Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

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About me: I've been full Paleo for about 3 months now, and was raised on a Weston Price style diet for the last 10 years. Have dabbled in low carb and gluten free in the past. So I'm not an ex-vegan or typical American as far as my lifetime diet is concerned.

However, in 2009-2010 I was living/traveling in Australia and for 6 months I was eating a pretty SAD heavy diet (not by choice, was the only food provided in our travel group) and drinking a lot of coffee and alcohol, even though I was trying to stay gluten free in general. Gained a lot of weight, had major skin problems, etc. etc. Definitely not a good time for my life as far as my health is concerned.

Fast forward to the past year - I tested positive for Lyme antibodies, so for all intents and purposes, at some point I was bitten by a tick infected with the Lyme spirochete bacteria and I was exposed. So I may be dealing with some level of chronic lyme.

Long story short, here is my question - I've been dealing with REALLY creaky joints for the past year or so, plus intermittent neck and shoulder pain. I never had this much joint cracking before in my life, and over the past year or so it's just gotten really intense. I've tried magnesium, cod liver oil, saventaro for the Lyme, MSM... nothing really seems to help with the joint issues. It's not necessarily painful, but it just seems strange and uncomfortable to have such loud cracks and pops when I stretch out my joints, and especially in my back and neck.

Does anyone have any recommendations or experience with this issue? It would be great if someone specifically had dealt with Lyme, since I have a feeling that part of the issue was the long term Lyme infection that I may still have (I haven't been retested yet.)

flag	asked Jan 2 2012 at 21:48 Laura 419●1●3

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Hey Laura! Sounds much like my crepitus, minus the Lyme. Woah really sorry to hear that you were exposed. It's a tough one to deal with. Definitely use the search using Crepitus as the keyword and you will get loads of info - and totally agree with @Dragonfly and the Omega 3's - the fish oil has helped me immensely. Here, you might find this to feel good: mobilitywod.com/2011/06/… Be well! – jesuisjuba - paleorepublic.com Jan 2 2012 at 22:58

Yeah well I'm just lucky that I'm healthy enough that it didn't totally cripple me! I will look up Crepitus. Thanks! – Laura Jan 3 2012 at 0:37

Dragonfly · Answer 1 · 2012-01-02 22:15:27Z UTC

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Omega 3s (I take 1000 mg Neptune Krill Oil) seems to have dealt with all my joint issues.

Also, getting your Vitamin D level up to the high end of 50-80 ng/ml should help with any residual inflammation issues from the Lyme infection.

This link may be helpful: http://www.lymebook.com/lyme-disease-diet-and-supplements-vitamin-a-b-c-magnesium

answered Jan 2 2012 at 22:15

Dragonfly
31.2k●1●8●41

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Thanks Dragonfly... the thing is though, I'm pretty sure my vitamin D levels are up there (my last bloodwork looked good for vit D), and I do take some cod liver oil on a regular basis. Though maybe I need to do some high dose omega 3 treatment for a while.... think I heard Robb Wolf mentioning that plan once? I'll check the link out! – Laura Jan 3 2012 at 0:37

Louisa · Answer 2 · 2012-01-03 08:37:37Z UTC

It may be that if you have creaking joints and a stiff neck, you could be suffering with the following: a sluggish lymph system, parasites or kidneys that are not performing to the maximum. Your trip to Australia and the diet you had there could be responsible for this. If you gained weight exclusively around your middle, then this could indicate the slowing down of lymph through the main ducts situated there.

Basically, it is a question of insufficient excretion of toxins, which is where your skin problems will have originated from (from the SAD diet). If the toxins cannot be removed by the normal routes, i.e. kidneys and liver, they will be excreted by the skin and lungs. If you have parasites, they are actually doing some GOOD in your body, as they are also trying to digest the accumulated waste for you, but they also let off other toxins of their own, which are quite taxing for the body to remove in addition to the toxins absorbed from the SAD diet.

Google 'Kidney Cleanse' - there are various herbal remedies that you can take over a period of 3-6 weeks. (Andreas Moritz has a good program) and start to practise some yoga (sun salutations in particular) which gets the lymph moving again - head/handstands are also good for this, also dry skin brushing before a shower. If you still feel stiff after this, then you could try colonic hydrotherapy, or a parasite cleanse.

And drink more warm/hot water (to enhance liver function).

I hope you are feeling better soon!

The Loon · Answer 3 · 2012-01-03 15:21:58Z UTC

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I always feel less creaky with lots of green tea. Maybe it is just the extra water. I am not sure, but it's a pretty easy inexpensive thing to add to your routine.

answered Jan 3 2012 at 15:21

The Loon
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hhsuey · Answer 4 · 2012-11-07 08:45:52Z UTC

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collagen could help. check out the reviews...

http://www.iherb.com/Neocell-Super-Collagen-Type-1-3-7-oz-198-g/6074

answered Nov 7 at 8:45

hhsuey
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Allendbrook · Answer 5 · 2012-12-28 05:18:04Z UTC

Knuckle "cracking" has not been shown to be harmful or beneficial. More specifically, knuckle cracking does not cause arthritis.

Joint "cracking" can result from a negative pressure pulling nitrogen gas temporarily into the joint, such as when knuckles are "cracked." This is not harmful. "Cracking" sounds can also be heard if tendons snap over tissues because of minor adjustments in their gliding paths. This can occur with aging as muscle mass and action change.

If cracking is accompanied by pain, there could be underlying abnormalities of the structures of the joint, such as loose cartilage or injured ligaments. Some patients with arthritis (inflammation of joints, usually painful), bursitis, or tendinitis notice "cracking" sounds due to the snapping of irregular, swollen tissues.

It depends on who's doing it and why. If you're doing it as a nervous habit, then it's likely not doing you any good. If it's a DO (or even a chiropractor) doing it to treat a specific problem, then it can be a good thing. Think of it like a pill. The right pill for the cracking & joint muscle pain relief can be good while the same pill for the wrong thing can be bad.

Hack my cracking joints!

5 Answers