What helps: Iritis, Uveitis, Enthesitis (pain in eyes, knees, hands and feet)

Whilst the NSD worked well for curing my iritis, I also had to stay away from mixtures of dairy and refined sucrose.

Here is a letter I wrote to a lady who was suffering from Iritis, I am sharing it here in case it helps someone:

I have suffered from Iritis in the past, in me this had occurred alongside another autoimmune disorder called Ankylosing Spondylitis. There are two things that worked for my iritis:

1. An antioxidant plant extract called Rutin
2. A diet called the No Starch Diet

- 1. Rutin -
This antioxidant worked quite well for me at a dosage of around 300mg twice a day. Usually with these things I would start with a smaller dose, watch for undesirable effects and gradually increase the dose. I'm uncertain as to whether this has worked well for others - have had practically no feedback. This supplement is not to be used during pregnancy. There is the potential of some immune suppression and I believed that a chest infection only cleared after stopping Rutin. But that would have been after many months of use, so short term use should be fine. For more details on safety, etc see here:
http://www.kickas.org/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=90568&page=1

- 2. No Starch Diet (NSD) -
This worked best for me. I have been following this diet for years out of absolute necessity as it has brought my Ankylosing Spondylitis well and truly under control AND as a bonus my iritis stopped altogether whilst on the diet. I also had to give up dairy, except butter and yoghurt are OK. Foods that mix sugar with dairy also caused trouble for my iritis, so watch out for that (protein shakes, caramels, custards, hot chocolate, etc). I have since learnt via observation that I do not tolerate sucrose (table sugar) very well but that I do tolerate glucose and fructose well, eg honey and butter is safe for me, whereas sugar and butter is not (your body may be different so just be on the lookout). I no longer need to take Rutin after starting the No Starch Diet. It is a difficult diet to start with and you really need to listen to your body a lot and observe how foods effect it. Paleo Diet is similar and you may find it easier to start there when looking for recipes (and perhaps skip the sweet potato and yam).

Here are my personal notes, with a few updates and edited for clarity. This is from many years ago when I still suffered from iritis (before No Starch Diet):

--= Helpful =--

**** Rutin. This is a plant derived antioxidant. It also cleared some mild inflammation I was getting in my hands, knees and foot too. I think it also cures my reflux? If you are pregnant or have chest infections then don't take this.
*** Oral prednisolone. In my case this works *much* better than prednisolone eye drops.
** No Starch Diet

--= Safe =--
* yoghurt
* rice
* corn ? (I think this is safe)

--= Detrimental =--

---- sugar mixed with butter / dairy fat / coconut. eg: Hot chocolate, flan, creme brûlée, chocolate, caramel, ice cream, etc. A bigger problem when it is hot or liquid. So the worst reactions are things like hot chocolate, hot caramel, hot chocolate syrup. Give it a test one day and see if you react to one of these.

--- wheat. Perhaps other grains are a problem too?. Wheat is really bad when deep fried or fluffy eg: donuts, tempura, battered fish, sponge cake, etc.

--- echinacea

- banana. This suggests that Inulin or FOS are a problem for iritis.
- oats. Only a mild problem, have to eat quite a lot of oats for a reaction.
- milk.


== Key: ==
* = safe
** = helpful
*** = very helpful
- = detrimental
--- = very detrimental