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[spacehoppa]

I'm into my fifth week of SLD and I'm loving every minute of it  .

I'm 33 years old, female, have long-standing rheumatoid arthritis and am about 50 lbs overweight *shudder*. I've just had a baby and that hasn't helped the weight situation either, but finally my weight seems to be under my control, and without the suffering that went along with the Atkins diet!

I lost another whole pound this morning, so that makes 9 lbs lost in 4 weeks  . I am over the moon! This includes a week's stall in the middle, and for the last 5 days I've lost half a pound every day  :shock: .

My stats are:

starting weight: 196
current weight: 187
starting date: 3rd May 2006
height: 5'6"
age: 33
sex: female

Regimen: experimenting a lot so this keeps changing, but last two days it's been 12 fish oil caps AM and 1 TBLSP ELOO PM.

The most recent dramatic weight loss seems to be since I have given up my morning ritual of chocolate milk. This was my main ditto food, and I think giving it up has had a very profound effect on my weight loss. I am very impressed by such a simple change making such a difference  . I've often wondered whether the fact that I crave this food more than any other is a signal that it is a bad thing for me. I mean, why do I crave it so much? According to Seth, my main ditto food should taste better and better the more I have it (true) and I should be prepared to drive half an hour for it (also true).

The weirdest part is that I haven't had much trouble giving it up, unlike previous occasions, such as when doing Atkins. It has felt like such a sacrifice in the past, but now, no big deal... I don't know why. It might be because I'm not hungry first thing in the morning and not so tempted, but I suspect it's something a bit more involved than that.

In any case, it's like getting a monkey off my back.

I am otherwise eating fairly normally, just less of it. Thank you Seth  !

[spacehoppa]

(Seth, Can you move me to 3 months or more.)

A quick update. I am, as of this morning, anti-inflammatory free ! This is big and important for me for two reasons:

First of all, because I have only been off the anti-inflammatories twice since contracting rheumatoid arthritis 18 years ago (it's an incredibly effective pain reliever for me).
And second, because they've been giving me a stomach ulcer and making me anaemic and I need to get off them for health reasons.

So I am mightily pleased to say the least. I stopped them yesterday and seem to be alright still today. Time will tell if I can stay off them long term. I attribute part of this success to the Hempseed oil I am taking. I think the massive doses of omega 3 I have been getting (I take fish oil as well) have produced a slight anti-inflammatory effect, that when combined with the Humira I take (a wonder drug) have allowed me to get off 15mgs prednisone and 150mg (maxmimum dose) diclofenac per day. I think my improved sleep has helped to some extent as well.

On an SLD note, I am unfortunately a couple of pounds up on my advertised weight (according to my ticker). We've been having a heatwave over here in England and I sometimes get heat headaches that last several days. The only thing I've ever found that breaks the headache cycle is to take prednisone for a few days at 10 - 15mgs/day. I did this for 4 days last weekend and, despite continuing to eat relatively little, I gained 3 pounds in four days on the steroids!

I think this is really significant because the appetite suppression continued but my weight went up anyway! This reflects what I always thought, which is that the steroids raise your blood sugar and make more of what you eat turn to fat. It's true they do also make you hungrier, but in my case the oil was counteracting that, so there must be more to the steroid effect than just making you eat more.

My rheumatologist is always banging on about how I needn't gain weight whilst taking steroids if I just don't eat any extra food. And I always try and tell him I'm extra careful when on steroids, but of course, he doesn't believe me. But now I know for sure. It's interesting because, like the SLD, knowing this takes the guilt out of steroid weight gain for me. My rheumie's advice about just not eating any more to avoid weight gain simply wasn't the right advice. I think in actual fact, I'd have to eat considerably less not to gain weight on steroids. At least now I know!

Anyway, I've lost 1.5 lbs of the weight gain, so I'm back on track and losing again, but it's pretty annoying.

I had another heat headache yesterday. It seems to be associated with nose congestion so I've quit milk, am taking anti-histamines to see if I'm having a mild slow burn allergic reaction to something, slept with my head elevated to help my sinuses drain downwards and slept with a breathe right strip on my nose. I had a much better night's sleep last night and woke this morning with no headache and no sore throat from mouth breathing all night, so hurrah for me and hurrah for self-experimentation! 

[Ann H]

Hooray, hoppa! Great achievements all around! Congrats!

[Seth Roberts]

I'm pleased to see the phrase "simply wasn't the right advice."

[Stephen M (Ethesis)]

Hooray, hoppa! Great achievements all around! Congrats!

Great to have you on board.

[spacehoppa]

Thanks for the encouragement guys!

Ooops, I just realised I'm a week off the 3 month mark yet... I can never remember how many weeks old my baby son is either  :wink: ... Can I stay anyway?

[Stephen M (Ethesis)]

Thanks for the encouragement guys!

