The FastDay Forum

I had hip surgery last year due to osteoarthritis. The surgeon has told me I'll be needing a bilateral hip replacement in 5-10 years. This is a bit of a daunting thought as I'm only 41.
The problem I'm currently having is a very painful thumb joint, to the point where I'm waking up as it hurts. I've been ignoring it for weeks, but was bored at stupid o'clock this morning and did a bit of googling. Yes I know this isn't always a good idea, but it does seem that the symptoms marry up with the osteoarthritis
I tried to search for diets to help and foods to avoid, but have gotten nowhere. Can 5:2 help? Are there specific foods to increase/avoid? I am in a right stress now as I've just started my nail business and I'm struggling with the massage, along with other parts of the treatments and need to get on top of this before it gets worse.
Any advice welcome.........xxxxx

I've read on marksdailyapple site that gluten products certainly don't help arthritis variants, so dropping wheat, rye, barley and non-gluten free oats for a couple of months and see how you go may help?
I'm also dropping sugar in all it's many guises as my hip is duff and losing weight has helped that.
Good luck m'dear :0)

Hi karen, i feel for you re thumb..my right thumb is very painful and i find it hard to hoover,open jars etc,and the pain is often excruciating
I can see how this prob impacts negatively on your business
I take flaxseed oil to try to keep thumb and everywhere else oiled and i've read we need to avoid acid foods as they cause inflammation and to eat alkaline foods as they reduce inflammation
Sorry too re yr prognosis re hips! ....but if you lose weight,surely you' ll lessen yr chances of needing hip replacements x good incentive to stay on track !X

I have touches of arthritis and they practically clear up when I can stick to a gluten free diet. The gluten causes inflammation in the body and if there is an area that is susceptible to inflammation it will cause it to flare up. It takes 2 to 3 weeks for a gluten free diet to show an improvement, but all of a sudden you realise that hey such and such doesn't hurt any more. Yet within a few hours of eating a sandwich the joints start aching again.

If you want to read up about the subject of wheat and health problems the book by Dr.Davis called 'Wheat Belly' is an eye opener.

My Mother has Osteo artritis pretty much everywhere, she recently started using a cream called Flexiseq on her hands and has found it very useful. It's endorsed by Arthritis UK and is quite expensive but for small areas like hands it is an option.
Side note- if anyone knows if this can be available on prescription I'd be very grateful to know as her Doc has no knowledge of it.

There's such conflicting advice out there. One post suggested lots of fruit veg and dairy another said avoid dairy. They all suggest low fat everything, but we've cut most low fat stuff out due to all the additives.
Funnily enough, I cut dairy and wheat down a while ago to help my eczema, but as I'd started a new skin care regime, I put the results down to that as I'm a bread and biscuit hog!
I will ring gp tomorrow to ask if it definitely is osteoarthritis in my thumbs and what her suggestions for diet are.
I will look at what's involved in gluten free now If it helps with this pain, it will be worth it
Thankyou x

I thought I had arthritis (not sure which one to be truthful) in my thumb and both forefingers, due to some pain, throbbing and misshaping of the joints and curtailed movement. Although not bad it's enough to make itself known so I went to the doctor to get a diagnosis and he did agree it looked like I had it. I was sent for an X-ray to get a benchmark - the X-ray came back saying I don't have arthritis - but the symptoms and appearance are still there.

I have found that grapefruit really causes discomfort shortly after eating (I don't now) and oranges are not much better. The nightshade family (potatoes/peppers/tomatoes) also cause problems if eaten in any quantity although cooking tomatoes and peppers seems to help ward off discomfort. As you say lots of conflicting advice out there and, as I believe it's an autoimmune problem, may be another one of those things where you need to work out what your body can and can't tolerate.

Hi @Karenm I was diagnosed with osteoarthritis in my hips and spine probably 2/3 years ago, at my age they always say its age + weight related to whatever problem I have at the time.
As you already know I found 5:2 14 months ago and yes was very successful in weightloss it took me a fewmonths to realise that my pain had reduced considerably then at about the 7 months stage I suddenly realised that all pain had actually gone completely.
Reasons in my opinion::
#1 obviously weightloss (at that stage 2stones lost
#2 Lowering my carb intake by stopping breakfast all cereal based, very quickly followed with dropping the bread from my lunchtime sandwich in favour if eating a plated salad, a reduction in potatoes, rice, pasta and bread. All adding to pain fee days.

Me also.. apparently osteoarthritis in lumber and hip area. Aiming to lose weight tohelp bubut am also going to investigate collagen supplements and coconut oil...

I'll feed back if I get anywhere

Alex x x