(I was going to post this to the autoimmune subreddit, but it seems like things are real quiet over there— so I thought it would be applicable here as well)

As I’m sure many people in this community have experienced, navigating the healthcare system can be a truly nightmarish experience, especially in the United States.

I’m 30F living in Southern California, and back in 2023, after several years of experiencing chronic unexplained joint pain, it was confirmed that I had a positive ANA. I have an extensive family history of autoimmune diseases and symptoms have only persisted since then. My PCP in 2023 did little, other than refer me to rheumatology, who basically said “come back when symptoms are worse”.

Fast-forward to late 2024, I’m continuing to experience worsening symptoms and I’m so defeated with my PCP, so I sought out an alternative. I started seeing a functional medical doctor (out of pocket but also life changing) and got much clearer guidance on my symptoms, as well as support for lifestyle changes I can implement to manage them (I started the AIP diet earlier this month).

However, my budget did not allow me to completely divorce myself from the insurance world, and I felt strongly that I needed to get a new PCP. I got on my husband’s insurance and had a visit with a new doctor in December 2024– I was not impressed. He seemed overwhelmed with my medical history and didn’t really seem open to addressing my symptoms beyond what my previous doctor had done.

Well, in true America fashion… January came and that doctor was suddenly no longer in network and I was kicked into an entirely new system of care. Barely a month later I was scheduled for another initial visit with my third PCP in 2 years… that doctor’s visit was today.

I had been anxious about the appointment all week. I could barely sleep last night because my brain was catastrophizing and preparing for the worst. I printed out 32 pages of previous lab work from the last 2 years and made a bullet point list of my symptoms, timeline and family history.

Here’s the “small win” part. It took 5 minutes to get to the doctor’s office. Parking was a breeze. There was no long wait time… and the best part— I felt heard, seen and listened to. All my symptoms were validated. I advocated for referrals I felt were necessary and really felt like a collaborative part of the decision making process. I feel like finding this level of care within the insurance driven healthcare system is a rarity. I know I’m only at step one of starting this process over again, but I have hope for the first time in a long time.

Long winded for a post titled “small win”, I know. But I rattled off to my husband and still felt like I needed to get more off my chest. So thanks for listening internet! 🥹✌️

I am not gonna make it through this with this bland a** food. Please give me a list of what you use in different kinds of dishes. Like taco salad? I put salt, onion, garlic, lime, & cilantro… it’s just not enough 😭 they didn’t have the Cocojune yogurt in stock at my grocery store yesterday so hopefully that will help for next time & for Asian inspired dishes I can soak everything in coconut aminos so I’m good on that. I just need some more spice ideas for everything else, PLEASE.

I am trying to gage how Something I eat makes me feel.

I finally got some of my snacks in the mail & these are a 10/10. If you know anything about sweet potato chips usually like half the bag is like too thick, over cooked or have those black spots that are absolutely vile when you bite into them. These are the most velvety crunchy crispy & consistent potato chips I’ve ever had (of any kind lol) I had to tell someone 🤣

Frequent urination at night

Since starting the aip diet im going to the toilet more and especially at night. I could wake 3 or 4 times. Before it might once. Im usually exhausted anyway having hashimoto's and pernicious anemia so this is really making getting anything done a pain. Did anyone else find this when starting?

We are 90% AIP due to long lasting issues with me, my husband, and toddler's guts and hormones. I'm working part time now and keeping up with healthy dinners has been incredibly stressful. Especially since my toddler now keeps refusing basic chicken 🙃

I need ideas for two meals I can prep ahead, freeze, and thaw on work nights. Help?

• can't rely too much on coconut fat as my hubs has a gallbladder issue
• cannot have nightshade or eggs as those are our allergies
• can have mods like nuts, etc.

Thank you!

When you’re reintroducing foods, are the symptoms you feel when you have a reaction super obvious? I find myself overthinking it and wonder if I’m waiting for a really overt reaction?

