I am not thirty yet. But in the last couple of years I have felt the occasional annoyance of joint pain, especially in my left knee. There is nothing that makes you feel more old than joint pain. But if I cut out a certain food group, it all magically goes away. Nightshades, which include peppers, potatoes, and tomatoes, can actually cause joint pain, or at least aggravate an inflamed condition. I am very thankful that I knew this, otherwise I would have definitely felt like I was 27 going on 100.
Why should you care about this? It’s likely that you enjoy eating these foods and can’t imagine that they are bad for you in any way. Well, if you suffer from inflammation, joint pain and cracking, avoiding nightshades will lessen your pain, whether or not the nightshades are the true source of the pain. Are you sensitive to weather changes? This can be an indication of nightshade sensitivity. Muscle pain and tightness, morning stiffness, poor healing, arthritis, insomnia and gall bladder problems—these can all be caused by nightshades. Nightshades can also cause heart burn or GERD—a lot of people already know they react this way when they eat peppers or tomatoes. Nightshades, Garret Smith
When I was reading Lark Rise to Candleford
What do you want to do if you want to see if nightshades are the root of your aches and pains?
Cut them out completely for 6 weeks and see if it improves. Just be careful that you cut all sources of nightshades from your diet!
The ones that concern us in the Western diet mainly include tomatoes, potatoes (not sweet potatoes or yams), eggplant and peppers—this means all peppers including chili peppers, habenero, cayenne pepper and paprika (not peppercorns, see sidebar). Paprika is a sneaky one, showing up in lots of flavoring mixes and often under “spices” on ingredient labels. Other nightshades include goji berries (the new darling of the antioxidant crowd), ashwagandha (an adaptogenic herb from Ayurvedic medicine), Cape gooseberries (not normal gooseberries), ground cherries and garden huckleberries (not blueberries). Nightshades, Garret Smith
Personally, I find that small amounts of nightshades cause no problem. It’s only when eating large amounts consistently that I start feeling it in my poor knee. So, I still eat nightshades right now, just not everyday.
Garret Smith also explains why some people may be more sensitive to nightshades.
But the real question is, why are some people more sensitive than others? Nutrient deficiencies certainly come into play. For example, if you don’t have enough magnesium, you will be more prone to calcinosis. Deficiency in vitamin D may exacerbate the problem. The speed at which one’s liver and kidneys detoxify these compounds plays a huge role, and this is dependent both on genetics and nutrition.
A key nutrient is vitamin K2—Dr. Price’s famous Activator X. I love this study on vitamin K2: The Effect of Vitamin K2 on Experimental Calcinosis. 18 They gave rats calcinosis by giving them way too much vitamin D2. D2 tends to cause calcinosis anyway. What did they find? A high dose of vitamin K2 suppressed experimental calcification of soft tissues induced by vitamin D2. So if you want to avoid problems with nightshades, be sure to eat goose liver, cheese, fatty grass-fed meats and pasture-fed butter—and take your butter oil.
Besides avoiding nightshades all together, you could also explore why you are sensitive to them, if that proves the case.
Has anyone else experienced a sensitivity to nightshades? Or, do you wonder if current stiffness and aches could be related?
Photo: photon_de/Flickr
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This is a really interesting topic! I was just despairing over my aches and pains in my wrists. I have been tested for arthritis before but its always negative…. maybe I just need to cut out the nightshades. Thanks for the information!
It’s certainly worth a try!
This is good to know about. Although my joint pain always comes from too much sugar.
I was bit aware that too much sugar could cause joint pain…
sugar and potatoes are hard to avoid in most processed foods in stores…potato starch, powder dextrose etc
Interesting about sugar….how did you find this out?
sorry…
I was “NOT” aware
i typed “bit” aware…
My joints really hurt after Christmas last year, and I thought I “geez, my health is really deteriorating ” but my mother in law and her sister said the same thing, and said they always get that way after the holidays because of all the sugar. They since have cut back on sugar (I try and fail all the time) and they also recommend something called “barley green” and MSM for joints. I try to take those when I can.
