Psoriatic Arthritis and food

[Steven S]

Hi all again 

I am off course searching a lot of stuff about psa, and listened to some podcasts where also food was mentioned. I was wondering did some of you had concrete results with certain foods to avoid? That would trigger flares?

Would eating vegetarian help avoiding symptoms of inflammation. 

Like I heard about dairy, sugar, soda and all that. And I understand that smoking and drinking etc would not help off course with this kind of disease.

I was wondering about your experiences and what maybe worked for you (or not). About certain foods, etc lifestyle changes.

Greetings!

[Caroline]

Well, my Psoriatic Arthritis is not so worse. For me first DMF did the work for me, 5-6 pills. But at a certain point I wanted to try out a separate therapy, I have described that in a thread.
That therapy did not seem to work, but I had to stop the DMF for it, so after the try out, I restarted DMF, which again did work. Because of other reasons, I did also change my diet, with the help of a diëtist, eating healthier, less sugars, less fat, and I also quit drinking. I like a nice glass of wine on a regular basis (read: every day). Now… after more than a year, no drinking, I found out that I don’t need my medication anymore.
I do drink coffee, tea and water, nothing with alcohol anymore.
I do feel that I still have Psoriatic Arthritis, heavy days can make my feet and hands hurt, but it stays on a low level.

May I ask if you are heavy weighted? (You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to).

[Steven S]

Yes off course I am around 90 Kg but fairly long so I don't think that im super overweight, but I've read that its best to be thinner as well for the joints and medication working properly. So that's why I am thinking about that as well to be as thin as possible, and like eating as healthy as possible. Between the limits off course not rabbit wise.

Interesting story it seems that some foods or (alcohol) triggered your imflammation right, or did you feel that after your diet that the psa was less, in comparison then before? Sounds kind of great that you can manage your psa in this way!

[Fred]

First off be very careful what you find on the internet about diet and psoriasis/psoriatic arthritis, there are a lot of scams out there where people are making money from false claims. Also it is so easy to set up an affiliate program where you write a piece about psoriasis and include clickbate where you get paid for people going to another site youtube etc.

Next, think about it for a moment. If it was possible to control psoriatic arthritis with food why do we have doctors specialising in it, or drug manufacturers spending millions on the next treatment.

Food has been around for thousands of years yet we still have psoriatic arthritis, if it was that easy we would stop or start eating something instead of taking drugs.

Yes some will say it works, but again it depends on how bad the psoriatic arthritis is. If you have it mild in a couple of joints then yes the placebo effect may work, but slurping green juice everyday when the psoriatic arthritis is that bad that you almost need a wheelchair isn't going to work.

By all means try it if you want, but you will need to give up the prescribed treatments to know if it's really working.

Have a look here Natural Treatments For Psoriasis to see what some of our members have tried, it will be better than trawling the internet and ending up caught in a scam.

[Turnedlight]

I have never felt that I’ve eaten something and it’s caused a flare up. I did try avoiding nightshades (tomatoes, peppers etc) for a short while but I gave up as we eat those a lot in our house.
I’ve never had the derm suggest trying any changes in diet.

[Steven S]

First off be very careful what you find on the internet about diet and psoriasis/psoriatic arthritis, there are a lot of scams out there where people are making money from false claims. Also it is so easy to set up an affiliate program where you write a piece about psoriasis and include clickbate where you get paid for people going to another site youtube etc.

Next, think about it for a moment. If it was possible to control psoriatic arthritis with food why do we have doctors specialising in it, or drug manufacturers spending millions on the next treatment.

Food has been around for thousands of years yet we still have psoriatic arthritis, if it was that easy we would stop or start eating something instead of taking drugs.

Yes some will say it works, but again it depends on how bad the psoriatic arthritis is. If you have it mild in a couple of joints then yes the placebo effect may work, but slurping green juice everyday when the psoriatic arthritis is that bad that you almost need a wheelchair isn't going to work.

By all means try it if you want, but you will need to give up the prescribed treatments to know if it's really working.

Have a look here Natural Treatments For Psoriasis to see what some of our members have tried, it will be better than trawling the internet and ending up caught in a scam.

