I guess it was the Vitamin C. I first mentioned the Vitamin C on Day 277 (September 8th) when I'd been on GAPS for nine months. I felt like I was ready to incorporate the Vitamin C that Dr. James Wilson suggests in his book Adrenal Fatigue.

I ordered the Vitamin C on September 9th from Azure, and received it on the 15th.

On Day 281, September 11th, I reported that my thumb was hurting, and I was worried that I might have I thought maybe I had Thumb Carpo-Metacarpal Arthritis.

To venture off topic for one moment, also on Day 281 I mentioned that my sister was reading the GAPS book and she seemed to like it very much. I was pretty excited to think that she might do GAPS, too. Sadly we got into an argument on the phone several weeks ago and she told me straight out that she does not need to do GAPS. I was so hurt by the whole conversation that I cried over it. I just know that GAPS has helped me so much. My sister also told me as long as she makes sure she gets 30 grams of fiber a day she stays “regular” which you should know after reading my Fiber Menace review that that much fiber is very harmful to our digestive system. If you need fiber to push your stool through, then your gut flora is compromised and you need to work at fixing your gut dysbiosis.

But back to my topic, I don't recall if I was taking another form of Vitamin C at the time. I think I might have been taking the hard capsule form of Vitamin C.

On September 27th, I complained that my thumbs were still hurting. I continued to mention the pain every once in a while. All the while I was increasing my Vitamin C every few days. On October 15th I mentioned that I could no longer drink the Vitamin C powder in water, it was too sour. Finally on Day 339, November 9th I reported that I had reached bowel tolerance the previous day, and I also suspected it was nuts causing my pain as I had been eating nuts daily.

I backed down on the Vitamin C and stayed around 10 grams daily until late in December when I decided to start slowly tapering off so that I could do the Introduction part of GAPS again. I wanted to be off all supplements, and I wanted to eliminate most foods to see if I could isolate what was making my hands hurt.

What ended up happening, as I reported on the 10th of January is that my hands stopped hurting and every day they were feeling better. Well now that I've been off the Vitamin C for four weeks, my hands feel almost normal. I can lift our heavy cast iron skillets again, I can lift our ceramic plates, the big Purex casserole bowl. I can milk the goats without my fingers hurting. I can wash dishes without it hurting. I can pull my pants and boots on and off. I needed my husband to help me pull my boots on and off two days before Christmas.

I still have some very mild pain, but nothing like it was on the Vitamin C. I'm still taking the glucosamine chondroitin with MSM, although I'm now at 3 capsules twice daily.

I still can't believe I did that to myself and caused myself so much unnecessary pain. I must say though that I truly have more compassion for a person who has lost their grip to arthritis.

I'm so relieved that my hands are no longer causing me pain.