Thanks for this reminder. I just relayed this subject to my mom as a possible cause for her recent joint pain in her wrists. We’re in the middle of tomato and potato harvest in Montana, and have been eating more of those recently–so, there is a likely connection. Great article!
Montana?! I’m in Bozeman, where are you?
It’s true for me! I have a mystery autoimmune condition and my inflammatory numbers were sky high. Cutting nightshades from my diet helped to bring them down. I miss my tomatoes, but at least I feel better. Thank you for the great article!
Interesting….. I have a digestive disorder and when I was in the process of getting my symptoms undercontrol, I began drinking a lot of tomato juice. I had 3 horrible episodes (months apart) of diarrhea, achiness, and low grade fever. The only thing that I could think of that ‘tied’ these together was the drinking of a large glass of tomato juice! I stopped eating tomatoes altogether at that point (several years ago) and I’ve not had another episode like that again.
I have never noticed nightshades causing me aches and pains, but I do know that sugar can give me joint pain.
My husbands stiffness is aggravated by sugar too. Nobody seems to believe him ! A coincidence to find someone else. Best wishes.
I recently found out through eliminating sugar and then reintroducing it that my stiffness is almost completely caused by sugar and caffeine. I wonder why that is, exactly?
My auto-immune arthritis did not respond to removing nightshades from my diet, but it does respond to removing most concentrated sugars and refined flours. Most of the time I’m happy to give up white bread and sugar as long as I get to keep tomatoes and peppers…
That is certainly the opposite of what my mother has discovered. I suppose there is more to it than we know. She discovered that her knees always bother her the most in the colder months. As she watched her environment and her diet, she realized that she ate tomatoes out of the garden all summer long and never had as must joint pain in her knees. So, she started to buy (even out of season – shock!) tomatoes during the winter months. Her knee pain went away immediately. Now she eats tomatoes at least 2-3 times a week all year-round. Whenever her knees start to bother her, she eats a tomato and feels better by the next day. Hmmmm… I wonder what specific nutrients and specific types of problems these food have and/or trigger or help.
Rachel,
Your mother is the first I heard of that went the other way! How interesting. 🙂 To note: Nightshades don’t cause everyone’s arthritis and aches, just some peoples.
My son is is very allergic to tomatoes (he goes into anaphylactic shock), and he has also reacted to eggplant. Since finding this out, we have cut out all nightshades from our diets. The interesting thing is that I noticed an improvement in my own health (though not nearly as drastic as my son’s). I must say I find myself craving a good, fresh marinara sauce every once-in-a-while! If my son isn’t around, typically THAT is what I indulge in.
I read that all nightshades have trace amounts of nicotine in them. Did you find this in your research?
The article quoted above, also mentioned that! Who would have known?
Very interesting informaion. I get canker sores in my mouth from eating too many tomatoes, but haven’t noticed joint pain.
I do too, but only from canned tomatoes that have citric acid added to them…in my case it hasn’t been the tomatoes but the citric acid (I have to be careful what vitamin C supplements I use too)
Add me to that list that reacts to fructose with joint pain. And after years of listening to the medical world to stay away from high purine foods from gout — liver, sardines, anchovies, all other organ meats, bacon and everything else we all know are really good foods — I found no correlation whatsoever to gout. But take in a bit too much fructose — and wham — I’m wheelchair-bound for a couple of days.
My daughter has lots of joint pain as a result of chronic lyme disease; she recently did a month off nightshades and then was attempting to do the next month back on to discern the difference — the month of renewed nightshade eating was cut short (less than 2 weeks) when her pain shot back up! She really likes these foods, but likes feeling less pain even better. Thanks for your article Kimi!
All good things in moderation is a helpful motto. But these days our health challenges can be a bit more complicated.
