Kickas.org Forums Treatments, Drugs and Alternatives NSD and diet-related; Food antibodies and autoimmune arthritis

I recently decided to do a little research on the possible connection with food sensitivities and autoimmune arthritis. This is because I noticed a significant flare up in my PsA symptoms when I ate 1/2 egg after avoiding all eggs (and other common allergens) for over 3 months.

As long as I can remember, I experienced nausea to the point of wanting to vomit whenever I tried to eat eggs. I enjoyed their taste, though, and didn't seem to have any obvious problems with baked goods with small amounts of eggs.

It never occurred to me that I might actually be allergic to eggs. I always thought an egg allergy involved asthma or serious anaphylaxis reactions. But a quick internet search indicated that it's common to have milder reactions that can include nausea/vomiting. So I plan to see an allergist to check on this and other possible food allergies - though food allergies are often difficult to accurately test for.

Anyway, I did a quick PubMed search, too, and came up with some studies that indicated a possible relationship between food sensitivities and autoimmune arthritis - for SOME people. If you would like to do some reading about it, here are a few:

Gut. 2006 Sep;55(9):1240-7. Epub 2006 Feb 16.
The gut-joint axis: cross reactive food antibodies in rheumatoid arthritis. Hvatum M, Kanerud L, Hällgren R, Brandtzaeg P.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16484508

Arthritis Rheum. 1986 Feb;29(2):220-6.
Food-induced (allergic) arthritis. Inflammatory arthritis exacerbated by milk. Panush RS, Stroud RM, Webster EM.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3513771

Rheumatology (Oxford). 2004 Nov;43(11):1429-33. Epub 2004 Aug 10.
The effect of individualized diet challenges consisting of allergenic foods on TNF-alpha and IL-1beta levels in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Karatay S, Erdem T, Yildirim K, Melikoglu MA, Ugur M, Cakir E, Akcay F, Senel K.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15304675

Even Arthritis Today, a pretty conventional publication by the Arthritis Foundation, included an article on this topic, and the fact that one doctor had a significant percentage of patients improve on a Paleo diet:

Rheumatoid Arthritis Diet: RA and Food Allergies
http://www.arthritistoday.org/conditions/rheumatoid-arthritis/nutrition-and-ra/ra-food-allergies.php

Another article:
The Relationship between RA and the Food You Eat
http://www.arthritistoday.org/conditions...elationship.php

Dealing with food allergies/sensitivities and/or using the autoimmune Paleo diet is not likely to be a cure-all, and it still rarely helps the majority of people that try it - but it may be worth checking out, especially for those of us whose disease is not well controlled by conventional medicine.

Although I'm not as pain-free as I would like, I'm still much better than I was before I started this diet. Just being able to survive without immune-suppressants and regular pain meds is a real blessing. It's now been 6 months of improvement for me. I'm taking this one day at a time.

Have a wonderful Christmas and a great New Year, everyone!

I'm so glad to hear that you are doing better and that you don't have to take immuno-supressive meds and regular pain meds, that's awesome.

I am interested in the links you posted, thanks.

Merry Christmas!!

For me, its casein. through the roof results on the blood testing.

while celiac (gluten allergies) are now well acknowledged, i think things like casein, eggs, etc, will be in time.

i've read a lot about casein allergies since being dx'ed with it, through blood work.

it also said i was a little sensitive to eggs; that connection i haven't seen as much, but i now try to lower my intake of them.