Diffuse Muscle And Joint Pain

[ProThaiExpat]

After contributing to another thread on this subject based primarily on fibromyalgia, I gave a lot of throught to my symptoms of diffuse muscle and joint ache, especialy the onset of it again this week.

I suffered for it for a whole year in Hawaii before comming to Thailand and sought medical attention. Diagnosis by polymyalgia Rheumatica, which is a catch all that merely means diffuse muscle and joint ache, possibly arthritis based. Arthritis merely means joint inflamation, so no help.

After this diagnosis was issued, I was given steroids that masked the discomfort well but accompanying mood swings were present.

I left Hawaii for Thailand while this syndrome was active and once I settled down here, the condition abated and I gave no more thought to it.

The unexplained discomfort described above continued occasionally in Thailand but only for a day or two and were shrugged off as virus attacks or connected to my rare sinus attacks.

This week, I had a birthday and instead of a cake, I ended up with two quarts of Swensen's Ice Cream. After my first evening of a nice portion of that treat, I had an onset of my diffuse muscle ache and joint pain the following morning upon arising and felt bad all day. This was the first attack I had of my condition for years Repeated treat that evening and the discomfort continued. After three days of treat in the evening and discomfort and bad feeling all day, I began to see a link.

Last night, I did not have ice cream but assuaged my sweet truth by fat laden potato chips. I have learned, at least as far as I am concerned, that unless I have some oil or fat in my diet, I develop cravings for sugar based treats.

Today, I feel great. Thinking back to my days in Hawaii, I remembered that I was addicted to Tom and Jerry Ice Cream, particularly Cherries Garcia and would often eat a pint a night. I scoured the supermarkets for half price sales so I didn't feel guilty, as the pint of Tom and Jerry only cost $2.50 on sale. I always had a freezer full of ice cream and rarely a night went bye that I didn't indulge.

In Thailand, I rarely have had ice cream, and when I did, it was usuall Walls or Nesltle, which I consider Ice Milk, as it is so low in butter fat. Swensens was only enjoyed when out for lunch.

Conclusion: There is a connection between my eating quality high fat and sugar ice cream in the evening and the onset of my diffuse muscle ache and joint pain the following morning. I don't get the same symptoms from cakes orcookies, as I have concluded they don't have the fat that quality ice cream does.

I will finish up my ice cream supply by indulging at noon and see how that affects me.

I bring up this topic as an inducement for those who suffer similar symptoms to examine their eating habits and see if they have experienced any correlation between quality ice cream and the onset of their symptoms the next day. Candies heavy with sugar and fat do affect me but not as strongly as ice cream

It should be noted that I do not use sugar in anything, a couple of hard candies a day is the max sugar I take in, Equal in coffee and on sour fruit, etc.

I feel I have made a breakthrough and hope this information helps someone else.

Comments please. Sheryl?.

[Sheryl]

It could be allergy.

Actually my adopted "sister" has the same problem and I have spent years trying to help her. She was at one point mis-diagniosed as having rheumatoid arthritis and put on a series of medications for it, each of which she had a severe allergic reaction to (she has multiple drug allergies and a strong family history of auto-immune disease). ANA was negative, ruling out lupus. Finally consulted a second rheumatologist at Bumrungrad who conducted a series of more sophisticated tests that rukled out RA. He felt it was serum sickness, which apparently can be delayed in onset. I other words, the entire thing was triggered by allergic reactions (in her case, to drugs) and then made worse by the drugs used to treat it. He counselled avoidance of all medications except prednisone (which she was already on), which he suggested continuing and then slowly tapering off. We followed this advise insofar as possible (she has other medical problems which make it impossioble to avoid all medications) and it seemed to work.

In your case I would suspect a food allergy or allergy to some food preservative. Terial abd error will tell you if this is true and which foods or additives.

The only abnormal lab finding my sister had during her attacks was an elevated ESR (sedimentation rate). This in the absence of any other lab abnormalities is what made the second specialist conclude it was an auto-immune reaction of some sort.

Current thibnking is that fibromylagia is also auto-immune in nature.

[autonomous_unit]

You might want to try Bud's of San Francisco brand ice cream for your next indulgence! I think it is better than Swensen's, and maybe you'll get lucky and not be allergic to its ingredients...

[ProThaiExpat]

Sheryl: The auto-immune complex is of note. I suffer from uticaria pigmentosa, a clinically insignificant condition where mast cells in the skin go bonkers and create bumps and red freckles, much like hives. My father was a red head and I have his skin. Eveidently, histamines have a lot to do with this, many websites indicate that it is a anti-histamine response to a perceived physical threat by the body. Certainly heat and irritation aggravate the spots.

There are many body responses to disease that are totally inappropriate to relieve the condition. Fluid in joints as a response is just an example. If my diffuse aches are allergic response to ice cream, it is an easy call. Happy to give up that treat. I do like Buds ice cream better than Swensens, but it has more fat and sugar in it than Swensens so I expect the reaction to be greater.

Does any one with borderline diabetis or diabetis ever get similar symptions when sugars are taken in or there is a reaction when diet not managed or insulin not taken? I have wondered that since I have been off sugar for many years, the body just can't handle the sugar in ice cream and reacts accordingly.

While I do suffer the inevitable highs and lows when I eat candy or cookies, I don't get the aches, which only seems to accompany ice cream injestion.

[Jamie]

Have you looked at the possibility of having a dairy allergy? I have a dairy allergy (not lactose intolerant) and if I eat too much, be it milk, cheese, ice cream etc, I will actually get flu-like symptoms with muscle aches.

[ProThaiExpat]

Jamie: Just the type of answer I was looking for. Similar symptom sufferers that have narrowed down what they think causes the symptoms.

I will add milk to my test group and see if it generates the symptoms. Many thanks.

[The Dan Sai Kid]

you don't have to eat a lot of something to see if you are allergic to it. You can cut it out of your system for 30 days, taking your heart rate at a certain time every day, and after 30 days take a small amount of it and check your heart rate again. If there is a significant rise then you can see if your body is allergic to that item.