By Pat on Sunday, September 03, 2000 - 04:27 pm:

My husband has a strange disease that has caused us to go off all dairy and sugars after a lot of experimenting. While we were off all animal products, I found I had less pain. It didn't make much difference to him, but my life was much better. I now stay away from it most of the time, although the aromas sometimes draw me to indulge a bit. As we researched on protein sources, one comment that got our attention was, "Where do you think cows get their protein and calcium?" We try to have 13 different kinds of veggies plus fruit daily along with about 10 almonds and whole grains. My feet don't hurt much anymore - might be the lost weight or the diet, but when I eat meat, hand me the tramadol! Has anyone else found this to be the case?

Pat

By Mara on Saturday, June 16, 2001 - 06:52 pm:

Seven years ago I was swollen, braced everywhere and in 24 hour a day pain. Not fun! I finally changed my diet, giving up all meats and dairy,sugars, processed foods, additives, food colorings, alcohol etc.(yes it was very hard to do) However, after a few years...no braces! and pain only if I did something silly like gardening for half a day. For example today I went jet skiing! I do occasionally indulge in a dessert or a drink now, but never do red meat and dairy.It's a very difficult lifestyle, but no pain is well worth it! (Also do Metagenics supplements and medical foods, They helped my body heal a lot!)
Best wishes!
Mara

By Mei on Sunday, June 17, 2001 - 12:28 am:

Hi, I have been a vegetarian for 11 years now, I do not drink alcohol, I take as little diary products as possible, I was raised to avoid additives and food colorings and to think that fresh vegetables etc. are way better. sugar may be my only sin (when it comes to food) but when I was younger I had a sugarfree diet for a period of time and it didn't do much. Sadly I still am swollen, braced everywhere and in pain 24/7.
But then again, we are all different! It may not work for me, but it obviously did something for Pat and Mara. I hope it will for more people.

By Gwen on Sunday, June 17, 2001 - 08:24 pm:

I can't say that I've found dietary modification
to make any difference. I try to eat a low fat
diet and need to be careful how much fibre I have
due to irritable bowel but otherwise eat
reasonably normally, maybe veering towards
vegetarian but certainly not excluding red memat.
I had a period of being ovo-lacto-vegetarian when
my daughter went all New Agey and refused to eat
meat and it was too much effort to cook different
meals for different people but don't recall any
great improvement.

By elizabeth on Sunday, February 10, 2002 - 05:06 pm:

I was a vegetarian for 10 years, for health reasons I thought, during that time was when all my joints became problematic. Since stopping all alcohol and sticking th the "eat right for your type" diet and inflammatory response has been far less. I am now a serious red meat eater.