RA Dietary Supplement Use Questionnaire

I know I've written about this quite a few times in the past, but here we go again: the importance of research. Continuing research is so important for developing future treatment options and improving quality of life for people living with RA. 

I was recently contacted by a researcher at the the University of Arizona with a graduate degree in Nutritional Sciences who is working on a project to find out what medications, vitamins/minerals, botanical supplements, and food/diets people with RA use to manage their symptoms. The information will help researchers determine future research projects surrounding disease management, safety and efficacy of natural treatments/supplements, and potential interactions between medications and supplements. 

She has put together a survey that is competently anonymous and only takes a few minutes to answer - I just did it myself! If you are willing to take a moment to contribute to this research, please click here.  

The End of Gluten-Free

After six months of diligently avoiding all gluten, I've decided that my gluten-free journey has come to an end. To be perfectly honest, I don't think the gluten-free diet has had any direct effect on controlling the RA. I've been experimentally eating gluten again for about three weeks and I'm still feeling fine. Since I have so many other health-related issues (and eating gluten-free is a lot of work) I decided not to do it anymore.

But I did learn a lot from my gluten-free experience. It taught me to pay attention to all the food I put in my body. As a result, we have adopted much healthier general eating habits. Being gluten-free also helped me adjust my attitude in order to make the major life changes that have been necessary to adapting to living with RA. The other blog was also a fabulous project for keeping me sane while I was out of school!

For anyone who still is gluten-free, hopefully Gluten-Free From A to Z can still serve as a database when it comes to purchasing gluten-free products.

Awarded!!

I don't know why, but for the past couple of days I've been feeling like I had a battle with a steam roller and lost. So I can't tell you how much it cheered me up to see that my very wonderful friend KA has given this blog an award! This award is given to a blogger who shows great attitude and gratitude. So, given that at least some of the posts on this blog are more about my frustrations and occasionally wanting to give up, it was great to know that KA thinks, overall, this blog has a great attidue. So thank you very much KA!

After receiving this award, I'm supposed to post the award logo (the lemonade stand) on my blog and then pass the award along to 5 other bloggers who show great attitude and gratitude. Then I'm supposed to comment on each of their blogs to let them know that they have recieved this award from me!

But before I hand out my awards, I want to give a shout out to my friend KA. Her blog lawn fawn cards talks about the process of making her beautiful handmade cards. She posts pictures of the cards and really fun instructional videos that show her making them. And each and every one of her cards is unique and gorgeous - certain to really make someone's day! Which reminds me - mother's day is coming up on May 10th and she's got some gorgeous mother's day cards in her online shop. And, if you live in the LA area, she will have even more mother's day cards at a trunk show in Glendale on May 2nd. Trust me - your mom will love them!

Ok. On to my awards!

My first award goes to my college roommate AJ (soon to become AK!!!) who originally encouraged me to use blogging as an outlet for everything I'm dealing with. She is a fantastic writer and her blog, A Taste In The Life, has become a hilarious account of the trials and tribulations of planning a traditional southern wedding while keeping her own modern flair. (The wedding is on May 9th!!) It's basically guaranteed to be an entertaining read and it is always uplifting.

My second award goes to my cousin KF. Her blog, Kaia and Me, is mostly about raising her daughter Kaia, adopted last Thanksgiving. My cousin has had some tough times of her own, but her ability to see the bright side of everything and always move forward has been a constant source of inspiration to me. My cousin has actually just started a second blog, The Itsy Bitsy Spider, which talks about her process of creating adorable handmade crochet amigurumi, which she sells on etsy. Actually, your mom might like those too!

My third award goes to my friend LD. A few months ago, her dad was in a snowboarding accident that left him with a spinal cord injury. Her blog, Larry Dubey, is about her family's journey to adjust to her dad's injury. Despite having to deal with extremely difficult situations, and even though there have been some painful setbacks, LD's ability to honestly tell her dad's story while keeping an open mind about the future never ceases to amaze me. Whenever I read her blog posts I remember how grateful I should be for all the things I do have that I take for granted every day. If you are interested in showing support to their family, you can purchase T-shirts and wristbands here.

My fourth award goes to my friend PN for her blog (the title of which never ceases to entertain me) i like stuff (but not all stuff). PN has graduated from law school and is getting married in September. But she uses her blog primarily to rant about political topics, which always makes for an interesting read! Incidently, if you are still looking for a mother's day present (this post has become a "how to shop for your mom" guide! You won't need to worry about mother's day after reading this!) PN sells vintage and modern jewlery in her online shop!

My final award goes to someone who I have never actually met in person! In the process of working on my own gluten-free blog I discovered her gluten-free blog: Gluten Free Easily. Her blog focuses on how eating gluten-free can actually be easy by focusing on "real" foods. She tells stories and posts recipies that are delicious and photos that are gorgeous! (My GF blog will actually be reviewing two of her recipies soon!) It's a great resource for gluten-free eating - but also just for yummy recipies to try!

