What You Need to Know About Inflammation | Arthritis Information

 

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/09/08/What-You-Need-to-Know-About-Inflammation.aspxWhile I am certain the following statement is more than -true-...
[quote]Chronic inflammation can be the result of a mal-functioning, over-reactive immune system, or it may be due to an underlying problem that your body is attempting to fight off. Many of these “problems” are actually due to an unhealthy lifestyle.[/quote]
...it still has more than a modicum of the same blame the victim mentality that accompanies gender crimes in jurisprudence.

From a personal perspective I was trim, I exercised regularly but not excessively, my diet for most of my life followed what is now called Mediterrranean-style: fresh fruits and vegetables, fish, olive oil, fresh pasta, legumes, etc., limited amounts of red wine and an occasional beer. Moderation was the keyword for me and my husband, a vegetarian keep me from straying too far afield.

It seems from reading many of the posts in this forum that the majority of the people were athletic and health-conscious in the years prior to diagnosis.

I am sure that Dr, Mercola and his team have more than anecdotal evidence to back up that AI "problems" are due to lifestyle, but the article still _feels_ as if it is presenting a case that each of us is to blame for our RA...not a very good feeling, at least for me. However, I freely admit to being ultra-sensitive and to feeling a great deal of self-guilt in my current predicament.

though I smoked.... and it's a "contributing factor"  I cannot say that is why since I didn't smoke at age 10 when first DX'd w/ an RA disease.

Oh my God your responses are what I'm feeling tonight - in the throes of not just a flare but complete out-of-remission and in so much pain.  What did I do to deserve this?  I lived a healthful lifestyle, I was working out in gyms before it was fashionable for women to do so.  Eating a primarily plant-based diet, already eating the joint-healthy salmon, olive oil, etc. just out of my preference for natural foods.  I jumped on the organic bandwagon early.

At my first rheumatologist visit with wrists all a-flame, I cried to him "I can't do pushups anymore" and his response was "So what's your problem?  Who wants to do pushups?"  Shug, I totally agree with all you said.  I'd like to add that I don't fit the criteria that Dr. M. uses to reach his opinion about inflammation in regards to lifestyle.  I was a long distance runner and have eaten a Mediterranean diet for the last 40 years and was extremely healthy with NO health issues when I started to demonstrate symptoms of RA.  Also, a CPR doesn't always indicate when inflammation is present.  I'm a perfect example of that.  For 18 months I was told I was in clinical remission, all normal labs including CPR.  This was my first normal labs in 10 years.  I developed some pain in my wrist and my RD ordered MRIs of both hands to compare with MRIs from 2 years  prior.  The current MRIs when compared to the 2 year old ones showed extensive damage occuring in those 18 months I was supposedly in clinical remission.  My CPR was normal, little or no pain but damage from inflammation was still occuring.  Even with my GOOD diet, no sugars, no preservatives and dyes, and no processed foods I still had inflammation.  I refuse to feel guilty about this disease.  I've done everything possible, but even that isn't good enough and it certainly isn't my lifestyle at fault.  Not everyone, in fact very few of us, respond in such a fashion as Dr. M would like us to with diet.  An anti-inflammatory diet will help  some people to some degree and others not at all.  Lindy [QUOTE=LinB]S...  I refuse to feel guilty about this disease.  I've done everything possible, but even that isn't good enough and it certainly isn't my lifestyle at fault.  Not everyone, in fact very few of us, respond in such a fashion as Dr. M would like us to with diet.  An anti-inflammatory diet will help  some people to some degree and others not at all.  Lindy [/QUOTE]
I am working on refusing to feel guilty...some days it is easier than others. However, there are less and less of those "if only I had _____; if only I hadn't ______" days.

I am heartened to know that I was not the only one to take exception to the article.

It seems to me that life is littered with "if only's".  The trouble with them is that they are invisible until they are behind us.   The best any of us can do is learn from them.  Don't beat yourself up Shug.  You can't go back in time and do things differently but you have done your best to warn the rest of us (you too, LinB) to avoid your mistakes.  Thanks for that. 

Maybe someday we will realize it is mostly genetics that controls what diseases we get and how well we fight them off.  I am reminded of a female doctor in my hometown who also lived the perferctly healthty lifestye - and died of breast cancer at age 42.  Its in the genes folks!  [QUOTE=SnowOwl]Don't drink.  Don't eat red meat.  Don't eat sugar.  Don't eat eggs.  Don't relax on the sofa after a hard day at work.   Our lives are filled with dire warnings of what could happen if we, well, if we live a little.