Tangential question: as I now start suffering from arthritis in my hands, I was wondering if there is anything linked to diet that could help reduce it?
I had read that fatty fishes were a good source to reduce pain but in your experience, is there any other food/lifestyle changes that can help alleviate it before resorting to medication?
Has anyone treated arthritis with diet? I feel way better when I get off processed foods for a few days.
(Not sure if I have arthritis but really sore hips and lower back.)
I feel way better when I get off processed foods for a few days.
What does "processed foods" mean? Do you eat raw food that isn't combined in any way?
Processed foods usually refers to packaged snacks, food with lots of added ingredients, corn oils, artificial ingredients, etc or fast food/junk food ordered at restaurants/fast-casual places.
There is a classification system for how processed foods are:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova_classification
Under that classification, boiling potatoes counts as processing them.
Something as minor as rinsing fruit in tap water can count as processing - it could affect the lifespan of the fruit or its nutritional content.
Of course, that isn't the only definition out there.
I think most people are referring to the “Ultra-processed” category when they talk about processed foods in a health context.
Ketchup is processed, tomatoes are not. Processed contains added salt, sweetener, preservatives etc.
It's hard to draw a hard line but with common sense you can figure it out.
If a family farm couldn't produce it themselves I try to avoid it. I think this works pretty well as a rule of thumb (and justifies me stilling having beer and wine lol)
Pedantics aside, they probably mean ultra-processed.
Your gut health has a direct impact on your lower back. If you are intolerant of some foods, when you inflame your gut, your lower back can end up in pain as well.
I'm intolerant of a milk protein. I can handle the bathroom consequences, I can't handle the lower back consequences.
Interesting. I’m starting to suspect dairy. I just tried switching to a2 milk but didn’t notice a difference. Have you tried a2 milk with the a2 casein protein?
I have not. I'm rarely in a country where that is available. Usually when I'm in the states, I'm not willing to experiment with it on my one week visit.
I have a sero-negative inflammatory arthritis. The only thing that makes it better is meloxicam; that shit is AMAZINGLY effective, completely makes my symptoms go away for 2-3 days if I take the full 15mg. Unfortunately due to the risk of stomach bleeding and my sensitive stomach, I only take 7.5mg every now and then and only 15mg when I really need to do something active (walk long distances). Note: I tried celecoxib and it did nothing, but some people have luck with it over meloxicam.
Now there are foods that make it worse: generally anything with high sodium like pizza, fries, fast-food/restaurant food (Chinese food especially). Caffeine also makes it slightly worse. By far the worst of them all is alcohol though. After the alcohol wears off, I'm in so much agony that I can barely walk.
How old are you? This may be sacroiliitis. It can be diagnosed with an MRI scan.
Q: Do sore hips, and sore back .. could that be a FRONT of body issue .. or internal organs? Like, kidneys?
Aren't you lactose intolerant or have other food allergy?
I've heard people had good results with cutting out all dairy.
(They were already eating very "clean": little meat, no refined sugar, no refined starches, very little vegetable oils)
Dairy, as I understand it, is highly inflammatory. Arthritis is some form of inflammation.
Foods that decrease inflammation _probably_ help with arthritis; processed foods _generally_ increase inflammation, which is probably why you feel better not eating them.
For more than just anecdotes you can go to the data/studies; pubmed.gov is a great resource for finding studies: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=arthritis+diet
There is also nutritionfacts, which takes a science and clinical study based approach to look at how diet plays a role in a whole host of diseases and conditions: https://nutritionfacts.org/?s=arthritis
* nutritionfacts and Dr. Greger do have several vocal opponents however, so I encourage you to read the studies themselves and come to your own conclusions
My only commentary would be that these results do not read like clinical success, but rather something suggesting they should move on to phase III clinical trials.
This is the only publication I found in a quick search:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37976118/
> Abstract
Objectives: Nerve growth factor β (β-NGF) is a protein which is important to the development of neurons particularly those involved in the transmission of pain and is central to the experience of pain in osteoarthritis (OA). Direct NGF antagonism has been shown to reduce OA pain but is associated with rapidly progressive OA. The aim of the study is to investigate the ability of soluble neurotrophin receptors in the NGF pathway to modulate pain in OA.
