Am I unusual?

Hi everyone:

Looking back, I had vague symptoms of PsA for many years before it really got me. Tendon problems, stiffness in my legs and feet...I put it down to squash and running. Then in October 2010, it hit me in the middle of one night...next morning, I couldn't get out of bed.

I was diagnosed about a month later.

Thing is, for over a year now, I have been on just 100 mg of celebrex per day and I feel awesome. I strength train five days a week, walk seven days a week. Most importantly, I've been following a very strict low carb, high protein diet.

Here are my questions:

1. I don't see too many people on celebrex...is there a reason for this?

2. Does everyone really pay attention to what they eat, and if so...with beneficial results?

3. Is my World going to come crashing down one day?....I have read some gut wrenching stories here, and I feel so sorry for the pain and anguish some are going through.

Hey Cooper,

I was just about to walk out the door when I saw your post...

I will send you a friend request. If you get bored you can read some of my posts/replies. I won't be back untill Monday. It seems we started out the same BUT, take that with a grain of salt because we are all different!

As a quick recape...I noticed signs in my nails 22+ years ago at around 18yrs old, nothing much worse untill I was around 25-26yrs old (on NO meds), woke-up one day my feet were purple/swollen/pain/couldn't put ANY pressure on them, DR gave me prednisone, nothing for a year, Then went to a dermotologist (I had no clue what was wrong) he put me on Enbrel, I've been on Enbrel for 13yrs and just recently (past 1 1/2 years) I have gone to the crapper.

I had a good 20 years from the first signs....Knowing now...I would have taken it more seriously and I would have quit smoking, drinking and changed careers.

Anyway, my wife is giving me the stink eye. I haven't looked directly at her but, I can feel it, for sure! I'll send you a friend request (you guy/girls are the only ones I have anyway. (LOL)

Thanks, Robert:

That's kind of scary. I have quit my job, and I spend all of my time training and eating right. Thing is, I need to work again, now, and I'm wondering how to balance things out. I'd like to know what you eat when you get back on Monday. Oh, and I hope you have quit smoking now ;)

Have fun at the cottage!!

Diet made a huge difference in my overall health - and this was before my diagnosis, which took forever for me to get (we think I've had PsA since I was 4 - I was diagnosed at 36!).

I'm gluten-free (I have celiac) and dairy free. I eat only organic/free range meats (I react to meats containing hormones, etc.). I eat mostly organic fruits and veggies (I react to conventional strawberries and bananas, but not organic ones!), I do not consume high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils, partially hydrogenated oils, food dyes, trans fats, refined sugar, or any ingredient I can't pronounce. I eat very little processed food.

Every person is different. I've had PsA most of my life, but it didn't interfere a great deal with my life until I woke up one day and could barely walk. I have particularly aggressive PsA, have the spondylitis variant (with fusions in some of my joints), and it affects almost every joint in my body, as well as connective tissues. I know someone else who has it in very few joints and is perfectly fine on meds.

I hope you keep up the good work with taking care of your body and it works well for the treatment of PsA! It sounds like you're doing great! I'd say live life to the fullest and don't worry about the what-ifs of the disease until you have to. :)

Hi Nym: Thanks for your reply...Yeah I'm sure diet is a huge factor. It just makes sense to me that if we follow an anti inflammatory diet, it should help soothe an inflammatory disease. Do you take any supplements? I swear that the omega 3, (6 big ones a day) vitamin D (5,000 iu every day) and HCL (to increase stomach acid) are also helping drive my inflammation down. Funny how most of the mainstream medical profession don't seem to go with nutrition as a viable way to treat this awful disease.

nym said:

Diet made a huge difference in my overall health - and this was before my diagnosis, which took forever for me to get (we think I've had PsA since I was 4 - I was diagnosed at 36!).

I'm gluten-free (I have celiac) and dairy free. I eat only organic/free range meats (I react to meats containing hormones, etc.). I eat mostly organic fruits and veggies (I react to conventional strawberries and bananas, but not organic ones!), I do not consume high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils, partially hydrogenated oils, food dyes, trans fats, refined sugar, or any ingredient I can't pronounce. I eat very little processed food.

Every person is different. I've had PsA most of my life, but it didn't interfere a great deal with my life until I woke up one day and could barely walk. I have particularly aggressive PsA, have the spondylitis variant (with fusions in some of my joints), and it affects almost every joint in my body, as well as connective tissues. I know someone else who has it in very few joints and is perfectly fine on meds.

I hope you keep up the good work with taking care of your body and it works well for the treatment of PsA! It sounds like you're doing great! I'd say live life to the fullest and don't worry about the what-ifs of the disease until you have to. :)

Like the above posts say, everyone is different. For me PsA struck all of a sudden and nearly crippled me in a matter of weeks. I then went on MTX (20) and got things under control but I was unwilling to abstain from alcohol so I got off that and started Humira. Humira worked okay but didn't help my skin at all. So then I went on Remicade and it worked wonderful. It cleared my P 100%. But I had a bad reaction after my 5 or 6th infusion and had to stop. Then I was rx'ed Enbrel but I decided to wait as long as possible to take it. That was in November of 2011 and to this day my PsA is still 100% totally in remission. I can run, lift weights, do whatever. Not sure how this happened or why, but it sure did. So no, IMO it would be unlikely for your world to come crashing down. PsA sucks, but in most cases it's manageable and the vast majority of sufferers live normal lives.

Cool...how old are you Chris?

43