I think another big trigger is citrus. I gave that up, based on an elimination
diet suggestion from the old board OBT...last spring.

What a difference!
I miss my OJ and blood oranges, but my knees no longer hurt to walk.

Citrus is a very forgotten allergen for some with arthritis.

One cannot make generalizations basically. Each person might have their own
"enemy"...

I'd like to see documentation about this:
BTW glucosamine does nothing for me...nothing.

DogtorJ, I have been DF, EF & some-legume free for about a yr based on an IgG blood test. All measures of dairy & its components especially were waaaaay high. I don't think I feel any better with that stuff taken out. Nothing as dramatic as the GF & NF diets were for me. BUT, I did have a significant reduction in my out-of-bounds, worrying me crazy, serum globulin level after being on that restrictive diet for many months.

As a child, I loathed potatoes & tomatoes. Even before I realized the nightshade thing applied to me, I'd found that green tomatoes, and also certain 'heirloom" tomatoes (Siberian type; greenish, purplish, brown) made me ill to eat. I've even gotten very ill when DH cooked heirloom tomatoes, just hanging around the kitchen when that tomato juice was boiling. Not asthma. Pain all over, headache & nausea. Go to bed & moan, felt like a really bad flu. No body else caught it! Was scratch-tested & IgG tested for tomatoes, & OK.

Now that my background level of pain & inflam have come down, it's pretty apparent that I don't tolerate peanuts well. I'm OK with a few nuts, but eating 1/2 cup in a day will reliably produce swelling & pain that takes about 24-48 hrs. to resolve, as long as I don't dip into the peanuts again. IgE & IgG are negative for peanut; I'm guessing it's either a lectin thing or a goitrogen thing.

I've taken glucosamine on & off for ... could it be a decade? Probably. Kept hoping it would help my knees. I found that for me, the only form that makes a difference is N-Acetyl-Glucosamine. The HCL & sulfate forms were duds. Haven't used it a lot lately. I was trying to keep supps constant while I gave NFD a trial.

I'd heard that glucosamine binds wheat lectin, but I thought there were other ... glucosaminoglycans? thingy molecules that bound nonwheat lectins. If glucosamine does it all, I'll give it another shot.

MrsD, sorry if I offended by giving the impression that everyone with arthritis responds to NFD. I don't believe that's the case ... but I consider myself a fairly well-read person & I wasn't familiar with the concept of nightshade sensitivity. Sure wish I'd figured it out sooner. My intention in sharing my story was mostly to get the word out about the possibility of nightshade sensitivity. As I've talked to friends & extended family, I've come to realize that many people don't know about the nightshade family.

I will think about doing a no-citrus trial. But at this very moment, I am loathe to remove even one more food from my diet! It might have to wait a few more weeks. I was allergic to citrus as a child, outgrew reactivity on tests, & now love it. I'm glad that citrus-free has worked so well for you.

Is there any chance that citrus reactivity for some people could be an acid-reaction? I've noticed that coffee agrees with me ever so much better since I started tossing a couple PreLief tabs into it. Ca glycerophosphate, sort of an antacid compound. Acidic stuff, juices/pickles/even candies w/citric acid, is something I do best with in extreme moderation. Acidic overdose doesn't seem to increase my visible inflammation, but it DOES increase my pain.

Thanks for your comments!

Snoozie...

I don't know why you got that impression.

Regarding tomatoes... there is also a histamine issue. Some foods are high
in histamine and others are histamine releasers. So some people may
react to tomatoes and not the other nightshades to the same extent.

Here is an interesting website:
http://www.urticaria.thunderworksinc...whistamine.htm

You might also want to consider a vit. D deficiency. I've had amazing results since I started taking 4,000 iu a day. Even my knees don't hurt now.

Here's a very interesting lecture on vitamin D and those of us who live indoors, clothed and avoid the sun.
http://www.insinc.com/onlinetv/direc...vnetplayer.htm

Hi...I realize this thread was started a while ago...I just found it. Wanted to put my 2 cents in.

I'm on prescription vitamin D, which has virtually done away with my S.A.D. I recently found this: Soy foods increase the body’s requirement for vitamin D. Taken from: http://www.frot.co.nz/dietnet/basics/soy.htm

Very interesting to me, since I don't eat meat and eat a bit more soy than the average bear. I'm rethinking my position on meat now.

