I'll look for dextrose today. There appears to be a grape sugar, also called dextrose, which may work better for me since I'm thinking lately I have an issue with corn. Hopefully labels will make clear where the dextrose hails from.

I'm also going to try brown rice syrup. No fructose. If anyone has tried this I'd like to hear your thoughts on it.

I started today eliminating agave nectar, coconut milk, and coconut oil. Not sure about the need to eliminate coconut oil, but since I read elswhere in this forum that coconut milk is on the list of either high or moderate fructose content I'm guessing coconut oil is not a great choice either. Will research it later when I have time.

Thanks for your welcome Capmikee. I'm not sure I want to be a pioneer in something like fructose intolerance (would prefer, say, being a pioneer in the fight against poverty, crime, deadly diseases, etc.), but what the heck! If we all pool our experiences only good can come of it.

Christy

Giving up coffee turned out to be a lot easier than I ever imagined. I just increased the amount of decaf gradually. Then I went cold-turkey when I ran out of beans. I am not off caffeine, I still drink diet pepsi sometimes and have tea. But the coffee was doing really nasty things to my gut I didn't realize until I quit drinking it (yes, even decaf).

I am not as sleepy in the mornings either. I don't feel like I must have my cup of coffee or I'll never get going. I just have a cup of tea and by the time the tea is brewed, I'm wide awake.

The hardest part of quitting coffee wasn't the actual doing, it was the thinking of it.

There's no sugar in coconut oil. It's 100% fat. But if you have gut troubles, eliminate the coconut products and see if they get better. Coconut bugs my gut too.

I've been doing better with coconut oil since I gave up coconut milk. I'll have a spoonful of coconut oil instead of my former coconut smoothie. However, I had some this morning and it irritated my throat. Haven't had that reaction in a while.

Thanks for the info about coconut oil. My eggs didn't taste quite as good this a.m. fried in canola oil rather than coconut oil. I like to put coconut oil in my coffee too, lessens the amount of other sweetener I use, and I like that little oil slick on top (although I'm sure it disgusts others!). I'll definitely stay away from coconut milk for awhile and see if that helps.

Nancy have you heard of Water Joe? It's caffeinated water. It has 60mg of caffeine per 16.9 oz. bottle, equivalent to an 8 oz. cup of coffee or 12 oz. soft drink, so says their label. Don't know if it's available where you are but if you can get it it's a good alternative to have around if you find yourself desperate for caffeine but don't want to take in all the nasty stuff in Diet Pepsi.

Christy

Dieticians urge care with using corn syrup or with corn syrup solids, because they frequently are not pure, having had fructose added to them.


http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache...e=UTF-8&strip=1

Thanks for the info Annie. I can't believe these people, they have a good product and then they just spoil it with fructose.

Patrick

Glucose Synonym List:
http://andersonclan.us/andersonclan_top/ages_faq.htm




http://andersonclan.us/andersonclan_top/ages_faq.htm

I bought some brown rice syrup to use in my coffee. It has a nice taste when eaten all on its own, mild. But I had to put a lot in my coffee to bring it up to the excessive, embarrassing level of sweetness that I desire. By the time I drank a couple of cups I felt a little nauseous. Don't know if that was strictly because of the syrup or what, but it didn't leave a good impression.

I think I may have to bite the bullet and follow Nancy's lead and give up coffee altogether.

Hi Paleo CH,

Just dropped in on this thread out of curiosity and, when I looked at the list of symptoms at the beginning, it reminded me of something I had read about systemic candida infections. This quotation is taken from a book called "The Yeast Connection" by W. Crook, but I read it in "The Coconut Oil Miracle" by Bruce Fife.

"Problems commonly associated with systemic candida infections:

General: fatigue, headache, digestive problems, joint pains, depression, memory loss, irritability, allergies."

Have you looked into whether there could be a candida problem in your case? Capmikee would be the one to ask about that - I'm not sure at all how you test for it if there are only general symptoms.

Another thing that Bruce Fife mentions as having slightly similar symptoms to those you describe is a giardia (parasite) infection. These involve "greasy, foul-smelling stools" (sorry about that), but it may also be worth looking into and having tested.

Bruce Fife swears by coconut oil for these conditions, or rather in the case of candida, a caprylic acid supplement.

He also says it is good for combatting inflammation, and mentions colitis and arthritis in this connection.

If you don't feel that coconut oil is really bothering you, then I would carry on using it. It has so many great properties that it would be a shame to do without it.

Vitamin D is said to help with rheumatoid arthritis conditions, I do believe, in the same way as it can help with many autoimmune disorders. Have you looked into taking this as a supplement? There's a great Vitamin D thread and I'm sure if you used the Google search facility on the thread itself, you'd find some great stuff.

