Off The Grains - Result

Well its been a while now since I decided to try and see if not eating grains made any kind of difference to me personally.

I was 99% good !

And 1% bad....

Well we can't all be perfect. Especially not me!

I mostly didn't eat any kind of grain at all. I lapsed on a very few occasions, such as croissants... a cheese and marmite sarnie.....small bits of rice... testing a bit of a peanut butter cookie I made for a friend...

I actually do feel a bit less stiff, and in particular much less bloated. But the pain levels are the same. As a result I will definitely continue to eat a lot less grains, in particular ones containing gluten, as the less bloated feeling is much more comfortable all round.

I have some very good tasting gluten free wholegrain organic pasta made by Doves Farm in the UK. They make a fantastic range of very high quality organic flours and related products, which I use whenever I can.

I have also almost completely cut out sugar, but I always put honey in my drinks etc anyway. Maybe this has also helped with reducing the stiffness slightly, its hard to tell. However I ate very little sugar before reducing it.

But I definitely feel less bloated and therefore more comfortable.

And I have lost 10lbs ! Which is a big bonus for my joints and muscles and my back.

Sunshine and Gardening

Today is the third day of gorgeous warm sunshine and pale blue skies here in the west of Ireland.

Its heaven. Its a sheer joy to sit with limbs and skin exposed to the warmth and feel some of the pain just ebb away. Maybe its the lovely feeling of warmth on the skin, but to me heat is one of the most instant and noticeable forms of pain relief.

I have pottered in the garden with 'rests' in between with my legs up and a good book... and at times the sheer pleasure of it makes me forget the sluggish feeling and the all over hurt. I can understand why people emigrate to warmer climates.

Only problem with that is you have to leave behind your good friends. And they are as important as heat.

Besides, you have to be pretty well off to be able to afford to move country !

However, I have the perfect solution... win the Euromillions and then buy a second home on a remote Greek island, or if you prefer more action, southern Spain... then spend your life between Ireland and the warmth of the med sun... MMMM.

I also love being warm ! And dreaming...

Well now its back to the polytunnel as I have a jungle of weeds in there that I remove bit by bit. I won't use weedkiller as I like to grow my veggies and fruit as organically as I can.

I am what I eat.

It is also good gentle all over exercise. I just have to watch my back as I have arthritis in my spine also.

H Pylori & Manuka Honey Treatment

I am still taking the Manuka honey about 30 minutes before every meal and I am extremely happy (and amazed) to report that I have not had a 'sore' stomach for over 5 days now. According to all treatment plans with Manuka, you need to keep taking it for between 2 and 4 months to ensure that all H Pylori are totally killed off and don't return when you stop. So naturally I will keep going (besides it tastes heavenly).

Cutting Out Wheat and Grains

It has been a week now since I ate any grains, and I can't say that I notice any difference in my pain levels or the inflammation. One thing I can say is rather different is that I don't feel as bloated around the middle, more comfortable somehow, less fat in the tummy !

I will try and stick to it for another week, just in case.

Diet & RA Continued

I was reading this morning, yet again, about diet and rheumatoid arthritis, and I found the following paper

http://www.nutramed.com/arthritis/arthritisfa.htm

It is very interesting and adds more confirmation to what I have been thinking for a while, based on my own feelings and experience.

Perfect over your afternoon coffee !

Food and Rheumatoid Arthritis - An Experiment

I have long been aware that after some meals etc I feel a lot worse, generally, all over. Especially the inflammation and its effects.

I know that potatoes can make me sweat and feel odd, and alcohol gives me a temperature and makes the RA 10 times worse almost straight away...

But I have never tried proper exclusion diets to see if certain food groups are causing some of the extra pain, stiffness and general feeling of illness.

I was recently reading an article about lectins, the different kinds and the different food groups they are in (www.krispin.com/lectin.html). I had found it when searching through google for information on food and RA. It adds a lot of little missing links in the info I already have in my head... and was very interesting.

So, as an experiment, starting yesterday I have cut out the first food group containing a certain kind of lectin, that is grains containing gluten. This is all grains, including wheat, quinoa, rice, buckwheat, oats, rye, barley, millet and corn. This naturally means I won't eat grain vinegar and alcohol, among many other things. I don't eat many processed products, so I won't have to check many labels !

I will stick to this for 2 weeks and then see what is different, if anything.

After that I will, in turn, cut out legumes (all beans), dairy, and finally the nightshade family (potatoes, tomatoes, aubergines aka egg plant, and pepper/peppers).

At this point, going on my past instant reactions to potatoes, I suspect the final group, the nightshade family. But only by doing this clinically will I find out for sure if any of these groups are aggravating my system.

Manuka Honey, H Pylori & Stomach Disorders

A few days ago I started using active Manuka Honey to see if I can stop, once and for all, my ongoing stomach pain problems. These I have had since I was 19 and I'm now 48.

