheat that set my stomach off which in turn seems to start the joints going, lol..

Best of luck.

dreamdaisy

This a frequent question on here but surely if it worked this forum would not exist. Some people find a noticeable degree of benefit, some find little benefit and some find none. By all means give it a whirl, cut out different things for a good stretch of time to see if there is any benefit, but above all be sensible. Good luck and I hope it helps. DD

phoenixoxo

Hi YellowFish,

Having had all sorts of dramas with conventional meds, I've looked into changing my diet many times to try to figure out what's good for me. I've kept food diaries, as val suggests, and I have found that the stuff to avoid is basically the same as Jillyb posts above. My GP reckons that a couple of decades of NSAIDs has left me with wheat, dairy and gluten intolerance, so I steer clear of these as much as possible. And I'm not allowed alcohol anyway, so that's something else out of the way!

My diet is pretty restricted, but I've learned to enjoy eating healthily and I do treat myself, for example I'll have a small amount of dark chocolate every day and a hearty steak and chips whenever I’m eating out. It's become a cliché, but the key word is balance. And as sticky says, it is important not to overload our joints.

As for what's next on the meds front, I went from sulfasalazine to methotrexate tablets, but I wouldn't like to second guess the hospital!

Good luck and happy eating!
Phoebe

YellowFish

Hi guys - thank you. Good, sound advice, as ever!

Tony - boyfriend's job is in Northallerton, so not too far from there hopefully!

applerose

My rhumie insists food doesn't make the slightest difference. I have tried leaving out various foods but not noticed it makes things any better or worse.
I've tried sulfasalazine (affected my liver) and hydroxycloroquinine (brought me out in a rash). I've now been offered Leflumonide or Methotrexate. I was reading somewhere that you will always be offered meds in a particular order. Don't know if this goes for everyone.