Been strictly compliant for about a week and while I’d say my mood is a lot better I can’t say I’ve felt any effects on my inflammation/chronic pain.

Ik a week isn’t a very long time for these things but I’d like to just have a frame of reference to compare myself to, thx!

Was getting a food sensitivity test any benefit to anyone before going on AIP? Was it correct upon reintroduction?

Hi everyone, I just got many repeated false positive HIV combo ag/ab test result last year (It has been confirmed to be false). I just wanna ask that if chronic stress for about 3 weeks can make combo test be false positive ? Or false negative, because I had been really stress, waiting to get tested before receiving false positive many times repeatedly in 3 months .Now they all come back normal, but I still wondering if chronic stress a factor to that ? Thanks !!!

Sunday officially marked 3 weeks on modified AIP! 🙌

Quick recap: AIP was recommended by my functional medicine doctor to help reduce inflammation and general pre-autoimmune symptoms, help reduce blood sugar, address mold toxicity and candida.

Week 1 wasn’t much to write home about. My period started earlier than expected despite being on hormonal birth control, but according to others in this group, that’s common. Minimal food cravings and increased taste bud sensitivity.

Week 2 came with much more excitement and hopefulness! I had my first full week with no back pain and almost no headaches!! I also noticed reduced bloating, body odor and gas. I was honestly a little shocked at how quickly I was noticing results. Even with exercise, I didn’t feel fatigued and my aches and pains stayed at bay!

Week 3 had been a lot more up and down. I can definitely say that stress is a major trigger for my symptoms. We had a lot of wild fire scares near me, one that nearly caused us to evacuate! I noticed my back pain start to return and headaches creeping up again.

I do understand that stress affects the body and it’s a factor in inflammation. It’s just frustrating that factors outside of my control so greatly impact symptoms and could potentially lead to spending more time in the elimination phase. I’m trying to remain hopeful and optimistic that I will continue to see overall symptom reduction. I will be getting labs done soon too, so I will hopefully have some empirical data to measure progress made.

I wanted to reach out to see if anyone on here has had similar experiences and what other lifestyle changes you incorporated during AIP that helped contribute to your success.

How to make AIP diet work for alopecia aerata. It would take lot of time to see if its working. And then Re-introducing will take lot more.

I wanna say thank you to the lady who posted the Asian Roast Beef recipe. Today’s is #1 of AIP compliance for me & this will be my dinner prep for the next 3/4 days. I had to sub cabbage for the bok choy & use pork lion instead of beef but I think the key is to work with what we have to get through this instead of being picky. 🥂 here’s to healing my leaky gut, Hashimotos, PCOS, POTS & also hopefully the plethora of my mental health dx’s as well especially “treatment resistant” depression & DPDR.

Anyone have experience with this? Also I’m postpartum and still breastfeeding.

hello everyone!

since i’m just starting my AIP journey i wanted to ask a question.

is it okay if i ease into it? i feel like cutting off everything so suddenly would be hard for me. can i start cutting off group by group of foods?

I have been on AIP since June last year with minimal introductions due to the sheer length of time it took for me to start feeling good and due to other health issues. I plan to start reintroductions next week (although I also have to do LOWFODMAP and bloating seems to always be with me as well as other flairs regardless of diet, so I’m not sure how confident I am in my ability to assess a positive verse negative reintroduction).

My focus is now on resistance training and running again - with a half marathon in 6 months as my goal (just to finish - no time goal). I have run two half marathons before so I do know what it entails. One of my main concerns now is fuelling on long runs and on race day as store bought bars and gels will not work. I am hoping by then to have successfully reintroduced peanut butter. I have reintroduced eggs without problem.

Does anyone have any advice, tips or websites that give guidance on AIP substitutes (home made) for bars and gels?

Thank you!

I am a 29 year old female. I don't know what specialist to see or what my condition could be, but I have been dealing with several issues for the last 3 years that have only gotten progressively worse.

