Day 3 in pain

[Laura Addah]

So I've done a couple of these in the past, and they helped me figure out that artificial preservatives and soy both seem to trigger additional inflammation for me. It also improved my relationship with food and encouraged me to eat more veggies.  (I'm happiest with the simple whole 30 plate, and love lots of raw veggies)  I have chronic autoimmune health issues.  I'm a few years older now, and keep gaining weight.  I've been going along with stuff like 'let's go to the Chinese buffet' because it made my spouse happy, but hating myself for feeling miserable and bloated afterwards.  So I decided it was time to do another whole 30. 

I'm on day 3 and in pain.  Yesterday I was getting the to be expected headache, tired, malaise, brain fog.  Then I tried to get some sleep before having to get up early and drive my teen son to an event.  No matter which way I lay in bed, it hurt the part that was against the mattress.  I ache and hurt all over.  I feel stupid complaining about it, because it isn't BIG pain - but it's pain over a lot of me and all the time.  

I have fibromyalgia and undifferentiated connective tissue disease, so chronic pain is part of my life.  But I'm on some medications - Cymbalta and cyclobenzaprine - and a LOT of supplements that have in general done a pretty good job of mitigating it and helping me get by without too much pain.  Right now, I feel like someone took away my meds and my muscles are tensed up and hurt all over, like I haven't taken cyclobenzaprine all week, but I am up to date on my meds. 

It's the kind of thing that makes me question am I really doing something that's good for me, or am I just making myself more of a hassle and burden to my family?

[ShannonM816]

Three days in is too early to be seeing a lot of results, so this may be something that you'd be feeling whether you had started whole30 or not. Or it might be that you've increased how much you're eating of something that is increasing inflammation for you. No one can say for sure. Hang in there for a few more days, see if it gets better or not.

If you don't already, I recommend keeping a food log, just listing what you have eaten and then maybe noting days where you have more pain, so you can see if there is a pattern. One thing that sometimes causes increased inflammation for some people is nightshades, you could read up on that and if it sounds like a possibility, start trying to limit them and see if it makes a difference, or at least pay attention when you have them and see if it makes your pain noticeably worse. Check out this article for some basic info on that: https://www.thepaleomom.com/what-are-nightshades/

[Amy_Michigan]

I have mild lupus (SLE) and mixed connective tissue diease.  I forget the link between that and lupus..  anyway, I too experienced inflammation when I started the whole30 which started a detox process because of all of the horrible junk I was putting in my body before.  I had wrist and ankle pain for 1-2 days during the very first week, I believe.  Not the same, I know. 

I don't really have any good advice for you except there are a few "better-than-other" anti-inflammatory foods.  I would google and find those.  I try to include a lot ot leafy greens and blueberries in my diet.

 If you are in pain, I would consider going to the doctor.  The last time I had pain all over my body was when I had large red bumps (rash) all over the back of my arms and my back.  It was so inflammed that I obviously couldn't lay on my back.  I haven't had that rash since I started plaquenil.

Also, I would try Autoimmune Protocol (AIP). 

Whole30 has an AIP food list somewhere. Shannon mentioned above that it means don't eat nightshade veggies (potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant).  Other foods are on the "avoid list" for 30 days along with the nightshades so that you can determine what is causing symptons during reintro.  I believe that includes nuts, seeds. And eggs.

Also alfalfa & garlic are no-no's for me according to lupus websites.