We like to refer to ourselves as mini science experiments at our house…each person responds differently to the same food, which can make meal preparation no small feat!
Eating as close to the Makers original design for food has been helpful for us and rotating foods like potatos and tomato’s to a couple times a week has helped too.
It seems that in a sensitive person, even a good food can cause some trouble if eaten too many days in a row.
This article is helpful to bring to mind what might be a missing link for someone. For me, it was gluten… I personally feel like after 3 years of working hard at nourishing my family of 10, I have been given a second chance at life; I feel that good. I still need naps, but I’m not suffering from debilitating joint pain like I used to and I’m so thankful!
interesting! i’ve noticed hip pain recently. I’m only 32 and am bummed about it but maybe cutting out nightshades is worth it? someone mentioned “inflammatory numbers” up the comment thread – how do you find those out?
I agree this is a great topic! I have been off and on nightshades since I was diagnosed with multiple autoimmune diseases. Sometimes I think it’s making a difference in my joint pain and inflammation … other times I’m desperate for a good tomato sauce and “risk it” without having any noticeable problems later. Maybe what you said about eating them often and building up in your system is the key for nightshade toxicity for me too. As with ANYTHING regarding supplements or diet … you have to try it for yourself and see how you respond. Everyone is a unique individual. : ) Great Post!
you know, I knew nightshades were connected to psoriasis and have drastically cut them down in my diet (not totally out, have had a few cheats but am working on it). I’m hoping that, and cutting out gluten helps, but now you have me thinking about aches and pains. I have those too! Knees and feet. I’m going to totally stop the nightshades and pay attention and see if the pain improves. THANKS!
Oh boy! This is bittersweet. Sounds like I need to try to cut out nightshades, ….. BUT I LOVE THEM! :o(
Will vitamin K allow me to just ‘not eat as many’? Is it all trial and error? Ugh.
While doing some research on my and my mother’s food sensitivities and things we have found to help those issues, I learned that lectins (which are found in high concentration in the nightshade family foods as well as other foods–hello gluten and dairy!) seem to cause us trouble. Seems there’s more info/research coming out on lectins every time I look!
GREAT article 🙂 I have lymes disease, celiac and several food allergies. I have found nightshades to be VERY problematic for me. I have been nightshade free for 2 years. If anyone has problems with nightshade’s joint pain ect. Please consider looking into if you have Lymes disease. I found out thorough Field Control Therapy or find a Lymes Literate Dr. and have a Western Blot test done. It maybe the cause of autoimmune and food troubles . Please watch the documentry ” Under My Skin “.
Blessings
Very interesting. I don’t have joint pain as badly as my husband does. And boy does he love his potatoes. I had no idea what nightshades were when I saw the title. So happy I continued to read so I can see of this is part of the cause for some pain!
This is extremely good information. I’m not sure how we cut these things from our diet – actually my diet. We are already making significant dietary changes is reducing/stopping meats, dairy, eating hugely more vegetables and the like. Just another item to look into. It would be really good to know more about K2. I have had calcification for sometime and now have a bone spur on my toe that I am trying to get rid of through alternative methods to avoid surgery (not pleasant, have done years ago, not able to use a shoe for at least 4 weeks). Someone else has recently suggested more K2; I just haven’t been able to find out how much and where to get more than the little I find mixed with D3. Hmmm…lots of food for thought. Thank you for the article.
This is very interesting! I will really need to look into this further. I have to talk specifically about the “The ones that concern us… peppers—this means all peppers including chili peppers, habenero, cayenne pepper…” The spicy hot peppers mentioned are all very high in capsaicin. This naturally occurring chemical is well know to be a very effective anti-inflammatory. It is used to treat arthritis, with great results. http://organicallythought.com/capsaicin-natures-antiinflammatory
Leon,
Garret addressed this in his article. I think individuals need to test it both ways for themselves and see what works for them. 🙂
Oh, yes you are so right! It is best for each person to figure out what works best for them. Our individual health can be so varied.