Thank you for your words! I agree totally about the part of the green juice and a wheelchair that is ridiculous, I meant more like certain foods might trigger inflammation response but am not sure about it, that's why I asked your (wise  ) opinions. More like making minor lifestyles changes with food/ next to medication to get the best response in my treatment plan. 

I absolutely didn't mean giving up treatment of that matter. Yes thank you I will check that out! I won't be scammed 

[Forest Walker]

I tried following a diet that eliminated sugar, gluten, grains, dairy, and alcohol from September to December 2021.  I couldn't continue due to also having Crohn's Disease and not being able to digest the fibrous foods left to eat on that restrictive diet.

Following that diet made me lose weight, and I was not enjoying my life, focused so much on diet.  I believed I noticed small improvements and then worsening when I deviated from this diet.

I now think it was a placebo effect.

My skin cleared on Methotrexate, which I took from December 2021 to late April 2022.  But the daily nausea was more than I could take.  Diet?  Nothing.  Medication?  Everything.

As for lifestyle . . . finding a way to live where you can manage your stress responses is good in general.  Exercising and moving as much as you can is good in general.  I believe these are also good for Psoriasis.  Fred's comments, sprinkled here and there throughout this forum, have helped me to live my life a little happier and more moderately.  The knowledge gained from everyone here who shares has helped me more than I ever expected.

Good luck, Steven.

[Fred]

If you do try playing with triggers don't forget to keep some notes, a diary, this thread or even here if you wish Personal Notepad but just bear in mind if you try something now it could be the Cosentyx working, so you will need to cut things out then gradually introduce them again.

Myself I have never found any difference on diet, smoking, alcohol, losing weight or exercise but that could be just me. And as FW said try and keep stress to a minimum.

Me I prefer to enjoy my food and drink, laze around and let the medication do it's work.

     

[Caroline]

Yes off course I am around 90 Kg but fairly long so I don't think that im super overweight, but I've read that its best to be thinner as well for the joints and medication working properly. So that's why I am thinking about that as well to be as thin as possible, and like eating as healthy as possible. Between the limits off course not rabbit wise.

Interesting story it seems that some foods or (alcohol) triggered your imflammation right, or did you feel that after your diet that the psa was less, in comparison then before? Sounds kind of great that you can manage your psa in this way!

Well … first I partly do not agree with Fred… but don’t worry, that is nothing new. I have quite a different psoriasis and a different view on psoriasis and disagreeing between us is quite normal.
I do agree that you should be careful for scams, there is a lot of nonsense on the internet.

90 kg for a tall Dutchman is really not heavy, I guess you don’t need to lose much weight. (I weigh at least 20kg less, but no doubt I am smaller  )
Healthy food is always good. I do think that certain food is less good for your psoriasis, I am even quite sure of that when I see my sister reaction to e.g. tomato’s, her skin immediately reacts and get red.

In the Netherlands there is a treatment centre in Amsterdam, the Huid Medisch Centrum, where they are significantly looking at lifestyle and where dermatologists are involved. More and more in the Netherlands the interest in lifestyle connected to Psoriasis is increasing.
The Dutch Psoriasis Association, the PN, you might know them, even have made webinars, where there is much interest in Lifestyle and were dermatologists are explaining this in the webinars. Als the Radboud University Medical Centre last year have done an investigation in Lifestyle and Psoriasis.

As said, I used to use medication, and now after the lifestyle change and no alcohol, I don’t need that anymore. I do very well know what PsA is and I am quite sure that this is no placebo effect, I am very alert to everything that I feel. And I have been quite worse long ago.

If…. A theory of a doctor in the Netherlands is true, he is an internist, then the cause of psoriasis might lie in the mitochondria (of course there is also genetics involved). Unfortunately, despite signalling this to the dermatologists, this is not being picked up, while this cause may be very logical.
And if this is true, it would explain why e.g. DMF works and points to lifestyle and food. But it should be validated first.

And there is another thing… on which I do agree with Fred, and that is that everyone has his/hers own psoriasis. There is no total cure for everyone. And also the intensity can be very different, Fred has a very serious version, while my version is much lighter..
Fred and I both love life, but we access that in quite different ways.   

[Fred]

Fred and I both love life, but we access that in quite different ways.