All the best,

amanda

I'm assuming candida is closely related to fructose and other FODMAPs - candida is one of the major organisms doing the "fermenting" of those sugars.

Amanda thanks for your ideas. I have, oddly enough, been thinking about candida in the last few days. I read up on it several months ago and somehow decided it didn't apply, but I'll revisit it. I definitely have a problem with fatigue, I thought it was getting better in the past 10 days or so since I gave up coconut milk and agave nectar, but it hit hard yesterday and today. I stopped coffee altogether yesterday but have been phasing it out gradually to avoid the headache issue, and I'm drinking some caffeinated tea, so I don't know why I'm so tired again. I also have recurring bacterial overgrowth (or maybe that's chronic and the symptoms are periodic -- not sure about that), that got better in the last 10 days too but I was on tetracycline for part of that time so I'll know in a few days if I've improved there. I've been on vitamin D supplements for quite awhile and I'm using coconut oil again regularly, it doesn't seem to be a problem.

The good news is that my RA is controlled enough, primarily through diet, that I'm hoping that today was my last dose of prednisone. If I can do this tomorrow will be the first time in 4 YEARS I will have not taken a daily dose of prednisone. Woo hoo!

Christy

Is your doctor aware that you're skipping the prednisone today?

The extreme fatigue can be attributed to coffee withdrawal - there's lots of interesting stuff online about caffeinism and caffeine withdrawal, where symptoms of excessive fatigue, off & on, can arise for over a month.

Also... I've been trying to find out about the exact sugars contained in a new stevia product which is called Truvia, (by Cargill & Coke.)

Maybe the total fructose is small enough that you can safely imbibe it, as you have DFI, not HFI.

The reason I bring up Truvia is that it is SUPER sweet.

The first time I used a packet, it was like, "Yuk!!" -- I thought it was just gross.

But using one packet a day, by the end of a week I was hooked, and I actually prefer it to sugar.

I've read in some places that people with HFI, the hereditary fructose intolerance shouldn't use stevia, but I've also read somewhere of a poster with HFI who claimed they could use stevia with no flare up of symptoms.

Anyway, one packet of stevia is like ... at least an eighth a cup of sugar ... and some research suggests that stevia fights insulin resistance...

I just went to truvia's website, http://truvia.com/about.html?gclid=...CFQ_yDAodVmNdFw, my they're precise in their descriptions aren't they?

"Rebiana: Rebiana is our common and usual name for our high purity ingredient...." This is from the box label! The video says rebiana is the sweetest portion of the stevia leaf.

"Natural Flavors: Natural flavors are used to bring out the best of our natural sweetness."

Also it contains erythritol as the first listed ingredient.

Let us know if you learn more Lil' Annie. I've tried stevia, it causes joint pain for me, so souped up stevia is probably going to be even worse. But it may work for others, especially if it's low in fructose.

Do you know if coffee withdrawal symptoms you mention (and I've read many of those posts) are from caffeine or the coffee itself?

My dr. knew I was headed toward 0 prednisone. I've had specific instructions from him on how to decrease for some time. I feel really good this a.m. so today's the day. And I misspoke yesterday (must be the fatigue!), it's been 5 years since I've been on it, not 4.

The Truvia is SO sweet... that it actually "frightens" me in that I know I could literally crave it... and the amount of sweetness from one tiny packet is simply SO sweet.

If I decide to not use the rest of the box, I'll just donate it to a food shelf or give it to a friend.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure that ONE packet of Truvia would sweeten up that cup of coffee BIG TIME, and if you could tolerate the one packet of Truvia, then you wouldn't have to worry.

Check out the online boards & webpages about Caffeine Withdrawal. I was simply stupified to learn that plenty of people not only get the withdrawal headaches, but also experience nausea & shivering, and even vomiting.

Most of the times I've quit coffee were when I was sick with the flu -- and I always attributed any caffeine withrawal symptoms to the flu.

It took me about five weeks before I did not have any more episodes of INSTANT Fatigue, HAVE to sleep N.O.W.

It was dreadful, but the first week was the worst, where I occasionally was taking 5 hour "naps."

If you do searchs on the word caffeinism, or on the phrase "caffeine withdrawal," there's lots of info.

Well I caved in on the coffee thing. I got up this morning and was in a complete brainfog and exhausted, despite 9 hours of sleep. So I drank some coffee, with soymilk and just a little bit of brown rice syrup in it, didn't taste very sweet but it was better than nothing. I'm still fatigued but at least my brain seems to be working now, which is good since I'm at work. I'll have to tackle this issue at a later date, and do it more systematically. I did read through some typical symptoms of caffeine withdrawal, think I landed on a Mayo Clinic research report, and that seems to be what I'm struggling with.

Christy