Do nightshade peppers also include the red, yellow, orange and green peppers? All the above focused on the seemingly “hot”traditional peppers…
Yes, they are nightshades as well.
your body talks to you………you need to listen…
I have Graves Disease (hyperthyroidism), and have heard before that nightshades may be a contributing factor. It’s one of those things that I heard about and promptly forgot about…it does sound like it’s worth looking into. I’m having such a hard time finding info on treating hyperthyroidism naturally – it seems that all the books (including Nourishing Traditions, and The Fourfold Path To Healing) all focus on hypOthyroidism with almost no mention at all of hypERthyroidism. So confused. I’ve had this for almost 6 years now, and they want me to do the radioiodine treatment, but I’m trying to avoid it. Anyone else have the same thyroid problem? In the meantime, I’m definitely going to start experimenting with cutting out all nightshades, and adding them back one at a time.
I also have Graves disease but it is in remission. I never took the radioactive iodine. I do get joint pains in my knees. Today I had eggplant and red tomato sauce and tonight my knees started hurting. I never thought about the nightshades being associated with it before. When I was younger they said I had growing pains. Well I’m not growing anymore! I had blood tests for arthritis and they were negative. I am going to try to avoid some of these foods and see what happens. I also have low Vitamin D which I have to take a pill for. So I will see what happens.
I didnt even think I had an issue with nightshades. However, I did a food elimination diet and cleanse where I had eliminated them and then at the end of the cleanse, I tested them along with many other common food allergies (one at a time). It was enlightening. I woke up the day after my nightshades test with terribly aching hands and wrists. Im only 34, but I felt like I was 80 that morning! It was enough to convince me to back off the nightshades. I can also do them in small quantities without issue, but I try to steer clear for the most part.
The only nightshades I use are tomatoes and peppers, but not every day. I haven’t seen a connection, for me. But I wonder if my husband (who gets joint pain sometimes) would benefit from a nightshade fast. Thanks for the reminder, and for the information.
Years ago I got migraines and joint pain. My doctor concluded it was night shade sensitivity. Over the years I forgot, thank you for the news update it makes sense why I have been in more pain lately.
I am allergic to nightshades, but it causes itching/rashes, not joint pain. These foods are very, very hard to avoid, unless you make everything yourself.
Paprika, as mentioned above, is in a surprising number of foods, but it’s not always listed on the label (sometimes it just says “spices”). It is in deli meats, Cheese Nips, many soups, bacon, hot dogs (which we shouldn’t be eating anyway!), prepared mustard and many other things for coloring. Potato starch is in a lot of things as well. And I found out recently that even Worcestershire sauce, which I had planned on using when I made my own peppers-free beef jerky, has cayenne in it!
I mention this in case someone who tries going nightshade-free doesn’t see much improvement; it might be that you’re still ingesting these foods without realizing it. And while it may be that after being off the nightshades for a while that the miniscule amounts won’t be a problem, but you’ll probably heal faster if you avoid them entirely at first.
I should also mention that Ashwgandha, while technically in the nightshade family, lacks whatever it is that makes other nightshades a problem. I have taken it on a daily basis for some time, and never had any of the symptoms that I get with even small amounts of other nightshades.
Also, Goji berries are mentioned as a nightshade (they do give me problems); they are sometimes labeled as Wolfberries – they are the same thing.
I find that cane sugar and coffee cause me to have joint pain.
Nightshades may also be a factor. I was on a paleo diet and just happened to stop nightshades along with these other items.
For me coffee causes deep aching joints stiffness and even spinal pain. In my case it seems to be from inflammation caused by coffee.
Same here. Coffee is my main culprit. Sugar and beer also contribute but coffee by far brings on what can only be described as fibromyalgia like symptoms.
I have found that my joint pain is aggravated by too much grains especially wheat or wheat flour. I can eat some with no problem but if I have too much my hands will hurt pretty crazy with weather changes.
