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My friend with Lupus has the same problems - no carbs or sugar and she can manage.
Seems odd that none of the docs (general or Rheumy) have discussed or responded to anything I've raised about diet. Too busy dispensing meds I guess.





However, there are several courses that the disease may take. Some people have RA that goes into remission - even pemanently. I hope that is what has happened for you. Here is a link to a page which explains this: rawarrior.com/2009/06/four-courses-of-rheumatoid-arthritis/
I can assure anyone reading this that diet is not a "cure" for actual chronic RA which is not curable. I wish it were. People think that what they do is influencing the disease - usually because for most people, the disease ebbs & flows (comes & goes) in severity.
Of course, eating heathy is important for RA since RA makes people more susceptable to many illness, such as heart disease.
One more important point: if you have RA that is in remission, or which has lessened in symptoms, it is still important to continue treatment since damage can continue silently in the bones, which are continuing to erode or in other organs, such as the heart. If you do have RA, you need a good rheumatologist and medicine to fight the disease.
Kelly rawarrior.com

Certainly a good diet is essential to furthering our overall wellbeing, but it's not going to stop or cure RA, and there is absolutely no legitimate research that supports this assertion. I am a vegetarian and eat very little sugar and nearly no refined grains or carbs, but have RA severe enough to require my using a walker and, sometimes, a wheelchair in order to get around. I still work full time and up until July, had only taken off one day due to RA in the eight years I've had the disease. If anyone was going to be "cured" through diet, you'd think that I would be that one -- it just isn't so!

I am so sad for so many who postponed treatment because they were mislead and had damage occuring when they could have been on treatment, which may help prevent it...
Kelly rawarrior.com


Diet cannot treat or cure RA. If it could cause RA, then maybe the buffalo meat could have caused their RA, but it can't cause RA either. Joking.

Kelly rawarrior.com

"In 2000 (then aged 49) I was diagnosed with chronic RA. I won't describe all the painful symptoms, medical visits, drug side effects, depression, lethargy, lack of sleep, etc. as they are all too familiar to anyone who suffers from RA. I suffered for five years thanks to the ill informed specialists I was seeing who simply said 'incurable' and keep taking the tablets (and all the other pills to overcome the side effects of these tablets, oh and regular blood tests to make sure we are not destroying your liver).
After five years I had had enough (Methotrexate sucks!) and once I read the book 'Diet and Arthritis' by Gail Darlington and Linda Gamlin I was determined to get off medication and stick to the recommended elimination diet and food reintroduction program. (Read all the other books and most contain some good info and a lot of misguided info).) Within a couple of weeks there was noticeable improvement in terms of reduced swelling and pain, within a few months my mobility had improved and joints were only occasionally painful and after about 9 months of sticking with it I woke up one sunny day to find that even the morning stiffness (feet like planks of wood) had completely vanished. AMAZING! Now, ten years since I was first diagnosed, I can eat and drink pretty much what I like (although I am still careful with my diet and drinking 'habits' of course, e.g. no coffee, no milk, no nitrates (preservative) limited bread) and I no longer have any symptoms or recurrence of any kind of pain or swelling or stiffness. And it's all thanks to this book. I now understand the principles much better - equally what triggered the condition in me, nevertheless this book remains the definitive guide to using an elimination diet. I have bought several copies for friends over the last few years and everyone has enjoyed positive results. In truth there is more to controlling and eventually curing RA than is contained in this book (e.g. recommended exercise, meditation, etc.) and, as the authors state, it does not work for everyone, but believe me when I say that this method (although difficult) is absolutely the best starting point for reducing pain and joint inflamation and regaining your health and strength once more."
I did manage to convince a couple of people on the discussion forum to buy this UK published paperback and there is another book Conquering Arthritis by Barbara Allan published in the US that uses a similar dietary technique (although in this book, starting off by fasting is very tough and dramatically lowering blood sugar when you are already in a fatigued state I can't recommend). But I got so many negative reactions and rude accusations that I decided to leave them to it. I don't need all that negativity in my daily life thanks. Being told repeatedly THERE IS NO CURE FOR RA like it is some kind of mantra. But what am I to do? Just turn my back on everyone and pretend my 'cure' didn't happen? So well done Jenny for your posting!
I've had no pain no inflamed joints and best of all no drugs for the last five years. I'm not cured - if I drink coffee for example I can get a small flare up quite quickly (even within one hour) and it can take two or three days of being very strict on my diet to get back to normal again. But it's been probably 2.5 years since I last had even a minor flare up because I avoid foods to which I'm intolerant.
To hear Dr. Gail Darlington speaking on BBC Radio 4 The Food Programme about Diet and Arthritis - it is 30 minutes well spent to listen to the whole show. Download Realplayer (it's free) to listen to the broadcast: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/foodprogramme_20060528.shtml
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