Methods: Synovial fluid (SF) was obtained from the knee joints of 43 subjects who underwent total knee arthroplasty. Visual analogue scale (VAS) pain scores were obtained prior to surgery. Customised-automated-ELISAs and commercial-ELISAs and LEGENDplex™ were used to measure soluble low-affinity nerve growth factor (LNGFR), soluble tropomyosin receptor kinase (TrkA), proNGF, β-NGF, other neurotrophins (NT) and cytokines including inflammatory marker TNF-α.
Results: The VAS score positively correlated with β-NGF (r=0.34) and there was positive association trend with neurotrophin-3 (NT-3), BDNF and negative association trend with ProNGF. sLNGFR positively correlated with VAS (r=0.33). The β-NGF/soluble TrkA ratio showed a strong positive correlation with VAS (r=0.80). In contrast, there was no correlation between pain and the β-NGF/sLNGFR ratio (r=-0.08). TNF-α positively correlated with β-NGF (r=0.83), NT-3 (r=0.66), and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) (r=0.50) and negatively with ProNGF (r= -0.74) and positively correlated with both soluble TrkA (r=0.62), sLNGFR (r=0.26).
Conclusions: This study suggests that endogenous or cleaved sLNGFR, but not soluble TrkA may participate in OA pain modulation thus supporting further research into soluble LNGFR as a therapeutic target in OA.
It sounds like, even in the best case scenario, the drug doesn't really cure arthritis but just blunts the pain.
I was thinking it would be something that helps the worn ligament grow back. That I would consider a real cure.
A cure for much arthritis is possibly a Nutritarian Diet promoted by Dr. Joel Fuhrman which reduces inflammation and helps the body rebuild: https://www.drfuhrman.com/blog/119/a-progressive-approach-to... "The traditional treatment of rheumatoid arthritis revolves around medications which typically include steroids and chemotherapeutic agents such as methotrexate, Imuran®, Gold®, Plaquenil®, Arava® and Remicade®. These medications are considerably toxic and can result in serious disability. My approach to treating rheumatoid arthritis differs in that it incorporates dietary modifications and nutritional supplements, avoiding the use of toxic drugs in the vast majority of cases. The recommendations are customized to the needs and response of each patient to treatment and involve more than just putting them on a special diet. However, in most cases, dramatic improvements and even complete recoveries occur. In spite of well-conducted scientific investigations and the clinical experience of many physicians, this effective nutritional treatment of autoimmune disease is generally ignored. I have seen scores of patients with rheumatoid arthritis as well as lupus, fibromyalgia and connective tissue disease obtain complete recoveries through these natural interventions. Also, I have many patients who have made complete recoveries from allergies and asthma. Not every patient obtains a complete remission, but the majority is able to avoid the use of medication."
The big problem in our current society is that there is no substantial money to be made by big companies in promoting these sorts of cures.
Methotrexate is the most vile substance (made one day per week about as useful as a full day hangover) that did help but honestly only as much as the effort I put into a diet change. I completely agree with the above.
Anyone with an autoimmune disorder or chronic inflammation who has not experienced an elimination diet is doing themselves a huge disservice.
Agree. Pain management is an important quality of life topic too
The thing with chronic pain is that often it is garbage data being sent by pain receptors. Or more accurately our muddled processing of the nerve impulses leads to poorly established thresholds that lead to a constant presence of perceived pain. So preventing this pathology based on my experience is a cure. Physical regeneration is a separate target in my opinion.
It sounds like, even in the best case scenario, the drug doesn't really cure arthritis but just blunts the pain.
I was thinking it would be something that helps the worn ligament grow back. That I would consider a real cure.
As far as I can tell, that is what it does:
The drug is based on a molecule he discovered while working at Pfizer, and can be delivered via a once-a-month EpiPen-style injection, where it restores protective processes to diseased joints and enables the regeneration of affected tissues. It works by blocking a compound that supports the nerve cells involved in transmitting pain signals to the brain.
This doesn't say it just blocks the pain, it says it directly affects the nerve cells involved in transmitting pain. Those nerve cells could also be responsible for other unpleasant things, like generally complaining and always being inflamed and inhibiting proper healing.