I should add that I eat a very balanced, mostly organic, diet. I rarely eat junk food, I drink alcohol about 4 times a year and rarely drink fizzy drinks, eat sweets or fatty foods etc. I only use olive oil to cook with and mostly steam or bake my food (not fry). I have never smoked or drank to excess.

My diet is not and has never been the cause of my problem.

I have taken Pariet (a proton pump inhibitor) for many years now as a maintenance device, as if I don't I'm immediately in horrible pain, as well as often feeling sick (due to excess acid and the pain mostly). Also, even while taking the Pariet, I only have to sniff asprin, or any asprin related drug like NSAIDS, and it starts.

As I was not offered the simple Urea Breath Test to see if I have H Pylori or not (please see previous post), I decided not to wait to discuss endoscopies with a consultant (not required anyway in this instance and in my case dangerous as I have severe sleep apnea and choke during the procedure, meaning I stop breathing, as it involves an anesthetic).

Taking the Active Manuka Honey has zero side effects, unless you are diabetic or allergic to honey, in which case you can't take it. So it's 100% safe for me.

It slowly, over a period of between 2 and 4 months, kills off all the H Pylori bacteria totally. Which means no more pain !

The only draw back is the cost, about €40 for a weeks supply of the 400+/20+ strength. This is the strongest version I have found around where I live in Ireland.

I will report here as to how I am improving with it (I am positive and I really would like this to solve my stomach problems).

About 30 minutes before every meal, I eat 1 good teaspoon of the honey on about an inch square of bread. The bread is important to keep the honey in your stomach longer, to keep it working there longer. I also take 1 dose in the same way, just before bed.

I am still taking the Pariet, as this does not affect the action of the Manuka Honey in any way, and complementary practitioners will mostly advise that you continue with it through the treatment until cured.

There is another complementary medicine alternative to this treatment for killing off H Pylori, called Mastika. You buy this in capsule form from a good health food store and take several capsules each day.

If this doesn't work for me, then I don't have H Pylori and I will know for certain that my stomach problems were caused by the high dose asprin I took for Stills Disease (a form of juvenille RA) throughout my young childhood.

Helicobacter Pylori & The Urea Breath Test

My latest run-in with NSAIDS (Mobic this time) has caused my stomach to act up again (I had duodenal ulcers from age 19).

So, thinking that with my history there is a good chance I have H Pylori bacteria in my stomach, I asked my GP to test for it. I was told that she would have to refer me to my gastrointestinal consultant and he would do an endoscopy (which would include a biopsy) to see if I had H Pylori.

This is utter madness.

In the UK (and almost all other countries) H Pylori is tested for using a simple test in a GP's surgery or even in some pharmacies. It is called a Urea Breath Test and costs a maximum of £20 to the GP & the NHS in the UK, so about €25 here. This is the accepted industry standard first line of testing for H Pylori. And it is incredibly accurate and easy to administer. No anesthetics, no consultant, no invasive procedure which is horrendous for the patient.

The HSE are causing patients much distress and using an invasive procedure when a very simple 30 minute test would suffice.

WHY ?

One can only assume to make more money for the consultants and anesthetists etc.... because there can be no other reason. Any excuse they might make is just that, twaddle to perpetuate a third world health service.

Mary Harney would do well to read this blog, and try saving the HSE hundred's of thousands of pounds every year, if not millions. GPs can diagnose and treat H Pylori in the stomach (at least 80% of ulcers and excess acid etc are caused by this, and even probably stomach cancer. FACT).

A consultant is only actually required when the industry standard 1 week triple therapy fails (3 drugs, 2 antibiotics and 1 proton pump inhibitor, which often kill off the H Pylori).

So - Ms Harney - any chance of introducing the Urea Breath Test into Ireland so that the GPs can diagnose and treat patients efficiently, simply and cheaply ?

Any chance you might like to save the HSE a massive amount of money ?

I wonder...

Pain Control (or the lack of)

Today was the culmination of a very long week...

I can't take NSAIDS because of a very (apparently) damaged stomach, although my consultant recently asked me to try Mobic which I had to stop as it still caused my stomach a lot of pain.

So I'm using Solpadol when it gets bad enough and I need to clean or garden or something. However, I hate using such a strong painkiller, especially when all it really does is take the top edge off the pain.

So being a very determined lady who hates drugs of any kind, over the last 2 days I didn't take any pain relief. I spent half of today in tears and frustration. I caved at about 6pm and took a dose of Solpadol.

I also rang a local excellent deep tissue massage lady (A Woman's World in Gort) and booked myself in for tomorrow (which will cost me 25% of my weekly income as my consultant won't offer me physiotherapy).

Now... why aren't the HSE providing physiotherapy ? Why have I not been offered disease altering RA drugs ? Why are they letting my joints disintegrate, as well as my spine and not offering anything other than NSAIDS which they know I can't take, and Solpadol which I'm told I can't take many of as it 'isn't allowed' and I may get 'addicted' ?