Dh swears by glucosamine, MSM and chondrointin for his joints. It's one of the few supplements that he will remind me to get BEFORE we run out.

I must admit, I don't notice a difference with them either but I've upped my dosage and will see. I have certain joints in my back that get a minor ache once in a while but it doesn't 'seem' to be attached to any food. Because dh swears by it so much, I'm hoping that upping the dosage will improve that dull, minor ache.

As I'm keying this in, I'm realizing that it's not hurting at all right now but I can't really say yet if it's this stuff... until I cut it out and add it back in a few times to see if there's a correlation.

I'll let you know when I've got some 'better' results.

What brands of glucosamine are you using?

In controlled veterinary studies, a brand called Cosequin keep coming up onn top. It is made by a company called Nutramax, which also makes a human product called Cosamin DS.

I just had this discussion with an orthopedic surgeon client of mine and he said that they recommend the Cosamin as well. It is sold through most Walmarts and many pharmacies. It is pretty expensive but the word is that you get what you pay for with glucosamine products.

After talking to hundreds of people over the years about glucosamine is this:

There are those for whom it just does not work, or is not needed.

Then there are those who swear it is terrific.

Since glucosamine is made in your body from the glutamine chemistry, it
is dependent on glutamine intake. There are many enzymes involved with this
system, and if any one of them is faulty, then the glucosamine synthesis fails.
I suspect that people vary in their need for it, and those who do not make
it well for themselves, do well on supplements. Those who have enough, don't need more.

I've posted that chemistry many times on both boards...so I won't post it here.
Glutathione in the liver is also made from l-glutamine.

For me SAMe has been the exact opposite. Now that does work for me!

BTW Cosamin DS had a very big problem in the not too recent past. Its glucosamine product was
contaminated with high levels of manganese. This has been fixed...but I don't think they are
so terrific to have not been careful in the first place.

I did try the Cosamin, & it didn't work for me. The brand I use is Beyond a Century NAG, which comes as a bulk powder & is comparatively inexpensive.

Over the years I've tried ... MSM, NZ mussel, shark cartilage, Cetyl Myristoleate, Celadrin, Sam-E, Herbal Cox-2 inhibitors, Curcumin, Boswellia, Niacinamide, Vit. D (serum levels are great). And of course, the fish oil. Could be I've forgotten a few ... These were tried mostly for my knees, Dx severe OA at age 42, with rec. for knee replacement surgeries, one at a time.

I don't use MSM & Sam-E as much as I used to because they've become sedating. Never before. The Sam-E is really great for my knees at only 200 mg/day. Combined w/EPA concentrate FO, Sam-E was the best thing I'd ever found for my knees.

But for some reason, in the past few years, by day 3 of Sam-E at 200 mg. per day, I just want to sleep all day with my painfree knees. So that has become a bit impractical. And yes, I've come to believe that I may be the only person in the world who reacts to Sam-E this way. I'm guessing it's a sulfur thing. Have often wondered whether my acetylation, sulfation, & methylation Phase 2 pathways are a tad SNAFU'd.

If anyone has insight into the Sam-E sedation issue, or something I could do/take etc. to counteract this prob., please share. I've tried taking it at bedtime, but the sedation is 24/7 when I take it regularly & taking 100 mg., while less sedating, is also less helpful for the knees. They say some people have suffered ... hypomania from Sam-E?

Interesting post about the L-glutamine, mrsd. I had mostly heard about cysteine, taurine, and glycine being important for glutathione synthesis.

Mrsd, my sister also avoids citrus because she has found it causes her arthritis to worsen.
I've been reading this thread with interest, since I've got an apt with a rheumy in March. My fingers, wrists, elbows and shoulders finally got to aching so bad (when it "flares") that I went to my GP, who made me the apt to see the rheumy.
I've been GF for several months now, and have started to rely heavily on potatoes. Boy, I hope that doesn't turn out to be something else I've got to give up! I eat little citrus or tomatoes, but the potatoes and potato flour/starch have come to be staples in my diet.
Hugs,