• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Does LCHF contribute to arthritis pain...?

  • Thread starter Thread starter debrasue
  • Start Date Start Date
D

debrasue

Guest
Is there any evidence to suggest that an LCHF diet can contribute towards arthritis pain? And if so, can the forum offer any suggestions how to counteract this?
Thanks for any help/advice you can offer.
 
Hi, I believe it is just the opposite. Carbs are inflammatory, so reducing them should reduce the inflammation. It has proved to be the case for me, at least. I never had bad arthritis, just the beginnings of it, but all symptoms have now disappeared. I believe also that @poshtotty had remarkable success with low carb.
 
I have psoriasic arthritis and it has vastly improved on my 80g carb per day as has my psoriasis
 
I certainly haven't heard that, but then I wasn't looking out for it. In some cases, like @poshtotty she found the opposite.

It could be you are having a sort of withdrawal from something? I once did an exclusion diet, as recommended by a naturopath for a post-viral poly-arthritis condition which served to show which foods impact d the condition. For me, that was acidic food (which I have always loved!!). Once I gave that up, I did have some withdrawal, then an improvement, until the arthritic style inflammation went. Every so often I have to trim back on the acidic stuff, which nowadays wouldn't include oranges, but does include tomatoes and anything pickled.

Hopefully posh and others can add some current wisdom as my acute issue was many years ago, well before the big D entered my planet.
 
My joint inflammation (mainly knees) has improved by going from LC to VLC - quite noticably.

But I think the biggest differnce was back when I cut out grains. I am not totally strict about it, but I avoid wheat and rice, etc. where reasonably possible, and from the point I did that, the pain in my hands started to reduce, and 5? 6? years later, it is a distant memory. My knuckles have returned to their original shape and strength - which I thought I had lost forever.
 
Hmmm, I wonder if it's down to dairy, then? I have been consuming more whole milk, yoghurt, cream and cheese since following the LCHF diet... I'm aware that vegetables from the nightshade family (potatoes - not eating those anyway - mushrooms, peppers, etc.) can contribute, so I have been limiting these somewhat, but I'm at a loss to understand what else it might be. As the weeks go by the pain seems to be becoming more and more intense.
Oh dear, I guess I can do without the milk, cream and yoghurt, but cheese is going to be a huge loss... :(
 
Brunneria said:
My joint inflammation (mainly knees) has improved by going from LC to VLC - quite noticably.

But I think the biggest differnce was back when I cut out grains. I am not totally strict about it, but I avoid wheat and rice, etc. where reasonably possible, and from the point I did that, the pain in my hands started to reduce, and 5? 6? years later, it is a distant memory. My knuckles have returned to their original shape and strength - which I thought I had lost forever.
Click to expand...
Wow - that's impressive! What's VLC? Is it below 30g?
 
Brunneria said:
My joint inflammation (mainly knees) has improved by going from LC to VLC - quite noticably.

But I think the biggest differnce was back when I cut out grains. I am not totally strict about it, but I avoid wheat and rice, etc. where reasonably possible, and from the point I did that, the pain in my hands started to reduce, and 5? 6? years later, it is a distant memory. My knuckles have returned to their original shape and strength - which I thought I had lost forever.
Click to expand...
Thinking about it, the pain in my hands HAS reduced, but the pain in my knees/feet/ankles has increased. Maybe I should just 'suck it up' and persevere for longer...?
 
debrasue said:
Thinking about it, the pain in my hands HAS reduced, but the pain in my knees/feet/ankles has increased. Maybe I should just 'suck it up' and persevere for longer...?
Click to expand...

Question from left field: any chance you are (without noticing) being more active now you are LC? Maybe that could place more strain on the knees and ankles...?
 
debrasue said:
Wow - that's impressive! What's VLC? Is it below 30g?
Click to expand...

Yes, ish.

I used to eat somewhere around 60-80g carbs before arriving on the forum, and had DEFINITE LC benefits from that.

But have now been under 50g carbs for 2-3 years (probably between 20 and 40 g on average) and seen the benefits improve even more.

If I could stand being under 20g long term, I am sure there would be additional benefits but I just get booooorrrrrreeeeeedddddd. :D
 
Brunneria said:
Yes, ish.

I used to eat somewhere around 60-80g carbs before arriving on the forum, and had DEFINITE LC benefits from that.

But have now been under 50g carbs for 2-3 years (probably between 20 and 40 g on average) and seen the benefits improve even more.

