Here I Go Again

[cat3883]

I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease in October 2008. I have been feeling really well but the last 3-4 weeks I have been having weird things happening. Over the weekend my ankles swelled (really big) and I have never had that happen to me. I felt achy and fatigued all over and my blood pressure was 99/48. I went to the doctor on Tues and he had me have bloodwork done. I got a call today and the nurse said my ANA and CRP are both positive. I have an appointment with a rheumatologist on June 11th. So does anyone here have RA? And do you think this could be something else. I really expected it to by my thyroid. Could hashimoto's have higher levels of CRP and ANA? HELP

[chasbari]

I was initially diagnosed with RA 5 years before the celiac diagnosis. Since going paleo to manage my celiac my RA is slowly but surely lessening. I have had to stay away from all alternate grains and dairy in the early stages due to leaky gut issues but have been adjusting to the diet and am healing. My rheumatologist refuses to believe that I even have celiac and has been very uncooperative... refuses to believe that diet alone is making me so much better. The turnaround has been extraordinarily rapid. I cannot eat any nightshades (potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant and peppers) without triggering RA flares and salt also causes me to have a flare of inflammation in the hands especially. I pay attention to the sodium potassium intake as per paleo guidelines. I would recommend reading Cordain's book on it.

[GFinDC]

I used to have swelling ankles and feet a lot. It turned out I had an allergy to something in wines, and after I stopped drinking them rotten grape juices my ankles and feet stopped swelling up all the time. I've never had an ANA test so no help there. I think I read they aren't real specific indicators though. Kind of not a very reliable test for any specific disease or condition I believe.

Ok, this page at the LUPUS Foundation describes ANA tests and what they mean, or sometimes don't mean also:

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