Hi Cate,
I developed arthritis 20 years after i got my pouch. It started with sacroilitis and is now dx as Ankyolsing Spondilitis. This can effect all my joints,muscles,tendons, but there are specific joints such as right SI joint, right hip, third top right rib and stiff neck that stand out.
I have tried so many things to try and manage my joint pain. From my few years of research i'm absolutely convinced that the majority of arthritis develops from leaky gut and SIBO. Healing the gut, fixing the bacterial balance are the key objectives that will help you to manage your inflamed joints. There are also additional supplements and stretching exercises that are essential.
I just want to state this as clearly as possible - do not take NSAID's, unless absolutely necessary. NSAIDs break down the gut lining and will make your joint pain impossible to manage.
Avoid antibiotics unless absolutely necessary. They kill both good and bad bacteria and when you finally stop taking them the bad bacteria will almost always win the race to gain territory. If you have to take them you need heaps of good bacteria and probiotics otherwise you will just become dependant on anti-biotics and certain ones like (ie quinolines like cipro) breakdown your tendons and cartilage double attacking your joints.
I could literally talk about this subject forever, but here are the main things that i do, that really help.
1. Water - drink reverse osmosis purified water. This removes the chlorine which kills good bacteria and removes other harmful substances. It does remove some good trace minerals so you can either get a re-mineraliser or just drop a few crystals of celtic sea salt in a your glass.
2. Salt - dont eat white table salt. Get Celtic sea salt, himalyan pink salt or natural sea salt.
3. Paleo Diet - this is the hardest area to conquer but if you do make it up the mountain it is so rewarding you wont want to go back down. Basically you need to eat a modified Paleo diet. Eliminating starches is essential as the bad bacteria bloom through starch. The bad bacteria can survive off fat but they wont bloom and will be much better under control. Eliminating sugar is also essential and i personally include fruit in this category as the fructose kills me. Eliminating Dairy is another essential step, between lactose and casein intolerance its best to avoid. So eliminating Starch,Sugar,Dairy and going Paleo will put you in a much better position to have a healthier gut which will help your joints.
4. Oxygen - I'm going into a controversial area now, but this has helped me so much i just have to share it. Food grade hydrogen peroxide at 35% can be diluted down to 3% in distilled water. H2O2 will kill the bad bacteria but not the good bacteria. It tastes disgusting but it has amazing benefits and is also a great way to beat fatigue. Its hard to actually buy this, you have to search online for Food grade hydrogen peroxide at 35% (keep it in the freezer). Start really slowly like 1 drop 3x a day and slowly increase over weeks.
5. Exercise - personally i only do stretching and light walking. I have a set of feldenkrais and yoga stretches that i do daily.
The steps above are a great way to get started, those same steps got me out of tremendous arthritic pain and exhausting fatigue. I'm still on this crazy journey and my next steps are trying to kill candida and then repair the gut lining.
Good luck Cate!
-d