Ooops, I just realised I'm a week off the 3 month mark yet... I can never remember how many weeks old my baby son is either  :wink: ... Can I stay anyway?

Of course.

[spacehoppa]

OK, I just had to post this. Yes, I am still at 15 lbs lost. I've been plateauing for the last couple of weeks, with my weight bouncing around a bit, but I've been eating out quite a bit lately and not choosing new things off the menu (slap wrist).

Anyhoo, the really great news for me is that my CRP (a measure of inflammation in the blood) has jumped down from 26.6 last month to 6.90 this month  :shock: . Not only is 6.9 in the normal range, but it means that my rheumatoid arthritis is officially in REMISSION!!!

My last 5 months CRP readings, just so you know that this is WAY lower than ever before, are: 36.90, 38.5, 37.5, 26.6 and finally last week 6.9!

Not only is CRP a marker for inflammation it's also a good predictor of risk for cardiovascular disease and strokes, so I am beyond delighted to have finally got my numbers into the normal range. This has NEVER happened to me before since contracting the disease aged 15.

Also, my other blood numbers continue to improve. My haemoglobin (which has been chronically low due to a stomach ulcer) has gone back up to 13.2, which is slap in the middle of the normal range. This will be because I've recently managed to stop taking my anti-inflammatories, which promote stomach ulcers. My white blood count - which indicates infection (and steroid use) has some down from 13.7 to 8.3 - again, at the middle of the normal range. My platelets, which used to be on the high side, suggestive of clotty blood have come down from 382 to 252. I could go on, but I must be boring you  :wink: .

Another great advance is that I've been taking fish oil as well as hempseed oil. Both of these are chock full of omega 3s and I attribute much of my recent good health to them. But I've found an even more potent (and sadly expensive) form of omega 3 oil called Krill Oil. I've been taking it for just two days and boy do I feel different!! I mean really different...

I feel strong and solid on my feet and robust and healthy and my mind feels clearer too. I haven't felt like this for, well, as long as I can remember. Every time I think my health has got as good as it's going to get, it just gets better  . Now, I have been on the humira (an arthritis wonder drug) for 5 months now and I attribute most of my improvement to that fantastic drug... But even on Remicade (a similar drug) and whilst pregnant (and technically in remission) my CRP numbers have never been this low and I've never felt this good, or anything close to it.

Yay for me  .

Losing weight is really a side issue for me here now that I've managed to improve my health so much, but, hey, I'll take it, I'll take it all  .

[Stephen M (Ethesis)]

Congrats, very much, congratulations!

[javacody]

Congratulations!

I think that this is prime evidence that diet can greatly impact our health, moreso than most doctors seem willing to admit.

This also flies in the face of the stupid advice that many folks in the medical community are still spewing:

That a low fat diet is healthy.

Bah! Bah, I say! 

[katrobin]

Spacehoppa
     Congratulations on your remission! I am going to my rheumatologist in Sept. and am hoping for improved results as well! Keep up the good work. By the way, where did you find Krill oil? Do you feel that has helped the arthritis?
katrobin

[spacehoppa]

Hi Katrobin,

I found Krill oil at this web site http://www.foryourhealth.co.uk/store.asp?catId=12&gclid=CIa_yca5vIYCFQZ9EAodFUeAQQ, but I think it's a UK one. It's easy to get hold of in America as well. I know that the www.mercola.com web site promotes it. And yes, I do think it's helping. Within two days of taking it I was finally off the anti-inflammatories altogether and I feel more robust, my balance is better, my head is clearer and I'm sleeping wonderfully. I was getting this effect with hempseed oil and fish oil combined, but this seems to have taken me to an even better state of health. I'm surprised the effect was so pronounced and so quick!

I'll follow up to let you know if it continues. Mind you, it's a bit like being in a room with a strong smell, you smell it at first, but after a while you stop noticing it. Equally, you forget pain quickly and get used to feeling more robust etc., so it might be hard to tell if the effect is continuing, if you see what I mean. Mind you, I'd certainly notice if I went back to being as bad as I was a few months ago, or even a few weeks ago, as I'd have to go back on the anti-inflammatories and my blood results would go back up.

I read a very interesting thing about omega 3 and 6 oils and anti-inflammatories being designed to block the action of excess omega 6. You might be interested in it. The thread is here: http://boards.sethroberts.net/index.php?topic=1683.0

Let me know how you get on! 

[Rabin the Cat]

This is amazingly good news. I sent a link to your thread to a friend who was diagnosed with RA last year.

[kindall]

My dad recovered from rheumatoid arthritis oh, fifteen or twenty years ago by taking cod liver oil every day, and not just a little. I'd always assumed it was all in his head (he has some, um, novel theories about a lot of things) but maybe it wasn't such a wacky thing to do after all. (He also applied DMSO.)

[imsovain]

More krill and arthritis info:

http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/archives/2006/07/ditch_your_nsai.html

http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/archives/2006/07/why_krill_oil.html