Marion, I'm excited to hear of your progress. My game plan is very similar to yours. I'm also going to have to do a strict elimination diet. Do u have any good resources for one?
We also plan to start a family within the next two years and wonder of any adverse effects of enbrel on unborn children and their future well being.(obv fathers and mothers will vary... but still)
Outside of finding out your trigger foods, what is your plan of attack for healing your gut?
Any help from the medicinal plants?
Happy new year everybody!!!
Hello Coattails,
Sorry it's taking me so long to reply, what just busy with all those New Year's festivities :-).
I can see we are thinking of doing the same, for the same reasons. As far as pregnancies are concerned, I know there is close to no data available as to Enbrel being taken during pregnancy (by the mother), therefore, I'm not willing to take the risk of realising the hard way it's not good for a baby. However, I'm not sure if you're a man or a woman, so if you're a man, it might be different, I assume the amounts of the drug that would get into the sperm and be passed on to a baby might be small enough to be harmless ?
As for my game plan, I've read, on Betty Rawker's advice, "Breaking the Vicious Cycle", about the Specific Carbohydrate Diet and that seems to make a lot of sense so I think i'm gonna try and follow something along those lines.
That's how I think I'll go about it : start with a couple days water/bone broth fast (I'd go longer but doubt I'll manage it).
Then add animal proteins (unprocessed/uncured meat & fish) + more bone broth + a couple non-starchy veggies (spinach, fennel, leeks...) + jelly for snacks. Stay on that for a bit, realistically one week-10 days. If I've got minimal inflammation by then, I want to start reintroducing the following foods, one by one, probably 3 days apart, whilst keeping a food & symptoms diary : eggs, berries, coconut products (oil, milk, flour, flakes), low starch veggies (sprouts, cabbage, broccoli...), citrus, almond products (milk, flour, flakes), cured meats (ham, bacon), nightshades, other seeds (chia, flax, pinenuts, sesame...), avocados, asparagus, chillies & spices, apple & pears, honey, starchier veggies (carrots, beetroot, parsnip, green beans, courgettes, pumpkin...), tropical fruit, alcolhol, (wine, beer, cider, spirits) dried fruit, and then maybe attempt real starches like rice or sweet potato. Basically just see how far I can push it and still get good results.
That's the theory, now I realise it is gonna be demanding and I hope i can carry it out... I'm thinking of starting early Feb (the leftover Christmas Cake should be gone by then :-)...). When are you thinking of doing yours ?
Also I think at some point I'll have to try proper "bad" starch just once, to see what -if any- reaction I get...
Hope that's helpful, let me know if you have any other questions, and what you're thinking of doing as well !
All the best !
Marion
