Week 1 – Moms With RA – Paleo Restart

Week 1 – Is There Something about my Wrists?

My mother passed away from breast cancer at the age of 62. She did not have RA, but her grandmother did. I suspect I got a lot of my genetic risk from my mom’s side. Something I noted about my mom in her 11 year breast cancer battle was that her wrists would get really puffy. I didn’t know why this was. Her weight would go up and down, and I think I attributed it to that. It was noticeable though. About 5 years ago, I started getting puffy wrists like her. Really, I guess, for both of us, it was our arms just below the wrist. My neighbor was the first to comment on it, and she asked how my RA was going. My RA was sliding down around that time, but it wasn’t my wrists that hurt. My RA started rapidly getting worse not long after that. My wrists/arms are still puffy, but a lot less puffy than last week. I wonder why that is and if it means something. Unfortunately, the photos I took are from the top of the wrist, but the side where it is most noticeable. My measurements caught it though.

I did my weekly measurements today. I intentionally didn’t look at my measurements from last week until after I measured today, so I wouldn’t bias how I was measuring. Anecdotally, last Sunday, I was having a pretty rough day. Today, I’m not having a good day, but I think better than last Sunday. Not a whole lot of difference yet, but I wasn’t anticipating there would be. Here is the weekly and daily data:

My Food:

	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner	Drinks	Other
10/13/24	Skillet: olive oil, ½ large sweet potato, ½ onion, 1/2 apple, 1 kale leaf, 1 small piece pork	Banana Homemade beef jerky	Salmon, rosemary	2 large mugs ginger turmeric herbal tea	Dried cherries½ apple
10/14/24	Skillet: olive oil, ½ large sweet potato, ½ onion, 1/2 apple, 1 kale leaf, 1 small piece pork, oregano.Juice: fresh squeezed chard, carrot, apple, pear	Banana Homemade beef jerky	Beef stew with sweet potato, Italian seasoning, mashed cauliflower (with coconut milk, accidentally put some sea salt in)	2 large mugs ginger turmeric herbal tea	Dried cherries Dried mango slice Dried apricots
10/15/24	Skillet: olive oil, ½ large sweet potato, ½ onion, 1 apple, 1 kale leaf, 1 small piece pork.	Beef stew with sweet potato, Italian seasoning, mashed cauliflower (with coconut milk, accidentally put some sea salt in)	Mashed cauliflower (coconut milk, salt)	2 large mugs ginger turmeric herbal tea	Dried mango Dried pineapple
10/16/24	Beef Jerky	Yam bisque (garlic, red onion, olive oil, sweet potatoes, coconut milk, thyme, ¼ tsp salt in big pot	Yam bisque (garlic, red onion, olive oil, sweet potatoes, coconut milk, thyme, ¼ tsp salt in big pot	½ mug ginger turmeric tea	Dried pineapple Dried cherries Dried bananas Dried apricots
10/17/24	Skillet: olive oil, ½ large sweet potato, ½ onion, 1 apple, 1 kale leaf, 1 small piece pork.	Yam bisque (garlic, red onion, olive oil, sweet potatoes, coconut milk, thyme, ¼ tsp salt in big pot	Turkey soup (turkey, carrots, celery, onion, rosemary, thyme, sage, basil, arrowroot starch)	2 large mugs ginger turmeric herbal tea	Dried pineapple Dried cherries Dried bananas Fresh banana
10/18/24	Turkey soup (turkey, carrots, celery, onion, rosemary, thyme, sage, basil, arrowroot starch)	Yam bisque (garlic, red onion, olive oil, sweet potatoes, coconut milk, thyme, ¼ tsp salt in big pot	Steak, sweet potato fries (cinnamon)	2 large mugs ginger turmeric herbal tea	Dried apples Dried mango Dried banana
10/19/24	Skillet: olive oil, ½ large sweet potato, ½ onion, 1 apple, 1 kale leaf, 1 small piece pork.	Turkey soup (turkey, carrots, celery, onion, rosemary, thyme, sage, basil, arrowroot starch)	Yam bisque (garlic, red onion, olive oil, sweet potatoes, coconut milk, thyme, ¼ tsp salt in big pot	2 large mugs ginger turmeric herbal tea	Dried pineapple Dried banana

I had been trying to figure out a measure of my functioning. I finally figured one out on the 17th: how fast I can go down 16 stairs in our house in the AM. Very interesting. I may start tracking barometric pressure, but unsure how best to do it.

Other Measurements, Daily for First Month
	Heart rate, early	Oxygen AM	Weight Pounds	Blood Pressure	AM down 16 stairs in seconds, fastest I can
10/11/24 (doc visit)	70*			144/88*		Bad RA day, from doc visit*
10/13/24	73	95	182	144/99		Bad RA day, Paleo start day
10/14/24	75	97	181	144/91		Bad RA day
10/15/24	69	93	181	131/83		Improved RA day
10/16/24	71	95	180	139/92		Improved RA day,
10/17/24	79	97	180	129/89	27	Poor RA morning
10/18/24	74	93	180	133/90	15	RA better than yester
10/19/24	75	95	180	133/86	18	Sore. Woke 4:00 AM,
10/20/24	69	95	180	140/93	18	Sore.

Medications and Supplements:

Medications/Supplements Taken
	Ibuprofen	Prednisone	D3	Mag	Fish oil	B Complex	K2 / Zinc	Levo	Liothyronine
10/13/24	200+400 mg	4 mg	4,000 IU	Threonate	1200 mg	Yes	No	50	5, whole + 1.25
10/14/24	400	4	4,000	Threonate	600	yes	K2	100	5 whole + 1.25
10/15/24	400	4	4,000	Threonate	600	yes	K2, zinc	100	5 whole + 1.25
10/16/24	200+?	4	4,000	threonate	600	no	no	100	2.5 + 2.5+1.25
10/17/24	200+200+400	4	4,000	Threonate	600	yes	zinc	100	5 whole
10/18/24	200+200+400	4	4,000	no	no	no	no	100	5 +1.25
10/19/24	200+2-00+400	4	4,000	Threonate	600	no	no	50	5

My left arm measurements are noticeably different with improvement in left knuckles, left wrist, and left elbow. Right wrist also saw noticeable improvements. I can’t say I’m feeling any less pain, but still consider this good progress, Note my left elbow doesn’t straighten.

Measurements in Inches on Sunday Mornings
	Left Knuckles	Right Knuckles	Left Wrist	Right Wrist	Left Elbow	Right Elbow	Left Knee	Right Knee	Left Foot Knuckles	Right Foot Knuckles
10/13/24	7.125	7.5	8.5	8.5	12.5	11.5	17	17.75	9.125	9.875
10/20/24	7	7.5	7.5	7.75	12.125	11.25	17	17.75	9.25	9.875

When I am taking my hand pics, I am trying to keep my hand flat and touching the shelf. I am trying to keep my arm straight/level with my hand. The first day I took pics, I retook them, as I wasn’t following this rule. I hope I am sharing the right pictures. It’s hard to do 1-handed. It appears to me on my left hand, 10/13, that my wrist is quite a bit more swollen than a week later.

My feet: Sorry this looks wonky when I post. It doesn’t look wonky when I edit. Next time I will only have 2 sets I think, so that will be better.

10/13/24	10/20/23	10/20/24
Taken first thing in the morning.	Taken after I was up for 3 hours, after I had been working on blog post. I forgot that I had taken the pose differently. See pics to right for when I first woke up.

10/13/24	10/16/24 (bonus, good morning)	10/20/24