Nightshades were a factor for me too. So was gluten and chocolate. I have an auto-immune problem that results in major joint pain and inflammation. A gluten-free, anti-inflammatory diet (Dr. Weil’s version) really helped. Then, a holistic endocrinologist really made the difference for me. I feel like a new person! Undiagnosed thyroid disorders are so prevalent as conventional medicine often misses them. A holistic approach really saved me.
One of my kids developed a serious sensitivity to tomatoes and we found we had to remove all nightshades from her diet. I am hoping she outgrows it because there are a LOT of delicious nightshades. That said, now that you mention it, I have an arthritic knee following a car accident when I was twenty and I broke my patella. It hasn’t been acting up as much so maybe I am doing myself a favor, too.
We have proof that cutting out nightshades also eliminates arthritis. . .and psoriasis. In 2009 my husband developed psoriatic arthritis (meaning psoriasis so bad that every inch of his body peeled it’s skin and went into his joints causing arthritis). We stayed away from all nightshades, but also cut out white sugar, white flour and all processed foods. It took a year to completely heal, and now we maintain the healthy diet, but have very occasional organic tomatoes and organic potatoes, and he’s doing well.
I am so encouraged to read all of this! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I started having severe migraines 5 years ago. I finally found out it was due to a nightshade sensitivity. I have been off all nightshades since and the only time I get a migraine now is when I accidentally eat something with a nightshade in it. I just had my 6th baby 5 weeks ago and started having horrible joint pain and stiffness and muscle pain. After a few weeks of trying to figure out what was going on I finally decided to go off all grain, fruit and sweeteners this past Sunday. I noticed a major difference the first day and have been virtually pain free all week. I thought it was all in my head. I was ready to give up on this “new diet” tonight after feeling overwhelmed by all of the extra work it has caused this week. I’m so glad for this post! I guess I will eventually need to reintroduce things back into my diet in time to see what my body can handle. I know the grains and definitely the sweeteners are not ideal to have in our diet anyway but grains sure do make life a bit easier for this mom of 6 littles for the time being. 🙂 Thank you again for this post and all of the comments.
Hi There Kimi~
In addition to Crohn’s disease I also suffer from lupus flare-ups (lining of my lungs and heart, and lupus butterfly rash on my face). In my research I have most certainly discovered that nightshades play a role in inflammation, especially related to joint pain and other lupus symptoms. There are obviously exceptions to this and I think the comments reflect that there is such a huge diversity in how food affects our bodies, but there are some rules in the game here, and for most nightshades do affect inflammation levels. Next month I will be posting about this issue: Holistic healing for Lupus/Rheumatoid Arthritis.
I’m always pleased to see people turning to foods to heal. Foods can be damaging or healing and it’s important to listen to our bodies and find out which ones are working against us and which ones are working in harmony with us.
Be Well,
–Amber
Hi, Kimi
When I was in my 20s I got arthritis, along with chronic fatigue, chemical sensitivities, chronic sinus infections and colds, seasonal allergies, etc.
The first thing I did was give up nightshades and my arthritis was 90% gone within a matter of a week. I was thrilled! But a friend told me that most people with a healthy gut should not react to nightshades — it’s only when you have compromised immunity due to a damaged gut/lack of good gut flora.
I went on an elimination diet (similar to GAPS diet) and all my symptoms disappeared within 3-4 weeks. After that I was tested by a naturopath who told me I was allergic to gluten. So I stayed off gluten, all sweeteners except honey, and avoided all starches for about 2 years and took large amounts of therapeutic probiotics and other supplements. In time, my gut healed and all my symptoms were gone for good. I found that I could eat wheat and sugar again with no symptoms.
Food allergies can be reversed by healing the gut.
Ann Marie
Oh and by the way, I wasn’t doing GAPS (since it didn’t exist back then) but if I had done GAPS and included lots of bone broth and fermented foods in addition to the probiotics, I believe I would have healed a lot faster.
