gluten free diet | Arthritis Information

I have been hearing from several different sources about the potential of going on a gluten free diet when I was into my second month after diagnosis I went on a pretty strong all organic diet I told my docs about it and they said if it made me feel great keep it up but there was no literature or opinion on any particular diet etc but I like to hear from those in the trenches those that actually suffer from disease and experiences they have gone thru so if anyone has any thoughts please share thanks!Hi Parker,

Before I was diagnosed with PMR I had eliminated all wheat from my diet sometime before as it caused a horrible itchy rash which only appeared after eating products with wheat. I narrowed it down after trying an Atkins-style diet with no carbs and realising the rash had gone away but came back after a week in Italy with pizza and pasta and worked from there! In the UK is rather restricting to remove wheat without using gluten-free products so I did have a gluten-free diet there and went to a support group locally too which was a great help.

However, here in the north of Italy I am able to get breads made with pure rye, spelt and kamut, the latter are both ancient wheat varieties which I don't react to. All these have gluten in them so in my case it does seem it is an allergy (genuine allergy, hives, rash etc) to highly commercialised wheat products, which is actually quite common. I can't say that my PMR was any less bad whilst I was on a gluten-free diet - I had the symptoms for 4 or 5 years before diagnosis and that partly coincided with the period I was on a totally gluten-free diet.

I do think I feel better with a lowish carb diet - I certainly eat far less carbs than most Americans, mostly fruit and veg, very small amounts even of the breads I do eat (never more than 1 small roll a day and usually less) small portions of potato and pasta (gluten-free) only a few times a month. Sometimes when I am away where I would have to use gluten-free products for those carbs I just don't bother, stick to meat, fish, fruit and veg, and I do feel good. Trouble is - there is something wonderful about a nice crusty roll! And kamut and spelt do provide that!

That's my experience anyway, hope it helps,

MrsE

thank you for the response yes it does sound like you have a true allergy my question is how do you manage a low carb diet with all that great bread around? I got so used to not eating bread that it doesn't really bother me any more. And eating ordinary wheat bread, even when it was truly amazing bread, caused me so much pain and discomfort it was a real off-putting experience! Almost avoidance therapy! It wasn't just the hives at the time I ate it, they were bad enough, but a week later I had another rash preceded by a burning sensation in the skin where the rash was about to erupt and that went on for 6 to 8 weeks before clearing up. The symptoms were very similar to dermatitis herpetiformis which is a form of coeliac disease and can only be treated with a gluten-free diet. The local coeliac expert reckoned that it wasn't worth being gluten-free just in case if I could control the symptoms by leaving out wheat - so that's what I do. If I eat too much spelt at one go I get a bit tickly (rather than itchy) but the whole "no bread" thing is no big deal as long as when I do get to eat it it is really good stuff.

It certainly improves the quality of your diet - and food is something I won't try to save money on. I'd rather eat much smaller portions of something REALLY good than stuff myself with average quality or worse. Our butcher sources all his meat from within about 30 miles of here, so it all grazed on mountain pastures. Our milk is from the local small farmers who either take their cows out onto the meadows in the summer or take the meadow to them by cutting the grass and taking it to the stall! Even the veal comes from calves that had a short but good life drinking milk from mum! And for very little of that am I paying the "organic" premium that is the rule to get that sort of food in the UK (don't know about your side of the pond) - it's a wonderful life!!!!!!! And the sun shines a lot

MrsE

funny you should talk about where your food comes from Early in my disease I went fairly organic and looked on the internet etc and well dairy should be reduced quite a bit but I get fresh milk from a local dairy farm (not many of those around anymore) but the very interesting bit you wrote was about the beef several sites I was reading all said to eat grass fed beef not corn fed and I have to say I really think it made a difference so although it sounds like your living situation is abysmal (ha ha) you've plunked yourself down in a fresh organic heaven! Hi Parker,

We used to live in the American sector in Germany and had many friends in the army or the American school. One of them reckoned there were so many hormones in American beef that she'd had a period several years after the menopause when she'd been home one summer! I've had amazing beef in Kansas City but I didn't like to think what might be in it!!

I've not told you about the relatively local cheese that has dried flowers as the rind have I? you can taste the smell of the meadows! And yes - the lifestyle is awful, you're right

all the best,

MrsE

It is an absolute sin the crap they put in our food supply now there is an uproar about young girls reaching puberty earlier and they believe it is due to exactly what you said - hormones in the food we eat why? for the almighty dollar its sickening anyway I have had Kansas city beef I believe it is corn fed from America's breadbasket - the plains other than that I can can't say! Next year my husband and I may visit italy my grandfathers family was from Naples we've done the Ireland thing and that was pretty cool as we were flying in I said to my husband "you are the first one in your family in 150 years to return" (he was without speech) doesn't happen often!!!!
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