Diet & lifestyle

Bubbles87
Bubbles87 Member Posts: 4
edited 22. Jan 2025, 09:02 in Living with arthritis

Hi everyone 🙋🏼‍♀️

I’m new to the forum and have been reading through the threads already which are all very informative and helpful. I have recently been diagnosed with Psoriatic arthritis and advised to start methotrexate asap! I’m very nervous and anxious about it and just wondered if anyone here is not taking any medication and able to manage their diagnosis with lifestyle changes only? I know diet and lifestyle play a big part even with medication but just really trying to understand if the medication is always a must.

Comments

  • Arciere
    Arciere Member Posts: 97

    Hi @Bubbles87

    I hope you don’t find this annoying, but I am going to give you an overview of diet and lifestyle changes, that I am convinced have made a difference to the severity and frequency of RA PsA pain and fatigue…..despite the fact I take a biological medicine. I have no evidence to support my claims and they are of course personal to me.

    I think it’s completely normal to be anxious about medication. I hadn’t needed to take medication for anything before so I was very apprehensive about. All I’ll say here is that if it doesn’t suit you - please fight your corner to find something that does work for you. It seems there are lots of options, but they seem to always start with methotrexate - not sure why.

    I hope this is useful in any case.

    Gut Health -

    I’ve worked hard to improve my overall gut health. This started when I bought a RA cookbook from Amazon and I watched a documentary called Hack Your Health on Netflix. I landed on the fact my diet, although I felt it was a Mediterranean diet, was actually dominated by wheat (toast for breakfast, sandwhich for lunch, pasta for suppper etc). So I stopped all gluten.

    I also loved Guinness and Beer, so stopped that too :-(

    I then removed synthetic sweeteners , my go to drink was Diet Coke. I loved it. Now it’s sparkling water and I love that more!

    Then I started to learn about the Micro Biome - gut bacteria - and started taking probiotics and increasing the amount of fibre through veg that I consumed. I swear I feel good when I’ve eaten sauerkraut or drunk a Kefir.

    After making these changes I felt brand new.

    I went a few steps further and removed the Deadly Nightshade things (so potatoes, tomatoes, aubergines, peppers etc). Looking back, not only was my diet dominated by Wheat, but every meal usually also included potatoes (or pasta), tomatoes and peppers.

    I also try my best to avoid sugar or things ending in “ose” glucose etc, as I think this helps too.

    Essentially I’m trying to really respect my gut.

    My latest experiment is all about hydration. I’m using electrolytes in water to see if that helps me feel more hydrated. I think being dehydrated contributes to stiffness.

    So it’s been a complete shift in thinking, but I feel really good for it. Although I do dream about a bag of chips and a pint of guiness… occasionally :-)

    I was using a sauna on a weekly basis this time last year, but haven’t felt the need to yet. I found the warmth really soothing.

    I know you wanted to hear from people not taking any medication so I hope this helps in any case. When I started my biologics I was still suffering terrible fatigue. (The only other thing I’ll add, is that distancing myself from a stressful scenario I think helped too).

  • Ellen
    Ellen Moderator Posts: 1,887

    Welcome to the online community @Bubbles87 Of course you are understandably anxious about starting treatment for your Psoriatic arthritis (PsA). If it helps an awful lot of people here do take Methotrexate (MTX) successfully.

    I see you've already had a detailed reply from Arciere about their own dietary changes. I will just pop in here Versus arthritis' information on the subject of diet:

    This might also interested you:

    Keeping mobile can really help those of us who have any type of Arthritis.

    Best wishes

    Ellen.

  • Bubbles87
    Bubbles87 Member Posts: 4

    @Arciere @Ellen thank you both so much for taking the time to respond I really appreciate the advice and insight. Will definitely be taking it onboard and implementing some of the diet/lifestyle changes and it’s nice to hear some people have taken the methotrexate successfully. I have to be honest and say I am absolutely dreading it but it’s comforting to know I’m not alone in this new journey ☺️

  • frogmorton
    frogmorton Member Posts: 30,169

    Hi @Bubbles87 nice to meet you.

    I will tell you a bit about me I am vegan follow a vegan diet do the whole 30 plants fruits and nuts etc a week actively look after my gut microbiome fermented veggies too. Very much like Arciere.

    But I still take my meds. I am fearful of the damage that can be done to my joints and would want to be well in remission before I stopped mine.

    We used to have a regular poster @Arthuritis who also practised very much an anti-inflammatory diet he really studied food and it's implications for conditions such as ours.

    The other thing I do is to take regular exercise daily even if it is only a short walk. There are lots of gentle exercises you can do on the main versus arthritis site I think Ellen linked some in. Oh and try (not easy) to look after your own stress levels I think that has an affect on our bodies in more ways that we realise.

    Take care

    Toni x

  • Bubbles87
    Bubbles87 Member Posts: 4

    Hi @frogmorton (Toni)

    Thank you so much for your reply! I guess I’m hoping for a response that It seems I may not get lol! That I don’t need to take them and I will be grand just looking after my lifestyle. Denial maybe 🙈 it’s all very overwhelming! Appreciate all the advice.

  • frogmorton
    frogmorton Member Posts: 30,169

    Of course @Bubbles87 that's what we're all hoping for if it was that easy, but you know you can probably make a huge difference yourself doing everything you can. Of course not overdoing anything too.

    It is overwhelming I remember vividly being upset, tearful, angry, fearful the whole range of emotions. I thought I'd let my husband down, embarrass my children and be imobile within 6 months. I was just so negative and a proper arthritis bore. It's a wonder anyone put up with me. Several years later not much of that came true apart from embarrassing the children, but all parents do that nothing to do with arthritis😉

    While you're adjusting to this new situation it's good to 'be kind' to yourself too you know. Make sure you rest enough, enjoy your food(!) and do things you like doing. Above all keep talking and getting informed do as much as you can. Here is good so you don't worry your family and friends or bore them like I did.

    Take care

    Toni x