If I could stand being under 20g long term, I am sure there would be additional benefits but I just get booooorrrrrreeeeeedddddd. :D
Click to expand...
I'm averaging around 40g at present, and have been for the past 5 weeks, and I've given up grains, potatoes, rice, pasta etc. Maybe I need to be more patient to see results, as I appreciate this is very early days.
 
debrasue said:
Hmmm, I wonder if it's down to dairy, then? I have been consuming more whole milk, yoghurt, cream and cheese since following the LCHF diet... I'm aware that vegetables from the nightshade family (potatoes - not eating those anyway - mushrooms, peppers, etc.) can contribute, so I have been limiting these somewhat, but I'm at a loss to understand what else it might be. As the weeks go by the pain seems to be becoming more and more intense.
Oh dear, I guess I can do without the milk, cream and yoghurt, but cheese is going to be a huge loss... :(
Click to expand...
It may well be - I don't do much dairy as it flares up both my skin and joints - also animal fats especially from red meat - white meat like pork and chicken less so - I do eat small amounts of hard cheese - find cheese like feta, goats cheese I can tolerate a lot more - also creme freshe rather than cream or yoghurt - I am very lucky that I don't like dairy anyway do find it easy to avoid.
Maybe try almond milk or some other substitute and healthy fats from nuts avacado etc
 
debrasue said:
I'm averaging around 40g at present, and have been for the past 5 weeks, and I've given up grains, potatoes, rice, pasta etc. Maybe I need to be more patient to see results, as I appreciate this is very early days.
Click to expand...
Do you keep a food diary at all? I'm a data monster and always have been. It's so fun sedulous to be able to log k back, and f you make notes too.
 
AndBreathe said:
Do you keep a food diary at all? I'm a data monster and always have been. It's so fun sedulous to be able to log k back, and f you make notes too.
Click to expand...
Yes, I do, and I incorporate my readings into it, too, in an attempt to see the effect that various foods are having. I can't say I'm really picking up on any recurring themes yet, though.
 
debrasue said:
Yes, I do, and I incorporate my readings into it, too, in an attempt to see the effect that various foods are having. I can't say I'm really picking up on any recurring themes yet, though.
Click to expand...
Do you also note your exercise and when when you have increased pain? If not, then that should be a priority or something ours just guessing.
 
There was one other thing that changed that I felt made a difference to my joint inflammation - and feel free to poo poo it :D

I changed from a laptop with a cordless mouse back to a desktop with a corded mouse.

The laptop battery used to rest on my knees (I was very aware of the warmth in summer!) and the cordless mouse had a rechargeable battery that sat under my R hand (the one with the worst inflammation).

The improvements in my hands and knees roughly coincided with the dietary changes AND no longer sitting with my R hand and both knees bathed in the magnetic field of those batteries.

Make of that what you will. :borg:
 
Brunneria said:
There was one other thing that changed that I felt made a difference to my joint inflammation - and feel free to poo poo it :D

I changed from a laptop with a cordless mouse back to a desktop with a corded mouse.

The laptop battery used to rest on my knees (I was very aware of the warmth in summer!) and the cordless mouse had a rechargeable battery that sat under my R hand (the one with the worst inflammation).

The improvements in my hands and knees roughly coincided with the dietary changes AND no longer sitting with my R hand and both knees bathed in the magnetic field of those batteries.

Make of that what you will. :borg:
Click to expand...
Hmm, interesting... I'm sure that today's snowstorm of electronic/magnetic fields which constantly bombards us doesn't do us any good at all. Even mobile phones - I'm very aware of my ear becoming 'hot' when I use one, so I tend to use the loudspeaker function most of the time, but that's a problem if I'm speaking to someone who's driving and who is also on loudspeaker.
 
Thank you for the mentions. Yes I had severe rheumatoid arthritis which was diagnosed 10 years ago, around the same time T2 was diagnosed. I've been LCHF'ing for just over 2 years and was told by my RA consultant 18 months ago that my RA is now in remission. An operation to replace 2 damaged joints was cancelled (due to my blood sugars being dangerously high) and when reviewed for surgery after getting my bs and HbA1c into near non-diabetic levels, my surgeon informed me that the joints had repaired themselves enough not to need surgery.

It can only be my diet that has brought about this improvement. I'm committed to LCHF for life as its enabled me to give up all the nasty RA meds, including a weekly injection of Methatrexate.

I do also take exceptionally good food supplements which I order from a supplier in the USA, together with Vit D during the winter, replacing the tablets in the summer for plenty of sunshine :)

I should say that I'm still in remission.

Do you take statins? They are also known to cause aches and pains
 
Back
Top