I love eggs, but they hate me and my tummy, so I finally quit eating
them. I can eat a full grown chick though, with no problemo.

Fresh pineapple rather than canned doesn't bother my GI...go figure. Still on the trial of it and so far, so good with the joints.

Eggs are not a problem for me either. I haven't been eating any lately on the vegetable diet but I have tried cutting them out in the past with no difference in GI stuff or otherwise. As a vegetarian, I use them to round out the protein and fat soluable nutrients (vitamins A,D & E) that I get from plant based sources.

BTW, the smoothie is really delicious .


With love, Erika

I cannot have any cilantro. It is a no-no for people with Porphyria. It is a major trigger. We have it on our No-list at the Porphyria group I go to, but how many doctors would know this? Any at all? We just found it out by experience.
Erika, I am concerned that you have cut all protein out of your diet. Oh I know, there is protein in legumes and quinoa, and perhaps that will be enough for you, the combination of the legume and grain, which does make a complete protein. i was on such a combo diet many years ago and it did not help me, but my problem may be vastly different from yours. Eggs have always been one of my very best foods, so that is one element of the Swank diet I do not follow (he advises few eggs).

I am having just terrible inflammation in my feet from Erythromelalgia. It is a mystery illness which occurs in a minority of cases of Polycythemia Vera, which I have, but can occur in those who don't have PV. Even the Erythro newsletter is clueless. I suspect is is the irritation of nerves caused by tiny vessels being clogged by blood particles. It has become more mysterious because my blood particles stopped increasing. It may be that they are now more misshapen. I put cortisone cream on my feet, which helps but does not last, and I don't know if the doc will OK it for constant use--she gave it to me for skin inflammation, a different problem resulting from Porphyria. The bottoms of my feet are very red. Some cannot wear shoes or socks with Erythro. Leave it to me to get all the goofies.

"Erika, I am concerned that you have cut all protein out of your diet. Oh I know, there is protein in legumes and quinoa, and perhaps that will be enough for you, the combination of the legume and grain, which does make a complete protein."

No need to be concerned Mariel. Most of the protein I do consume comes from plant sources and has for years, with no problems. Similar to you I have other health issues that need to be considered and animal source protein tends to aggravate those if consumed in any quantitiy. Thus, I pretty much stick to the odd egg and small amounts of cheese & yogurt. Will be adding those back into my diet in the next few weeks as I have cut them out while I try to figure out if there is a trigger for the joint pain.

I am hoping that it is the excess oxalic acid but only time will tell on that when I do a challenge in a few weeks time.

Sorry to hear that you are dealing with inflammation in your feet. Sounds nasty and painful. Have you tried Epsom salt soaks?

With love, Erika

Oh rats! The finger joint inflammation is ramping up again, though it isn't too severe. Mostly just swelling and stiffness at this point. I soaked the hands in a bucket of warm Epsom salt soultion while moving the fingers around in the solution this morning and that has helped.

I haven't been consuming anything with oxalic acid in it...so that can't be the only cause for the inflammation. In fact I haven't been consuming much of anything as my appetite is off due to having a virus.

I'm on day 4 of a moderately severe head and chest cold so maybe that additional physical stress is pressing the immune system into high gear; and is driving the inflammation to affect the joints as well.
Thankfully, other than the typical cough and sinus stuff from the cold and some increased fatigue, no other symptoms have appeared.

Trish, I think that your assessment may be correct for me as well...that this is another auto-immune reaction of some sort. Maybe diet plays a part in firing it up or making things worse, but I'm now convinced that its cause isn't just a dietary thing alone.

Hopefully the finger and hand joints will settle down as the cold abates.

In the mean time, I'm going to make a pot of soup this morning. I have a recipe for a really nutritious/anti-inflammation one that always goes down well when the appetite isn't happening. It calls for things that I have in the garden; carrots, cauliflower, cabbage, ginger (yes, I grow my own), onions and garlic.

I need to get some calories and protein into the system as I've been losing weight over the last few days; so I'm going to over cook some quinoa & rice pasta and blend that up to thicken it.
Maybe the ginger and garlic will help reduce the inflammation.

With love, Erika

Just a note.....My mother in law gave me some WHITE FLOWER OIL that she bought in China town. I used to rub in on my husband sore muscles. I couldn't believe how good my hands felt after I did that. I have some tendon issues in my hands that get really sore. Might be worth a shot and it is cheap. I ordered more on Ebay. It comes in a small bottle with Chinese graphics on it.
I like it a lot better than most pain rubs I've tried

Thanks for reminding me about that Karilann,

I use that at the clinic and have some at home too. The odor is a bit much (camphor), but if you need your sinuses cleared out, like I do now, that's an added bonus.
I forgot about that little bottle at the back of the drawer in my bathroom .

With love, Erika

Thankfully the cold virus symptoms have mostly abated...but not thankful that the inflammation is still bugging my joints. Maybe once the virus is completely gone the joints will settle down. For the last couple of days I've been taking a low dose of Ibuprofen (200mg) in the mornings just to decrease the pain and inflammation a bit, but all of the NSAIDs bother my guts so its a bit of a trade off .

This poor body seems to be really struggling to get into some sort of balance and about all I can do at this point is to try and help it with increased rest and some symptom management. Energy levels are good so I'd like to do things but pain is the limiting factor.

Last night my left leg went into such a horrendous spasm that it yanked my heel up toward my butt and had me screaming and the body in a flat out panic. It took some manouvering to get onto my back and the heel hooked onto the edge of the bed so that I could force the knee down to straighten the leg.
Since then it keeps threatening a repeat if I bend that knee beyond 90 degrees or if I even extend the hip backwards slightly, so I've been 'straight legging' it. Reminds me of John Cleese and his rendition of 'Silly Walks' .

Speaking of walks, Willy the dog has been wanting to go for his morning one for the last hour and is growing impatient. I think that it will be a short one unless I meet up with my friend who also walks his dog at the river in the mornings. Then he can take the two dogs for a longer one while I wait.

Otherwise I will call another friend to take Willy when she goes on her morning jog.
Times like this, when symptoms just make it impossible to do the things that I'd like or need to, I sure appreciate such helpful and generous friends.

With love, Erika