Hi Ann Marie,
I remember your story! Thanks for sharing it again. I think the interesting thing with me, is that I had more problems with them right after Aria was born. I had wanted to share this information for a long time, but now that I finally have, I realized that they don’t bother me anymore, it seems.
I had a pretty hard recovery from Aria’s birth, it could have been related to certain deficiencies caused by all of the blood I lost during the birthing process. Who knows!
Kim, I have an odd question for you, but it’s curiosity more than anything. I tried googling it too, but I’m not sure I had a definitive answer. Is marijuana considered a nightshade plant?
Nightshades cause joint AND muscle pain for me. For a long time, just eating some tomato would cause my neck muscles to stiffen like crazy. For most of my life doctors told me it was just stress, take ibuprofen and get over it. It wasn’t until I did an elimination diet that I finally saw the connection between potato and my joint/muscle pain, and when I researched that I learned all about this nightshade issue and cut them all out.
A connected problem I had was with poor digestive health and a lot occurence of healthy probiotics in my gut. Recently, healing my gut and getting my probiotics count up has made it possible for me to eat nightshades again (infrequently) without any problems. But I certainly wouldn’t go back to eating any of them on a regular basis!
I have been on the bloodtype diet for about 3 months. I suffer from IBS and reflux disease. In my particular plan (type B) I must avoid tomatoes. I did so faithhfuly untill two days ago. I ate a heavy tomato- based meal in the evening. Ouch!!! A few hours later I woke up and had to struggle to get to the bathroom with the worst jointpain/ knee pain I’ve had in a long time. I’m 35! I won’t be eating tomatoes or tomato products again!!!
Wendelyn
If you cut out nightshades and still have joint pain, try cutting out everything containing caffeine. Even decaf products still contain traces of caffeine, and cocoa (including chocolate products). I had headaches and a skin rash for 8 years which didn’t clear up until I cut out tea, coffee and decaf tea and coffee. The occasional joint pain however continued to niggle me for the last 6 months, until one day I noticed a pattern forming, the pains began shortly after drinking hot chocolate or cocoa – which I was substituting for tea and coffee. I then cut out all chocolate and hey presto my pains dissappeared. I’ve been without chocolate for about 2 weeks now and have been more or less pain free. But last night I thought surely one bit of chocolate won’t hurt me, but without 45 minutes of eating the smallest amount my left elbow joint was creasing me, this morning it’s both my elbow and knee which hurt … just thought I’d share something else which might help someone.
Thanks for the comments! I am just recovering from severe joint pain in my right knee where I could barely walk for 2 days, that seems to be caused by too much pepper hot sauce. I have cut out hot food and I am revovering. I stopped eating black pepper and other hot peppers for 20 years because of that joint pain you described. About 2 years ago I went back to hot food and was good with it except for maybe 2 times. Everything in moderation.
Nighshades are potentially the sneakiest cause of joint pain–gluten can cause joint pain through leaky guts, but nighshade effects tend to come on quicker. I run a website all about pain, and just wrote up an article about the evidence for and against nightshades and pain. Check it out!
http://paindatabase.com/nightshades/
Recently started eating LOADS of potatoes and sure enough my left knee is starting to ache. Time to cut back …
I am here reading this site after apparently solving my problem by nightshade elimination. I have been a heavy daily user of tomato paste, potatoes (unpeeled), peppers, eggplant and cayenne pepper. Nightshades have been maybe half my diet for 15 years. Two years ago I started to have abdominal pain. It would come for a few days and go away for up to months. Then it became a regular daily occurrence and I contemplated going to emergency several times. I took a shot at eliminating nightshades before I had researched any possible connection to pain. The pain stopped completely after two days with no nightshades. It returned for a few hours at about 21 days. I’m now up to 30 days and pain free. I also have ataxia symptoms that I am hopeful this change could affect. So far there have been three very good days with reduced symptoms. I read that it takes months to years to completely detoxify. Maybe some damage is permanent, but living pain free is a God send.