Interesting - this looks like Beransa[1] (Librela) which is a monthly injection for canines that have osteoarthritis. My dog did not have any noticeable changes to pain after using this for 2 months so I've decided to take him off of it.
My cat has been in the feline equivalent (Solensia/frunevetmab) for about two years, and although it had a huge positive impact for the first 12 to 18 months, it seems to have suddenly completely stopped working in the last little while.
One theory is that the immune system eventually starts attacking the monoclonal antibody med itself, another is that as in humans, the OA progression might accelerate under the drug.
Why is it that words ending in "mab" make me so angry? "vetmab" is the most disgusting use of 6 letters.
When my dogs were alive, they had ketamine shots once a month (I think) and that seemed to help quite a bit.
I thought the same.
My dog's been on it since last October, and it's made a big difference for him. Sorry to hear that it didn't help yours.
I've been wondering how long it would be before something similar was available for humans.
It’s phase 2, not peer review published yet but results are out -https://www.morningstar.com/news/globe-newswire/1000985090/l...
Sounds significant. Phase II is typically not enough to tell if a drug is good because most drugs aren’t that effective compared to current standard of care- you need the large numbers of phase iii to see the real difference. But looks like this drug shows a marked improvement in phase ii itself so it’s actually quite impressive. Last time I read such a story was for imatinib. Expecting good things from this.
This is the Phase II clinic study: https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05618782
They haven't posted the results yet. They have posted a press release saying the results were positive and that they will post the results in a peer reviewed journal. https://levicept.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Levicept-Cli...
The title is misleading. It's not a "cure for Arthritis"; it's a pain killer.
Not quite.
The drug is based on a molecule he discovered while working at Pfizer, and can be delivered via a once-a-month EpiPen-style injection, where it restores protective processes to diseased joints and enables the regeneration of affected tissues. It works by blocking a compound that supports the nerve cells involved in transmitting pain signals to the brain.
The mechanism might be to affect the nerve cells involved in pain signaling, but the effect is to actually help regenerate tissue.
Fantastic, but the title is still misleading.
> It is hoped the drug — which is not a cure but will make the condition much less painful for sufferers [...]As a youngish sufferer of osteoarthritis in my foot I had my hopes up, however there is no mention of cartilage or bone in the article.
The “cure” for osteoarthritis would need to regenerate or replace damaged or missing cartilage, a seemingly impossible task from my limited understanding.
enables the regeneration of affected tissues
This needs some heavy scrutiny, it seems like this is related to tanezumab. Which yes, blocks pain by affectively sticking a lego in front of another lego that when connected says hey I'm hurt, but doesn't pro-actively heal anything as far as I'm aware.
The usual play with claims like this is that with reduced inflammation there might be a better chance of circulation allowing for better natural regeneration (somewhat true?). But active regeneration of damaged tissue especially in places typically afflicted with athritis is a bit more complex because it's often at osteochondral boundry layers aren't as vascularized.
"it restores protective processes to diseased joints and enables the regeneration of affected tissues. It works by blocking a compound that supports the nerve cells involved in transmitting pain signals to the brain."
Yes, I guess you could belittle that by calling it 'a painkiller'. No different at all to taking a handful of ibuprofen, which every arthritis sufferer knows enables regeneration and why it is a solved problem.
It's one thing to read an article one believes is wrong.
It's another thing to read, as we have here, a title that proclaims 'This is a Pipe' to an article that states 'This is not a pipe'
If it weren't a similar story with so many 'medical breakthrough' headlines, it would annoy less.
Two patients can have identical knee x-rays/MRIs - loss of joint space and osteophyte formation etc. But one has pain and the other does not. Do they both have osteoarthritis? They clearly don't have the same dis-ease.
Patient don't care about having cartilage or bone sclerosis or subchondral cyst formation; they care about pain that stops them moving (which in turn can increase their weight further exacerbating the joint issues).
So, osteoarthritis is a problem in that it causes pain. If something specifically reduces osteoarthritic pain, I am okay with it saying it 'beats' the dis-ease.
The issue that people have here is whether being a pain-killer merely masks the disease temporarily and leads to people ignoring the problem and hence aggravating the disease even more. Pain is usually a signal of a real and valid problem.
