Diet, medication, flexibility, and training.

[Dave Hahn]

Themyth that it's the calories has done much damage to our health. A good example is the government's push for low fat, high grain diets.

Oh.

[Scaldrew]

Oh.

Read that in Harry S. Plinkett's voice.

[JFord]

Fortunately, for me, I ran out of the diuretic medicine used to help control my blood pressure and which I took for 20 years. Within three days of not taking it, the pain was 95% gone! I sincerely believe that the diuretic starved my joints of fluids causing arthritis.

I'm not saying that your theory about the cause of your pain going away with stopping the diuretic is wrong. However, I would guess that a more likely explanation was that the diuretic was depleting your body of potassium which sometimes occurs with a majority of such drugs. Muscles don't like low potassium levels (hypokalemia). They ache and when the potassium reduction is severe, can even break down (rhabdomyolysis). I saw a young woman in the ER complaining of severe total body pain. She'd been taking an herb treatment for several months to lose weight. Her labs demonstrated severe hypokalemia and rhabdo. When I called Poison Control, I discovered that this herb contained a "natural" ingredient very much like hydrochlorothiazide (perhaps the diuretic YOU were taking?).

I repleted her potassium and put her on a low herb diet.

Again though, your theory is not a terrible one.

[ChessGuy]

I'm not saying that your theory about the cause of your pain going away with stopping the diuretic is wrong. However, I would guess that a more likely explanation was that the diuretic was depleting your body of potassium which sometimes occurs with a majority of such drugs. Muscles don't like low potassium levels (hypokalemia). They ache and when the potassium reduction is severe, can even break down (rhabdomyolysis). I saw a young woman in the ER complaining of severe total body pain. She'd been taking an herb treatment for several months to lose weight. Her labs demonstrated severe hypokalemia and rhabdo. When I called Poison Control, I discovered that this herb contained a "natural" ingredient very much like hydrochlorothiazide (perhaps the diuretic YOU were taking?).

I repleted her potassium and put her on a low herb diet.

Again though, your theory is not a terrible one.

I have no doubt that with being 2 quarts low on water every day, I lost essential minerals, too. The knee pain was getting really bad, but after 3 days of not taking the diuretic, 90% of the pain was gone. I could not find any information on this in the scientific literature. There were only references to "gouty" arthritis...

The thing is my minerals were 'normal' according to my labs....

[JFord]

The thing is my minerals were 'normal' according to my labs....

Then your theory (or possibly some other explanation) may be more likely to have validity. Low potassium should have been readily apparent by routine labs prior to stopping the diuretic. I mentioned it because myalgias are a common problem with diuretics and this is the usual cause. Doesn't mean it's the only cause.

[Chrismus]

I ran out of the diuretic medicine used to help control my blood pressure and which I took for 20 years. Within three days of not taking it, the pain was 95% gone! I sincerely believe that the diuretic starved my joints of fluids causing arthritis. Before quitting the diuretics, I would get up in the morning and all my joints felt sore. I thought it was just the normal aging process. I still had pain and swelling in my left knee, especially in the mornings...

Were you taking a thiazide diuretic? Thiazide diuretics have a tendency to reduce potassium and magnesium levels. Low magnesium and potassium are both associated with joint pain. If you have to go back on the diuretics and the pain comes back, try supplementing with magnesium. Be careful supplementing with potassium. Better to eat high-potassium foods.

Probably, lack of fluids did not cause you to have arthritis.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Be careful supplementing with potassium.

Why? Three potassium gluconate tabs will kill you?

[Chrismus]

Why? Three potassium gluconate tabs will kill you?

I don't know how people get themselves into these messes, but I've seen more than one person in ICU with potassium overdose. With magnesium, there is basically no upper limit.

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

No need for testing. We pretty much know that the over consumption of high fructose corn syrup and wheat products is the main reason for the exploding plague of obesity and diabetes in this country. Most everyone who I know who reduces or eliminates both items from their diet get to feel much better, health wise.

Themyth that it's the calories has done much damage to our health. A good example is the government's push for low fat, high grain diets.

No. Why do people keep saying this stuff though? It continues to baffle me.

[George Christiansen]

Themyth that it's the calories has done much damage to our health. A good example is the government's push for low fat, high grain diets.

Because all those obese people got that way from avoiding a calorie surplus, right?

Some super low % of the population is gluten insensitive or has celiacs.

This is the simplest explanation for all the big asses waddling around: Discrepancy between self-reported and actual caloric intake and exercise in obese subjects. - PubMed - NCBI