So thank you to all my blogger friends who inspire me and contribute so much to my blogging process! I hope you like your award!

Gluten-Free From A to Z

The other day RK and I went out to lunch. Being an amazing friend, RK found out that a local Thai restaurant had a gluten-free menu, so I had spicy fried fish for lunch! It was delicious!

While we were on the subject of my new gluten-free lifestyle, RK and I started talking about gluten-free products we had tried – which ones tasted good, which ones tasted bad, which ones were too expensive, etc. It was then that RK suggested that I should keep some kind of a chart, so that we could remember which products we liked and which we didn’t.

I realized that RK was right – we ought to review and keep track of the gluten-free products we buy because some of them can be a little pricey. The price is totally worth it if I enjoy eating them, but otherwise those products should be avoided in the future. APL thought the list was a great idea too. But we decided that rather than keeping the list for ourselves, we would post it online, in case other gluten-free people might find our reviews useful someday.

Our new blog is called: Gluten-Free from A to Z. Each product entry includes the name of the product, the brand, the location we purchased it, how much we paid, a review from A (APL) and a review from Z (me). We thought reviews from each of our perspectives would be interesting – APL’s because he can compare gluten-free products to regular products, and me as a person on an entirely gluten-free diet. Unfortunately, so far APL and I have said almost the same thing on every product we have reviewed! We must have really similar taste and/or spend way too much time together! But I’m sure as we learn to be more specific with our reviews, we will each develop our own style.

In the future we hope to include gluten-free recipes and info about eating gluten-free at restaurants on the blog as well. In the meantime, we’re just enjoying trying these products together and writing the reviews. It’s been a really fun project for the both of us.

If you’d like to check out Gluten-Free from A to Z please click here!! And thanks for the awesome idea, RK!!

Twenty-Six

4,000: number of miles we drove over the holidays
60: number of hours we spent in the car over the holidays
44: number of days I’ve been gluten-free
39: number of posts since I started this blog
29: number of days since my last blog post
26: number of years I have been alive

Today is my twenty-sixth birthday. And it’s been almost a month since my last blog post. I’m not really sure where to begin.

Finals were really rough this year. I wasn’t able to keep up with the reading and note taking in any of my classes the way I wanted to, so I had a lot of catching up to do. Aside from the mental strain of finishing four law courses, the physical strain of spending so many hours in the library preparing for exams was totally exhausting. My body hurt so badly and I ended up on a muscle relaxant for the excruciating jaw pain. Also, let me tell you that three or four straight hours of typing during an exam with the pressure of your entire semester’s grade while your fingers cramp isn’t particularly pleasant either. When finals finally ended I was honestly more tired than I have ever been in my whole life. I felt absolutely run down. (The good news? I haven’t gotten all my grades back yet, but so far it looks like I somehow miraculously managed to do pretty well. So that’s a relief!)

Then, the day after my exams ended, APL, River and I bundled into our new Subaru (which we love!) and started driving to California for Christmas. Honestly, APL and I love driving together. It reminds us of the three months we spent on the road after college, where we drove 19,000 miles to all 48 states. Plus, driving ends up being less expensive than flying and it meant we got to have River with us for the holidays, which I loved. So we popped in a book on tape and drove two days through two blizzards and four states to arrive safely in California.

APL’s parents just bought some beautiful property in a small town in Northern California near Yosemite National Park, where they eventually plan to retire. They just finished building a house on it and we were lucky enough to join his family there for a very restful Christmas. One day we drove down to Yosemite Valley with APL’s brother and his brother’s girlfriend and we all went ice-skating in Curry Village. Those 45 minutes of ice-skating were more physical activity than I had done in six months, so I was really proud of myself for trying it, especially considering that a lot of my RA pain is in my toes. It actually felt great and we had a wonderful time! (Although it seems I did pass my tolerance point because I did end up getting sick on the drive back to the house – but it was totally worth it!). We spent the rest of the week watching movies, playing with the puppies (APL’s parents have two dogs), enjoying the beautiful property, and just relaxing. APL even got to drive the tractor!

After Christmas, APL, River, and I headed to the Bay Area for New Years. We spent one afternoon at Point Reyes National Seashore, and then visited with some of our fantastic friends. Our friends are amazing. LK (who has been my best friend since kindergarten) helped me overcome my exhaustion to shop for something to wear to the wedding. She is like my personal shopper, for which I am eternally grateful. And the girl time I had with her was very much needed.

MP and SC were total champs in helping me stay on the gluten-free wagon. Gluten-free eating is really easy to do when you are eating at home, because there is a substitute for almost anything you might want to eat. But being gluten-free is a lot more difficult when you are eating out because everything has gluten on it and substitutes at restaurants are relatively rare. I almost fell off the wagon one night at a Japanese restaurant when I realized I couldn’t have tonkatsu (breading), tempura (also breading), unagi (because of the bbq sauce), or even soy sauce for the sushi!! But MP was kind enough to ask the waiter and discovered that they had gluten-free soy sauce! And the next night when we all went to shabu-shabu, SC showed up with a gallon of gluten-free soy sauce in case they didn’t have any at the restaurant. And thank goodness he did because otherwise I wouldn’t have enjoyed that meal nearly as much!