I am merely explaining what the issue at hand is - I am not saying that is what the proposed medicine does. Another way to say it, is the compound treating the symptom or the problem - or perhaps both.
Imagine you have a hernia that hurts and you take medicine that masks that pain, do you still have hernia?
This is true, although it looks like in this case it may be more useful than just another pain killer, in that if you can reduce the joint pain, people might be more active, which may help them lose weight, which may reduce joint pain. If it's safe to take long term (reading between the lines, sounds like it might be compared to other pain killers), then it could have lasting impact on patients beyond them taking it, which is a good thing.
this is for OA, which means people dont have much joint left in the first place. That is what causes pain. not feeling pain will not turn them into marathon runners
i just did a s/cure/beat/ on the title. Possibly the original article changed its headline; they do that sometimes.
Edit: yup - https://web.archive.org/web/20240811063000/https://www.theti...
Paywalled. How legitimate is this? As a young sufferer
been on an elimination diet for a while, because if I'm not, I get depression and suicidal ideation.
I don't have a diagnosis for arthritis, but I'm testing around a lot and maybe this info helps you in your journey:
I make gelatine from pig's feet occasionally, when I make it with just salt and some lemon or vinegar, I don't have problems.
Last time I thought, maybe try bell pepper, haven't tried for a while and I seem to do okay with capsaicin. Boy was I wrong, within a week I got horrible joint pain in the feet.
Bell peppers are seemingly high in lectin and other phyto-nutrients.
I recently found on hacker news, that I can neutralize oxolates with a pro-biotic - will try that for lectins next. Have to prepare the gut with L-Glutamine and Silicea.
God's speed!
Edit: Between ingestion and symptoms, it takes about 3-4 days
I found some relief in the GLP-1 agonists, a surprising amount actually, and that was not due to any weight loss.
not surprising, I also get inflammationary symptoms when I eat carbs, like heavy joints and drepression.
It's orthogonal to the diet, I actually force myself to eat normally including eating carbs, I actually take it specifically only because it has a strong positive effect on my immune system. There's some research showing as much.
It's (presumably) legitimate research, but it's a long way from market. It's basically a hype article.
makes you wonder if it was commissioned...
Obligatory link to pg article https://paulgraham.com/submarine.html
where it says he took all his savings and "beat arthritis": it doesn't appear he has arthritis, he's an entrepreneur who took all his savings and founded a drug startup company with an idea he had around the time Pfizer laid him off
Yeah. It’s completely unambiguously slimy. As a result, I feel absolutely zero connection with the author. Guessing that wasn’t the intention.
Notice the audience --
A national general daily newspaper.
Guessing that wasn’t the intention.
No guessing needed.
Therefore the article itself is slimy, it is overt, and you are reading it VIA a tech-blog.
The slimy idea COULD be valid if there is the belief that BECAUSE this article is linked by a tech-blog (HN), that it is a technical article. The OP, https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=shoggouth could be the person you'd want to direct the critque at. However since the mandate of HN is not restricted to tech articles, merely interesting tech related stuff often with an entrepreneurial bent, it is appropriate.
So, not slimy in any way.
The title is a bit misleading, but technically correct, as in it doesn't say my arthritis. But I'm still going to take it, along with every other headline about medical (or energy) breakthrough with a biiiig grain of salt, as these are often sales pitches to attract investors.
It's not a misleading title at all. It's the people that infer something the title doesn't state that are misleading themselves.
I disagree with the critique - his JOB was / is to FIGHT arthritis on a scientific basis.
Reasoning: He does not come off as a person without sympathy, and without empathy, so I feel comfortable assuming he FEELS it when the downstream users of his discoveries achieve improvement in their life due to his "fighting" medical work.
It's because this is a marketing piece. It's not a lie but there is a gloss of PR.
yeah. somehow I also thought the same, but both interpretations are valid. I felt more irked by the title being in the first person when in fact the article is not written by the person seemingly making that statement
The drug is based on a molecule he discovered while working at Pfizer, and can be delivered via a once-a-month EpiPen-style injection, where it restores protective processes to diseased joints and enables the regeneration of affected tissues. It works by blocking a compound that supports the nerve cells involved in transmitting pain signals to the brain.
