Perhaps adjusting my diet to vegan has made todays events more likely, I am just grateful I have the weekend off and an understanding family.

My wife makes me black bean quinoa "meatballs". My Mom decided to make the recipe, but to jazz it up she added wine to the mix. It played off the mushrooms wonderfully. I also took a four hour napthis afternoon, my symptoms are not top level, but are up.

I gave up even my quarterly (read once every three months) beer I was open to this past January so this was my first brush with alcohol since, though most was likely cooked away.

As I sit here in enough discomfort to not feel worth trying to lie down it feels worth pushing adjusting diet on any who are reading. You may not be diabetic or pn the verge or amiable to anything as drastic as vegan, but cut the carbs, sugars and see how that affects you.

I have to admit the depth of flavor the wine brought was nice. But not so nice as to deal with this back end.

Sorry to hear you're in pain. I hope things improve fast ( : Interesting what you say re diet. I get very confused about this, should I be gluten free, stop all sugars, probiotics, etc?? I feel committed enough if diet could lower pain but am unclear what direction to take. Have some people found a particular way of eating has helped? I have no known cause for my widespread neuropathic pain. Not sure if that complicates it further.

I think it only complicates food choices at the table and market, but everyone is so different. I know sugars and carbs are exacerbators for me, so I limit them.

I'd attempt to clean up your diet as much as possible. I know everyone has variable circumstances, but my feet still have some whinoness as I waken, so it is unlikely that alkeehawl, even in food, is coming on board again soon.

It was pretty tasty, too- played off those mushrooms like a maestro. But taking my symptoms up at all has made any food or product subject to the KNJ review board.

And for now (and likely ever) wines watch has ended.

Jon

I can't even take Bach Flowers liquid drops without a reaction as they are in a base of alcohol so I totally understand Jon.

Not eating pre packaged chemical filled foods, simple sugars and gluten would be a great idea for now. You can still eat fruit that is low in sugar but forget fruit juice. If you take a probiotic and have good results then I wouldn't give it up. I personally prefer Kefir or my home made plain yogurt.

What I did initially with success was an alkalizing diet. After about a month I started to introduce other foods. Now what I do is try to balance each meal. For example, I really love my 1 cup of morning coffee (and yes, I use brown rice syrup which is sugar and half & half) so I will have a vegetable shake (Collards, cucumber, parsley, ginger, lemon, coconut milk and coconut oil) and maybe a hard boiled egg and then I can drink my coffee without a reaction. (Eggs can cause allergy problems for some people.)

I am not vegan. I eat as organic as possible and equally important I choose grass fed, free range products. I never eat low fat foods as the additives to make up for the fat taken out are horrible. I feel fat is extremely important for so many things and body functions but it has to be "good fat." I eat avocado, coconut butter, wild salmon or tuna and my home made full fat yogurt, etc.

I have no dx either. If you want more info just pm me.

I have definitely noticed that using wine or alcohol in cooking will bring on painful symptoms. Had to stop using it also.

Beer and wine (and dark whiskeys) contain congeners. These are aldehydes and contain other types of chemical alcohols.

The ethanol itself boils off quickly with cooking. This leaves the congeners behind.

Cooking wines have many concentrated congeners which add to its flavoring ability.

http://www.winesandvines.com/templat...&content=74439

If you look up "congeners" in more detail on Google...you can learn more about this. Wine and beer also may contain substantial sulfites, and these are difficult to metabolize for some people.

KnowNothingJon, I'm so sorry you're suffering. I hate that we can't enjoy such simple things, and that the slightest enjoyment does this to us. I know this too well unfortunately. I do hope it passes quickly or relatively quickly.

I thought I'd throw in my view here. Diet is not only important but essential, and not just for SFN, or PN in general, but for all chronic conditions, and even for healthy people. I've seen great results by changing my diet and so have two other people (one with SFN, one with PN) I've met in person in my own city. They asked me what I had done to have so much energy, to stop the progress or slow it down, and so on and so forth. You see, they have seen the state I was in during the summer. Anyway, I told them and they decided to fully follow my diet. Two months later and they already feel drastically different.

The thing is I think everyone is different, sure, that goes without saying: we all have allergies, different capacities with respect to metabolizing different things, etc. But that doesn't mean there isn't a science behind nutrition based on the basic biochemistry of human beings. Simply put, the science is behind a paleo diet, and in fact behind a ketogenic paleo style diet for those with autoimmune issues and generalized inflation. There are reasons why it works so effectively. This is coming from someone who was a vegetarian for 5 years at one point. I may not be able to justify my diet ethically for example, but health wise it's dead on. Carbohydrates, natural sugars, including fructose in fruit, not to mention processed carbs and sugars all damage the body and increase inflammation. The same goes for certain carbs or the proteins in them that behave like grains or glutinous grains: quinoa, amaranth, buckwheat. Egg proteins are also difficult. Dairy is a no zone, for a number of reasons, including the amount of lactose sugar. Finally, meat and fat are essential for health and reducing inflammation. Grass fed, antibiotic and hormone free meat is essential. Animals that roam are best, including and especially game meat. I avoid pork due to ease of contamination, though wild boar would be just fine health wise. Seafood, especially cold water fish like sardine, mackerel, anchovies are absolutely essential given their higher omega 3 content. Coconut fat is wonderful, so it tallow, and even avocado. Seed oils and especially grain or veggie oils are poor sources of fat. Olive is great though, and nuts and seeds is very small amount could be okay. Bone broth is a miracle worker and so nutritious and helpful for reducing inflammation. And if it wasn’t already obvious, veggies should b consumed in massive amounts. I usually avoid high starchy veggies, one reason why pulses are also not permitted on the diet, and beets.

Anyway, given all the pain and general discomfort we go through, I think it’s worth trying anything that may work. Though this seemed counterintuitive to me: eating lots of fat, including saturated, meat, etc. as a healthy choice, it works. Of course, you must have health kidneys for the increased protein intake, though if you don’t, you can focus more on the ketogenic part, reducing the animal protein and increasing the fat. I also get regular blood tests. So far so good; in fact, my lipids and all else is in very good shape, and I’ve been on the diet for 6 months. I’ve also lost 50 lbs. The only downside is that I find it difficult to gain weight, though if you eat lots of calories, say 3-5k, you’ll keep on the weight. If you eat only 2-3k, then you’ll start losing weight very quickly.

Of course, this is very restrictive, so much so that I had to cook my own meal when I had Christmas dinner with my wife’s extended family. They had some amazing and delicious food, so it hit me hard. I couldn’t even have the fish and turkey since they were marinated in alcohol and sugary sauces. And the dessert looked heavenly to my very sweet tooth.

Anyway, there’s lots of research on diets like this, so you can just Google it. The Paleomom’s autoimmune protocol gets close to what I have, but she allows some things that I don’t and vice versa. If I can answer any questions, I’m happy to help. In the end, you have to make the decision that best fits with your life, but I will say that there is indeed a science behind diet, and this diet works. I can’t imagine what state I’d be in, if I hadn’t done this, and I get a glimpse when I break it even slightly (never anything like gluten or alcohol, since mine might have been partially, if not entirely, alcohol or celiac induced) every few months, whether accidentally or because I’m only human and can’t help myself.

I really hope this helps, and a great day to you all.

David I always love reading your input on these boards! Thank you!!

Cliffman

Cliffman, you're too kind. Thank you. It goes without saying, or should, that I feel the same about so many of you.

I just wish I didn't write so quickly and make so many errors.