We spent New Year’s Eve at a Lyrics Born concert, which was really fun. I even danced a little bit! But I am also extremely grateful to MP for securing us someplace to sit during the rest of the concert, as I wouldn’t have made it through the evening otherwise. I am so grateful to have such wonderful friends!

On New Year’s Day we hopped back in the car with APL’s brother and his girlfriend and headed to Portland, Oregon for a friend’s wedding. We stopped at Redwood National Park on the way, which was very beautiful. River really enjoyed playing on the beach, although she still hasn’t quite figured out that you can’t drink ocean water! The wedding was lovely, and it was really fun to get to see friends from high school.

After the wedding we made the long trek back to Boulder and LK came to visit for a few days, which was really nice. Since then I’ve spent the past few days sleeping and resting. I really enjoyed the holidays but they wore me out too!! Today it is snowing and I am spending my birthday morning in bed, updating my blog. And now I’m considering going back to bed for a while. Hey – it’s my birthday! I can do what I want!

Gluten-Free!

I haven’t eaten any gluten in two weeks. And after reading that sentence you’re probably asking yourself, what the heck is gluten?

Let’s begin at the beginning. After I met the massage therapist who said she controlled her RA with diet, I started looking into what kinds of diets are supposed to help with RA. There are all kinds of theories out there: vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, casein-free, etc. I couldn’t decide where to even start. So, amidst the chaos of my last Remicade infusion, I asked the rheumatologist what he thought about the diet theories. He said that he had seen the most results on a gluten-free diet. So I started looking into that.

As it turns out, pretty much every medical condition or symptom I have ever dealt with in my life is on the list of symptoms for gluten-sensitivity. To name a few:
• Fatigue/weakness
• Vitamin and/or mineral deficiencies
• Headaches, including migraines
• Joint/bone pain (Hello, RA?)
• Irritability
• “Fuzzy brain” or inability to concentrate
• Hashimoto’s disease (my other autoimmune disease!)
• Bruising easily
• Muscle cramping
• Swelling and inflammation

Now, I am totally aware that if you read a list of symptoms you can convince yourself you have any disease in the world. (In college one of my friends went on the internet and convinced herself she had toxic shock syndrome. It took us hours to talk her out of it) But still, I have to admit that there’s something uncanny about finding pretty much every health problem I have ever had on a list of a single syndrome. And if the rheumatologist says it could help with my RA, it seems worth a try to me.

So: two weeks, no gluten. And what is gluten? Gluten is a mixture of proteins found in wheat, rye, and barley. The obvious foods that contain gluten are those with flour in them: bagels, bread, most baked goods, crackers, pasta, pizza, pretzels, etc.

But gluten is also found in slightly less expected things, like: beer, licorice, and soy sauce. In fact, did you know that wheat is the second ingredient in soy sauce? It comes after water and before soy! So, the bad news is that gluten is in almost everything. But the good news is that there are a lot of gluten-free alternatives on the market today. Especially in a hippie town like Boulder! So I don’t really have to go without these food items. I just have to replace them with versions made with potato or rice flour. And my local supermarket has everything labeled with the cute little “no gluten” symbol. It’s awesome.

And, of course, the question that everyone wants to know the answer to (both with this and with my RA drugs): is it helping?

Honestly? I can’t say. I am in the middle of law exams. I took the first one last Monday (eight page fact pattern for a two credit class!!) and I have another this Monday followed by a third on Thursday. And since I’ve been struggling with my work all semester I have a lot of catching up to do before those exams. So I am in a state of so much mental and emotional stress that I really can’t properly evaluate how the changes in my diet are affecting me. So ask me again in another two weeks.

But, I can say two good things. First: I feel like my appetite has improved a bit. I used to feel pretty lethargic and I would just eat because someone reminded me it was time for a meal. But now I find myself hungry. Which is nice.

And, second, APL and RK have been total rock stars of support with my new diet enterprise. They’ve researched gluten-free options, brought me gluten-free snacks to study with, and cooked me delicious gluten-free meals. Tortilla soup and corn tortilla quesadillas. Rice and chicken curry. Chicken cordon blue. Chicken katsu made with rice cearal. Ok, a lot of chicken! But, the point is, the meals have been great and I don’t really miss the gluten at all!

APL and RK are the best. I’d never survive without them. APL even found a local restaurant that labels the gluten-free options on its menu! We’re going there after my exam on Monday, which is also our six-year anniversary (SIX?!?!). I’m really grateful that APL has been so enthusiastic about helping me figure out if this diet is for me. I think he likes being able to help me. And I’m down with that too.