So, it restores lost tissue by numbing nerves? This makes no sense.
Wonder if it's just poor reporting or if there is something to this?
It just takes away the pain, it’s clearly written in the article.
The headline is misleading then, it should say "... beat the pain of osteoarthritis".
Isn't it weird how you can work on an inherently benevolent endeavour and then present the whole thing on a way that looks like you're trying to con people (and looks unscientific to boot). Marketing really is a scourge.
"...it restores protective processes to diseased joints and enables the regeneration of affected tissues..."
"It is hoped the drug — which is not a cure but will make the condition much less painful for sufferers — ..."
The reporting is functioning as intended, don't worry.
It's actually way more complicated than I think the article can explain to the audience it's targeting. Nerve Growth Factors turn a bunch of different "dials" in the body. The main ones of course are the growth, maintenance, and survival of neurons in different parts of the body however some other "dials" they adjust are inflammation and immune response.
So it affects the nerves in a much more complex way than simple numbing and on top of that it also plays a part in regulating inflammation and auto-immune activity that may worsen arthritis and prevent the body from healing what it can.
And this is a gross oversimplification but it gets the function across a bit better than the article.
I'm thinking the nerves were negative feedback for the regeneration pathways.
The drug blocks NT-3, which is involved in nerve signaling and regeneration, but also is thought to play a role in causing the excess inflammation that leads to joint degeneration in osteoarthritis. By blocking it, it seems they believe it may allow the joints time to heal from the excess inflammation that had been causing degeneration.
It is hoped the drug — which is not a cure but will make the condition much less painful for sufferers
It works by blocking a compound that supports the nerve cells involved in transmitting pain signals to the brain.
Unfortunately it doesn't fix the underlying issue.
but the sentence prior says "it restores protective processes to diseased joints and enables the regeneration of affected tissues." I don't understand how it does if it's just blocking pain signals.
I don’t know about this case, but in general, the body’s reaction to pain sometimes makes things worse, so relieving pain can be part of encouraging recovery.
Degenerative diseases don’t de-pathologise when you remove their pain
Pathways that remove pain can be due to healing though, it's a mildly positive indicator.
This is at best a fallacy with occasional exceptions and in this particular case, just plain incorrect.
If it works by 'blocking a compound that supports nerve cells in transmitting pain' it isn't doing anything to correct the pathology. You are, in the truest sense of the way that people naively talk in derogatory terms around modern medicine, 'treating the result, not the cause'
It's definitely not a fallacy that things that relieve pain can also help heal or prevent damage, NSAIDs are a great example. It mentions it may do more than just blocking the signal in the article.
One thing I learned repeatedly while dealing with a chronic health condition is to never assume that you're "about to beat it". I've had that feeling about 1000 times now, and telling that to my family and friends just made me sound like an idiot, since I would invariably regress again.
Now I'm at a point I would only be fine with saying this if I didn't have any issues after a prolonged interval.
The researcher here does not have arthritis. He is developing a drug to cure arthritis for everyone.
He is developing a drug to cure arthritis for everyone.
That's not it at all. Read the article.
This article is about a biotech company that is aiming to reduce pain from arthritis using an injectable chemical (as an alternative to taking ibuprofen every day), whereas I think from your comment it sounds like a personal journey hoping to recover from a chronic health condition (I doubt this is happening any time soon for arthritis, unfortunately).
Some do see remission with the modern expensive Biologics, but those only treat the underlying inflammatory condition. The damage to a body remains from the inflammatory cycles, short-term steroid treatments, and pain medications.
It is one of my biggest pet peeves seeing folks with "good intentions" spout off about nonsense "cures" for a suite of currently chronic conditions. There are specific gene therapies being researched that _may_ remove the need for heavy medications at _some_point_ in the next decade, but the damage done by the disease will still require joint replacement surgeries etc.
Most competent people I've met have zero sense of humor when it comes to this area of research, and would have also fired anyone that mistakes pain medication for a "cure" (unless I misunderstood the press release gibberish.)
Have a great day, and please consider starting a fact-checking wiki like snopes to document the ignorant new age nonsense people perpetuate. =3
The drug is based on a molecule he discovered while working at Pfizer.
Is Pharma different than Engineering in terms of IP?
