Comments

[Guest guest]

[The only pain reliever my doctor would let me take is Tylenol. She said it

was less harmful to the stomach. I know I took a ton of it before I started

the prednisone and methotrexate. I haven't needed to take any since. She was

very negative on taking ibuprofen, which I had been eating like candy before

I was first prescribed Vioxx.]

You're lucky you can get by without taking NSAIDS. My rheumie explained it

this way: There are 2 main categories of drugs to treat RA, NSAIDS and

disease modifying drugs, such as sulfasalazine, plaquinil, methotrexate, etc.

If the disease modifying drug doesn't take care of all the inflammation (he

said it usually doesn't), then you must take an NSAID as well. Maybe in your

case taking prednisone makes the difference, but as a diabetic, I can't take

that.

[There are wheat substitutions that you can bake bread

with. If you are interested, I'll do some research. If you are eating

store bought bread, you may also be having a reaction to some of the

" ingredients " added to bread.

I am definitely intolerant of wheat, including in products I bake from

scratch at home, including bread. Wheat gives me diarrhea and migraine

headaches. I have actually come up with my own non-wheat, no-gluten bread

recipe which is really good. It uses a mix of soy flour, amaranth flour,

quinoa flour, brown rice flour, and rice bran. I'd be glad to share the

recipe if anyone asks for it.

[i'm not familiar with the Paleo Diet. What is it?]

Website: http://www.healingcrow.com/dietsmain/paleo/paleo.html

This is just one of many sites regarding this diet. Basic theory is that for

40,000 humans ate as hunter-gatherers, and for only the past 10,000 years

have humans eaten agricultural products. It is though that our genetic

makeup has not evolved fast enough in many cases for us to tolerate the foods

of the agricultural age. The diet consists of meat, non-starchy vegetables,

and limited fruit. This is only summarized, and to get the real picture, you

should take a look at the website. Suzanne, if you are at risk for diabetes

and/or have trouble controlling your weight, you would find researching high

protein diets a helpful project. These days a great many diabetics manage

their diets, with their doctor's encouragement, by counting carbohydrates.

It is carbohydrates that primarily raise our blood sugar, not protein or fat.

Anything under 100 grams of carbohydrates a day is considered low

carbohydrate, so a person doesn't have to go extreme with this.

Mindy--I think everyone has problem relatives. I know I do. It stands to

reason, I guess, because we can't pick our relatives as we do our friends.

I've always found that when I need support I'm better off going to my

friends. I think you were very reasonable with your father by only calling

him an asshole! I once saw a great cartoon: In a large auditorium, there

were only 2-3 people seated. They were at a convention titled: Children of

NON-Dysfunctional Families!!

I followed up on sites gave me re NSAIDS, and found that ibuprofen

actually causes less stomach problems than most! Thanks, .

It seems like every winter I get an episode of terrible pain in my shoulders,

either the left or right, but not at the same time. It gets so bad I can't

even move the arm. I just use heat, rest, a flare-up dose of ibuprofen, and

darvocet, but it always takes several days to improve. If I could get to my

rheumie right away, he could give me an injection of cortisone in the

shoulder joint itself. That doesn't affect my blood sugar as much as

cortisone pills, but it still affects it and so I avoid it whenever I can.

RA is so weird--I've even had chest wall pain which caused me shortness of

breath for a while, off and on pain in the ribs--the only place I don't seem

to get it is in my hip joints and knees! Oh, and my hands are always

painful.

Such a lot of mail! I just love all the participation on this list but

sometimes get behind in my reading.

lie