There is no question that some of these items trigger flares of inflammation. There are other things, too, for instance, if I were to scare anyone off of any food to reduce their pain and could only choose two things, they would be green peppers and sugar substitutes — aspartame especially. I have experimented for years, now, determining what the real killers are for me.
I figured some of this out when I was in so much pain that I had become debilitated. Me — the girl who renovated Victorians, installing beams and drywall ceilings by myself. Tough as nails and hard working all my life, I had reached a point I could at times not even leave the bed to make myself a sandwich.
When a friend suggested at the counter of a health food store, that I NOT buy a pack of gum because it could be part of the problem, I reacted snidely. THIS tiny thing could cause THIS level of pain? Give me a break! I was out of my mind with pain.
I put the gum back, reluctantly, wondering how I would survive the severe dry mouth and pasty throat I had all the time (which turned out to be part of my Lyme disease). I had even slept with Dentyne Ice in my mouth.
However, my pain level dropped immediately. It dropped to the point of tolerable. The gun case that stuck out from under the bed of one of my employers no longer gave me ideas, and I was able to focus on other sources of pain and fatigue.
I was working for someone who needed some mudding done on his new drywall in a house in the mountains of Maine. I had left my job because I was experiencing so much pain and confusion, but I still needed to survive, so I was forced to do something I had learned decades before when I was starting out with a young family and a tight budget and wanted to make a nice home for us. At least, with this job I could cut out during the day if I needed to.
When he asked me what I charged, I had joked that it depended on how well he fed me, because he had a huge garden and I knew I needed to be healthier to heal. He fed me very well, but we had loads of green peppers as well as potatoes and tomatoes nearly every meal. I couldn’t sleep because the pain was so acute — it just got worse by the day — and there were other symptoms. One night at about two in the morning, was banging my forehead against the wall just to distract from my body that was on fire. I was ready to go Kevorkian. Shortly after, my sister told me about green peppers. I immediately cut them out of my diet entirely, and began to notice other triggers.
Now I was on the road to recovery. I was eventually diagnosed with both fibromyalgia and Acute, Chronic Lyme disease and eventually a serious vitamin D deficiency, among other things.
All of these foods mattered.
Please people, make the effort. Don’t underestimate the effects of these things on your mind and body! Drop some of these things from your habits. Life can be worth living again. I promise.
I had hyperthyroidism in 2008 and again in the spring of 2012. Both times, after my MD ran blood tests, I went to acupuncturists for treatment. It took a few months of acupuncture and Chinese herbs till the overheating (called Five Palm Heat) and severe insomnia were gone. Chinese medicine doesn’t actually have disease categories, such as hyper- or hypothyrodism. Everything is viewed in terms of basic imbalances. So hyperthyroidism is called Liver Yin and Kidney Yin Deficiency. Meaning: the cooling energies of these two systems has become so weakened (deficient) that the body heats up like its on fire. In Western medical terms, ones metabolism is “on steroids”.
I found this article because the outside of my left knee started hurting today, quite a bit, and when I was mentioning that to my sister, she asked me if I eat potatoes every day. She wanted to know what to cook for me when I come for Thanksgiving. But I thought she knew of some connection between nightshades and joint pain. As a matter of fact, I’ve been eating a lot of potatoes the past couple of weeks, which for years I’ve rarely touched – just because I wanted to stay away from nightshades, not knowing why they were supposed to be bad. I did a search and found this article. Maybe my sister intuitively knew the connection!
So, MaryanneA, and others, you can get help from Chinese medicine for hyper- or hypothyroidism. And leaky gut and … “whatever ails you.” As an acupressurist as well as a receiver of acupuncture and acupressure, I have a lot of personal experience with Chinese medicine.
Thanks, Kim, for your article, and everybody for your contributions.
Hulda