If my former employer has evidence that what I am working on in a new gig was discovered while on company time using company resources couldn't they sue?
It says he used the money from redundancy to continue with his work. Pfizer would have a hard time winning that case because the discovery was made past their employment. Having field knowledge doesn't make it a crime. Coding is different because it's easier to copy paste functions & classes, it also doesn't help that everything has timestamps. Your best bet is to rewrite everything.
Maybe it's semantics, but I understand it was discovered while at Pfizer and further developed post-redundancy. IANAL but it definitely feels like a grey area?
It's not a grey area at all. The article literally says that he purchased the IP rights from Pfizer, and as part of the deal they got a small stake in his new company.
Doesn’t the article touch on this:
On leaving the company, he acquired the intellectual property [IP] rights from his former employer…
I really want him to be a success, but...
> The drug is based on a molecule he discovered while working at Pfizer
tells me that he'd better have good lawyers on speed-dial.
FTA, he bought the rights a long time ago. Still might need that lawyer, obviously.
If a lot of money is on the table, all kinds of loopholes can exist. You see stuff like that, all the time, with academic research.
[EDITED TO ADD] It’s really common for large corporations, with staff counsel, to lodge lawsuits they know they can’t win, because they bet their pockets are deeper, and they think they can force a settlement.
Ugly, but it’s the American way. He may have more luck in the UK, though.
Keep reading
I know. Read below.
They had very good, robust Phase II results.
Thinks can go wrong in Phase III.
Relyvrio (HIV vaccine) did well in P2 but flopped on P3.
Cancer drug xevinapant failed in P3 after Merck executives were reassuring analysts that the failure of a phase 3 trial of xevinapant was “unlikely.”
Relyvrio was ALS drug.
I don't think any HIV vaccines have gotten to phase III yet.
I don't know if the trials were technically phase 3, but the 2008 Canarypox attempt was pretty big and failed.
The drug is based on a molecule he discovered while working at Pfizer
I can see Pfizer lawyers salivating uncontrollably after reading that phrase. Extremely unwise of him to mention this.
Until they read the next part:
On leaving the company, he acquired the intellectual property [IP] rights from his former employer
And Pfizer is an investor in his company.
Headline seems a bit overdone. The drug completed Phase 1 trials. Roughly 14% of successful P1 trials eventually get approved. It'll be probably another 5-10 years before this finishes P3.
It completed Phase 2 trials according to the article. I don't know the rates of P2 trials getting to approval, but he's past safety and initial efficacy in over 510 patients (510 seems to have been only the last trial, so doesn't include P1, which would be significantly smaller).
Not sure what article you read. Phase II trials just wrapped up and showed both tolerability and effectiveness, hitting primary endpoints. Phase III is apparently recruiting, which should reveal any showstopper side effects in a larger and more diverse population. It’s realistic this could hit the market in 3-5 years or less.
Additional info: https://www.fiercebiotech.com/biotech/british-biotech-levice...
Beef: it’s a pain killer, not a fix.
Yeah, it doesn't seem to explain how doing something about the pain receptors is actually fixing the issue; it improves quality of life, sure, but does it fix the cause and repair or avoid damage?
That is, if it's only suppressing pain, the people suffering will do more things that may cause more cartilege damage. (disclaimer: I don't know much about arthritis so I may be wrong)
More paywalled content being posted to HN? Ugh.
Nothing wrong with paywalled content, given its still accessible. Especially in this case where several archive links have been provided
> laid off
More like Pfizer invested in an employee's startup.
what, no garage? he didn't even drop out of college?
This is revolutionary!! truly exciting stuff, I wish I read more about these sorts of breakthroughs monthly....I hope we'll get to this level more regularly with AI biology models.
If true, what an amazing discovery.
Here is the article with no paywall: https://archive.ph/Cwtq3
The drug is based on a molecule he discovered while working at Pfizer
On leaving the company, he acquired the intellectual property [IP] rights from his former employer
A lot of people don't do this when they leave or are terminated. It doesn't usually succeed, but it's always worth at least making the attempt. (In this case, Pfizer gave him the IP rights to the molecule he discovered in exchange for a portion of his company.)
