Well, so since this shit is killing me, I have been reading a LOT about arthritis and ways to manage the pain. While my feet and knees have been somewhat bearable – if not fully functional – my hands/wrists and my neck are in excruciating pain almost constantly. Add that to the injured right shoulder that never wants to heal and the left one that gets strained because it’s trying to do the work for the right, and I essentially have NO upper body function without a lot of slow motion and teeth gritting, and there are a good number of things I simply cannot DO.
I joined a few FB arthritis groups, and am learning a lot about the condition. I already knew it was an autoimmune response. That means my immune system sucks at the moment (unsurprisingly, more on that in a minute), and it’s attacking my body instead of what it’s supposed to attack. One post in one group asked people if it just “happened overnight” (it did, for me – and I thought that was extremely weird), and HUNDREDS of people commented that yes, it did, usually following some physical or mental/emotional trauma.
I guess, for me, you could say it’s been a combination of our wretched situation with no jobs and no solution in sight (we have a GoFundMe that is helping us survive: My GoFundme Campaign – ANY contribution would be greatly and deeply appreciated), combined with the shoulder injury, as well as interpersonal crises (which have blessedly been much better, but hit a fever pitch about a month ago). A lot of trauma all at once.
One person in a group mentioned a program they used. I looked it up. Expensive, so not doing it – BUT, it’s a diet protocol and supplements. From what I am reading all over, this method helps A LOT of people. Some, to the point of complete remission.
I had a similar crisis several years ago. I determined at the time that I had likely become gluten intolerant (again, it happened overnight). I would become inflamed EVERYWHERE. I could SEE myself swelling/bloating, all over. It was largely soft tissues (and that likely also means organs), instead of primarily joints, and left me with a severe flu ache sort of feeling. It also drained my energy, gave me serious brain fog, and made me very depressed. I cut gluten (mostly) from my diet, and it seemed to improve, and eventually it just went away. It was a few years of incidents, though, and at the time I was sure it was a forever thing.
I went back to eating whatever I liked, and have continued as such. Well, that’s kind of inaccurate. Since we have a very small budget for food, I am eating HORRIBLY, and not quite sure how to get onto the right diet, completely. See, the things that cause inflammation are ALL the foods I eat right now. Mostly red meat, when we eat meat. Lots of processed foods (they’re cheaper). Boxed foods. Cereal, sandwiches, burritos, beans. I am a lover of sweet things. So cake – and candy when I can afford it. Sugar is a no-no. Pancakes. Eggs. Dairy products. (The list of inflammatory foods is quite intimidating, and leaves one with a sense of “What’s LEFT I can EAT?!”) ALL of them are contributing to the problem. To eat better will COST MORE.
The UNDERLYING problem is a thing called “leaky gut”. Sounds funny, but it ain’t. And it’s likely the same thing that attacked me before. My wonderful teacher I speak so highly of told me I had all the classic symptoms – and she would know, being a Diet Master, while supporting her immune system through 17 years of clean diet and heavily researched supplementation to keep herself alive with two active forms of cancer ravaging her body. Back then, I started on a supplement program (to a small degree) on her advice, along with the exclusion of most gluten products from my diet. Again, it appeared to have “solved” the issue. And for a several years after, I ate a lot better than I do now and remained conscious of how my body was reacting to foods – and pain free, in that respect.
Leaky gut is just what it sounds like. Tiny bits of food eaten get through the gut wall and start to create havoc in the body. I’m not going to go through a thorough explanation of the condition, since we all have an internet and if this subject pertains to you in any way, there is loads of material on it available out there that I HIGHLY recommend you explore. I think a LOT of us have this issue. It’s because so many of us have such awful diets. Especially here in America, they make it REALLY EASY to eat badly, and really expensive not to.
Anyway, I am reading all over how people have largely overcome the condition (leaky gut AND arthritis – which apparently seem to almost constantly be related) by changing their diets. I can do this, to some degree. My husband, who is likely also suffering with many of the same issues, since we eat the same atrocious diet, and he also has a good deal of pain, is not likely going to want to change much. He also has Type 2 Diabetes, and has had no interest in changing his eating habits for that, either (a highly common conundrum for many Diabetics, believe it or not). We can’t really afford to have two separate diets. But I might be able to shift it SOME. Fewer sandwiches (which are one of my staples in these days of lack of plenty) with better gluten free bread if I just have to have one. Less pasta, unless gluten free. Fewer eggs (I LOVE eggs). Cutting way back on sugar. More vegetables (some fruits – though have to be mindful of sugar, there). Trying to cut out processed foods. Even if it isn’t a perfect practice, cutting DOWN on the trigger foods should have an effect. Of some sort.
There is also a relation to dental health. Yeah, not sure I want to talk about that. I have a mouth full of broken teeth I have no way to address.
Elements of what I am doing now – multiple-daily NSAIDS (some oral, some topical) and the turmeric component of the glucosamine supplement I take – only ADD to the problem. NSAIDS are notorious for causing trouble with the stomach, and many people seem to be sensitive to the turmeric, as well. Anything that negatively impacts the gut impacts the immune system. I have KNOWN this for YEARS, but be damned if I ever remember to apply any of my knowledge to my OWN situations. ((sigh)) So, the end-game is to move towards needing less or none of that pain-relieving structure in the future. It will, of course, be a HELL of a lot easier when I can afford to BUY FOOD, but I have to start somewhere so that I can GET to the point of obtaining a job, again. That is the immediate end goal.
In the end, we all have some pain, physical and/or mental/emotional. But what we must remember is that we also have POWER – to affect change in our lives, which may utterly transform our lives.
There will be a follow-up post to this, discussing the spiritual aspects of this experience for me. Just starting getting back into writing again, so it’s gonna be kind of piecemeal and disconnected, somewhat. I will tag things for relevance, so you can read what interests you. My hope is that I can continue to build material on this site again that is useful and insightful for others, but it’s hard to to express the expanse of things, sometimes. So much unsaid for so long, and here I am trying to disgorge it all, to create some cohesive thing that makes sense in the larger picture.
New Age Vision 