What are the dietary taboos for rheumatism?

In fact, there are no absolute taboos that apply to all rheumatism patients. What many people say, "don't touch anything with hair" is deceptive. Last week, I saw an aunt who had been suffering from rheumatoid arthritis for 6 years. She didn’t dare to eat or touch anything. She even dared to eat half an egg. When she came for a follow-up checkup, her hemoglobin was only 9 grams and her protein was also very low. She said that her joint pains were more frequent recently than before. When I asked her, I found out that she was afraid of "growing things" that would aggravate her condition. She was starving herself out of malnutrition.

Oh, yes, don’t think I’m being alarmist. Many people really misunderstand the dietary taboos for rheumatism. Let’s talk about the score. For example, if you suffer from gouty arthritis, you must control high-purine foods, such as animal offal, thick broth, and shelled seafood. This does not mean that you cannot touch one bite. For example, if you are greedy and peel two or three swimming crabs at a dinner party with friends, it is completely fine. Just don’t show off half a bowl at a meal. But if you have non-gouty rheumatism such as rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, or Sjögren's syndrome, as long as you don't have allergies or joint redness, swelling and pain after eating something, you don't need to specifically avoid food at all. A while ago, a 20-year-old ankylosing young man came for a review and said that he didn’t dare to eat seafood because it was said on the Internet that it was fattening. I asked him if he had any discomfort after eating it before. He said that it was fine when he didn’t have dietary restrictions before, so I told him to eat what he should. The last time this young man came for a review, his indicators were pretty stable, and he said that he no longer had to drool while watching others eat barbecue.

That doesn’t mean you don’t need to take care of anything. If you are currently taking glucocorticoids to control your condition, you should avoid eating high-sugar and high-salt foods. The hormone itself can easily cause blood sugar to rise and water and sodium to be retained. If you only eat pickles with rice every meal, and eat cake and milk tea when you are fine, your face will become swollen and your blood sugar will fluctuate sooner or later. Friends who are taking immunosuppressants such as methotrexate and leflunomide must not drink alcohol. Whether it is white wine, beer or red wine, these drugs need to be metabolized by the liver. Adding alcohol to the mix can easily damage the liver, and in severe cases, affect the efficacy of the drug. Oh, yes, there is also that kind of medicinal wine that claims to be able to "dispel wind and remove dampness". I advise you not to touch it blindly. Last month, an old man drank the medicinal wine he brewed for three months. His joint pain was not relieved. Instead, he was hospitalized for gastric bleeding. After investigation, he found out that several Chinese medicinal materials that hurt the stomach were added to the medicinal wine, and if it was irritated by alcohol, it would cause problems.

By the way, some people on the Internet now say that rheumatism patients should not eat dairy products or sweets, saying that these will aggravate inflammation. In fact, there is currently not enough large-scale research evidence to prove that, on the contrary, most rheumatism patients have the problem of bone loss. They usually drink milk and cheese, and supplement calcium and vitamin D. As long as you don’t have diarrhea or discomfort after drinking, you can eat normally.

In fact, if there are any general "taboos", don't blindly follow the trend and starve your body. If you are really not sure whether you can eat something, keep a food diary. If your joint pain does get worse after eating it two or three times in a row, then you can eat less in the future. After all, everyone's physique is different, and what is suitable for others may not be suitable for you, right?