My cat has the occasional bad arthritis flare up which we give her Solensia (another NGF targeting drug, but via monoclonal antibodies) for. It works incredibly well. Within 12 hours they go from being barely able to walk to being totally fine and mobile again.
I used to work in life sciences data analysis.
Many times, I met people who genuinely believed they were super close and about to achieve a "huge" breakthrough.
In each case, the scientists themselves, in their minds, were absolutely convinced they were on the brink of unfathomable achievements: curing Alzheimers, or some cancers etc.
Particularly true for the scientists in biomedical startups - they were like Mulder from X-Files; they all wanted (and were desperately eager) to believe. Like Elizabeth Holmes of Theranos, I think she completely believed her own exaggerations and BS - at some point, fact and fiction merge.
Thus I've become extraordinarily skeptical of articles like these.
Avoid carbs
Can you expand on your reply with some sources and / or the science behind it? Just saying "avoid carbs" sounds like oversimplified dietary advice.
We were asked for dietary advice and GP provided it.
I think you're right. I suspect pre-diabetes causes lots of these types of symptoms especially when you're not young anymore, and basically the cure is manage carbs (and exercise)
Yes, there are no essential carbohydrates.
2nded.
Eat foods in a way that can ignite ketosis periodically throughout the month and treat carbs as it's something your allergic to. I have personally (finally after 7 years) started regulating my cluster headaches which is an inflammation problem.
Arthritis is an auto-immune disorder, and while this might sound “basic” I would see what a high dose of vitamin D supplement can do for you, with preliminary blood work and a doctor’s approval of course. Vitamin D is very important in immune system regulation.
It has helped my mom who’s 74 (and has had it since early 50’s) significantly to the point where pain is mostly gone and inflammation is rare. It took about half a year for symptoms to be mostly gone. While it was my idea her doctor signed off on high dose (6000% typical daily allowance) prescription supplements considering the practically non-existing risk. Two years on and it’s stable and her life is a lot better.
Taking too much vitamin D can lead to hypercalcemia, which is an excess of calcium in the blood. This can cause symptoms such as:
Nausea and vomiting
Weakness and fatigue
Confusion and disorientation
Abnormal heartbeat
Kidney damage (in severe cases)
Long-term excessive intake can also increase the risk of kidney stones and other health problems.
Just get enough vitamin K so that the D goes in the right places
I think you are thinking of rheumatoid arthritis?
Osteoarthritis is not an immune disorder.
You’re correct, I forgot to specify: my mom has both, but her osteoarthritis has practically been “paused” for two years after getting the rheumatoid arthritis in check. Her specialist is not sure why that is. And this is years after she stopped to southern climates during the winter months which used to be her only relief and help. They’re doing regular check ups to keep it observed.
I know this is a lil more extreme and Dr Greger does have an agenda of Plant based diets but he always has a decent explanation of the possible triggers.
https://nutritionfacts.org/video/why-do-plant-based-diets-he...
I know this is well-intentioned, but please keep this stuff out of health threads about serious health conditions. This kind of material lacks rigor, dramatically misrepresents the state of scientific and medical thought, cherry picks studies, overstates the effect sizes and passes off speculation and easily digestible explanations (for laypeople) as emerging medical truths.
Long-term sufferers of RA - and the people in their support networks - know first-hand that RA is a complex and progressive condition that requires some pretty hardcore medical interventions to manage. Like other auto-immune diseases, different people will experience different disease courses. A very small few will be lucky enough that their disease goes into remission for no clear reason. Others will try everything under the sun only to see their disease become worse and worse. The reality for sufferers is that there aren't quick fixes and simple triggers.
It's reasonable to expect that general lifestyle interventions such as healthier diet and the right type of exercise regime may improve symptoms within the margins permitted by the underlying disease process. But promoting content that centers the role of "lifestyle" once RA has already developed only trivializes the disease and widens the empathy gap that sufferers already face.
Some one asks for ideas on how diet may help. Someone else answers with a ref to Dr Greger.
Now you come that this "widens the empathy gap that sufferers already face" and "trivializes the disease".
I think you are overreacting.
Dietary advice is one thing. Woo peddling and fringe medicine is another. The original question didn't even ask about rheumatoid arthritis.
