Hi Fellow RAer's! I need your help.
I'm in a very bad flare up. Have been for over a week now. It's not that I went crazy off my nutrition or anything, a little bite here or there over the holidays so it's leaving me confused.
When I usually flare, it's in my knuckles located in the middles of my fingers. This time it's further up, in the knuckles that attach my fingers to my hand. I also have developed hard bumps on the tops of my hands. And they hurt. My wrists are also affected. My feet are bad too.
So, my question to you is, what do you do when you're really inflamed and flared? What helps get your RA calmed down the quickest. I know the most damage occurs when you're in a flare up so I am trying hard to get this under control.
So far, I am resting, eating only safe foods, epsom salt baths, tylenol/advil.
Anyone??
A couple days of fasting or juice fasting and large amounts of vitamin D/A/C always gets us under control. We also do the first stage of the GAPS diet(homemade soup) if its really bad.
ReplyDeleteI use ice, rest, and wrist supports for my writs - during day and especially sleeping. Hope you feel better soon.
ReplyDeleteHi Monica/ Margaret:
ReplyDeleteThanks for the suggestions. I'm resting today. I actually bought some bone broth at the suggestion of a friend and have my wrist braces on. I'm keeping my eating very simple- broth & carrots. Thanks for your help!!!!
Hi Jen
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear you are flaring so bad. I have the same thing with my fingers right now, although they aren't badly inflamed but at the base of my finger is a hard bump under the skin. I was bad over the holidays and am trying to get back on track and it's working. Anyways, I have to go very low carb to get rid of inflammation. That helps me out a lot plus it gets rid of all craving for me. I am so close to getting my diet issues resolved. Anyways, I did send an e-mail to you a couple weeks ago re: naturopaths. I had a couple bounce back to me (when I tried sending) so not sure if you got it at all. Also, I started hot yoga - the sweating seems to be doing great things for me but honestly, not loving it as I'm not a heat person.
Janet
I just found your blog and thought I would share my story as it may help you and others with RA. I was diagnosed with mild RA in my hands 4 years ago, did some research and decided to treat it with sea cucumber. I started with 500mg 3x a day for 3 months then went to 2x a day. I just got the latest test results back from my reumatologist and both x-rays and blood work shows no signs of RA at all. as long as you are not allergic to shell fish I highly recommend this product, it can be abit hard to find ( I get mine from iherb.com ) but it is well worth it in my opinion. I hope this helps
ReplyDeleteFrozen sea cucumber are easy to find in T & T Store in Ottawa. I have eaten some before but did not see much help to my P.A. Maybe I did not eat enough.
ReplyDeleteMy fingers stiffness are getting worse over the winter in Ottawa. Not sure if it is due to the cold weather. As long as my P.A does not spread out, I still have no intention to go back to take the MTX drugs. Though my doc is warning me with the recent affected joints count that my P.A is getting worse without taking any drugs.
Hoping that my faith of being drugs free will pay off at the end.
Louie.