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