I'm not overreacting. There are many people who will read my comment and know exactly what I'm talking about. This is simply a "you get it or you don't" situation where you're currently on the "doesn't get it" side.
Ok. In that case well done! You are policing the internet, telling everyone who's wrong they are wrong and "who dont get it", that "they dont get it".
I have psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis which I take biologics for. The biologic I am on now is working wonders but the others have been hit or miss.
In my experience, removing sugar has helped. Tumeric and Glucosamine have been known to help with anti inflammatory ailments. My sister in law takes bone broth and it has helped a lot with issues.
Does stress play a role in flare-ups for you? A family member has this, and aside from joint shocks .. kicking a thing too hard resulting in knee flare ups .. his stress level impacts his flare ups. E.g. "This thing in my life is going badly and I cannot escape it." .. when he does escape it, there are fewer flare-ups. ?
Dave Asprey claims that calcium oxalate (abundant in spinach) can cause arthritis.
Cause or "is correlated with"?
I know that spinach (and other high oxalate foods) should not be eaten more than once or twice per week.
Maybe carnivore like Mikhaila Peterson?
I do ketovore but for other reasons.
If I was in your position, I would ease in to a whole food, plant based diet.
What this means is a lot of cooking from scratch, which means hands! So how about a whole food, plant based diet that requires very little preparation?
This is serious, so please do not waste time with 'cut out teh carbz' bro science. Do not take advice from anyone that talks of 'seed oils' and other keto talking points. Keto and carnivore diets are fad diets that are just another way to get to calorie restriction. They are popular amongst people with protein obsessions and social media influencers, because who does not want to eat steak and butter?
The whole food, plant based diet means no animal products, no refined sugars, no processed foods and lots of plants. Lots is important as vegetables, pulses, grains, beans and fruit are not as calorie dense as a lump of meat. You will need to be eating huge bowls of cooked food and not skipping meals just so you can get your calories in.
On a whole food, plant based diet, you can vary your diet by the season. This means buying from the vegetable and fruit aisles, going for whatever is on offer.
Due to the hands, you might want to buy lots of prepared frozen vegetables. Get the lot.
Oils are what you don't want in your system. Clearly we need some fats but there are plenty in nuts. Personally I only use a small amount of mild olive oil in the air fryer, I don't have butter or fake spreads.
Sugar is surprisingly easy to give up and comes with immediate health benefits as you have to home cook everything to avoid sugar. Sugar is in sauces and other savoury products that you would not expect.
Once you have knocked off sugar, you can knock off the animal products and expand your repertoire of goto plant based recipes.
What works for me is slow cooking. I usually start by putting a chopped onion and some garlic in the pot, to then add some starchy vegetables such as sweet potato, then some leafy greens, then a tonne of lentils and dried beans.
If there is room I put even more vegetables in and add some herbs and spices. Sometimes this could be a curry, or it could be a new herb I am experimenting with. Ginger goes in quite often, there is no fixed recipe as recipes are boring.
I usually add some chopped tomatoes, top up with water and set the thing to do its thing for about four hours.
This approach means I am spending twenty minutes in the kitchen every day, in total. I often add grains such as rice or barley, or I add pasta to the pot after taking my first portion, adding water as appropriate. Grains or pasta does not take four hours, an hour should be good. This means my second portion is a variation on the first.
To top out my slow cooked creation I put some tofu or even some vegetables such as broccoli in the air fryer, with some herbs. This gives different texture.
Just by varying the ingredients I can get variety even though I am doing a one pot meal.
Be an autodidact with this, implement your changes on a monthly basis and see how the inflammation in your hands changes. If you go WFPB then you should end up with excellent gut health, to be in the middle of the Bristol Poo Scale every time, with farts that don't smell.
This is an elimination diet, specifically sugar and animal products. Once you have done the 'factory reset' then you can add in the favourites again, super sensitive to how you feel afterwards. Or you might not want to. I could not care for sugar when it was gone, and the same with dairy, which I thought I was wedded to.
One pot meals, tray bakes and air fried things provide enough variety for me. I don't indulge in salads because of the lack of calories, and neither do I make smoothies because they are for babies, gym bros and people in care homes. Cooking is our original innovation and we need cooked food, mostly starches, to get the calories in.