I used to never get sick and hardly ever went to the doctor, but then I started out getting several urine infections back in 2022. I thought with the antibiotics, the problem would eventually go away. Since then I've had multiple ear infections, my urine still burns and has an odor even when infections are treated, rashes all over my body, trouble breathing, frequent tightness in my left arm, extremely dry eyes and lips, loss of balance, brain fog, gastritis, hemorroids,non stop phlegm, nerve damage across my face and body (numbness, pins and needles, etc..), intense burning and pain on the upper left side of my abdomen and right breast (I have a benign cyst in my breast and left kidney), itchiness all over my body, fatigue and more. My vitamin D, B12, and Iron keep dropping. Doctors have given me supplements in the past to treat the deficiency, but my levels only go back up for a short period of time and then drop again. This has been the most sick I have ever felt in the last three years. I've been having to miss work more often now because I am always sick. There is not a single day an area of my body doesn't hurt or is bothering me somehow. I don't know what to do anymore.

I got a positive on my labs checking for any autoimmune diseases back in 2023 but my tests have been coming back negative since. I only saw one rheumatologist back in 2023, but after she did some additional blood tests, she said it wasn't lupus or sjogrens and sent me to neurology. After a few months of seeing the neurologist, he said I should probably go back to rheumatology. My primary care doctor doesn't know what to do since my labs usually come out pretty normal aside from a few deficiencies---I've had an MRI of my brain and abdomen done as well-- so he usually just prescribes me more anxiety medication and says he'll see me in a month. Everyone around me treats me as if I'm making all this up and it's just bad anxiety. I feel like I am losing my mind. I eat pretty healthy and drink tons of water, so I am not sure what to do or what specialist I should go see that can finally give me a diagnosis before it's too late?

Im on it for hashimoto's for 100 days. Ive only started again after failing twice since Christmas. Its bringing up a lot more psychological things than expected!

My question is has it healed your gut and how do you know it has? Im lucky i dont have many negative effects of hashimoto's yet apart from fatigue and i get sick frequently sometimes.

Im really trying to do a pros and cons list to stop me stopping and starting and just getting through it 🙃

as stated in the title :)

i’m just starting my AIP diet journey for my Hashimotos. help me keep my kitchen creative and healthy.

Hey all, wanted to reach out to this group to ask for advice on possible natural treatments. I've had psoriasis for 24 and psoriatic arthritis for 5 years. I recently went off the immunosuppressant, Taltz and BC. Since then, my TSH went out of normal range and I've developed new and chronic muscle and joint pain in my upper body (neck, shoulders, arms) with muscle weakness in the arms and right hip. My rheumatologist hasn't done anything to diagnose the new symptoms, just provided short term meds to manage pain and aren't working. The pain is debilitating at times and limiting my mobility and quality of life.

I went back on strict AIP as of Jan 5th and it's starting to help to calm my psoriasis but not the other symptoms.

Has anyone had more AI issues come up after going off immunotherapy meds and, does this group have any advice on how to navigate day to day with so much pain and swelling? FWIW, I'm finding a new rheumatologist but can't get in for another 6-8 weeks.

Aby ideas of what AIP meals can be prepped and frozen for postpartum?

Hi Guys, i have bad gums, i started this protocol 4 days ago and i’m already feeling better

My Hygienist told me to use Xylitol gum or use it as a mouth wash/ 10 g grams at end of day then spit it out so i don’t consume any of it into my microbiome.

i guess my question, has anyone been in this predicament ? would this make the protocol less effective even though I will try not to consume any of the Xylitol and I only use it as mouthwash. I need advice or help would be greatly appreciated

I’m starting an autoimmune protocol tomorrow at the end of a 2 day fast to hopefully see some improvement with my chronic pain.

So far for protein planning on buying salmon, lean beef and maybe chicken (I’ve read they’re high in omega six so I’m not sure)

For veggies I was going to do cabbage, carrots and broccoli

I’m a bit lost on what to do for carbs atm other than sweet potatoes which I could easily eat with every meal lol

I’m trying to start with the absolute safest foods and implement the other aip adherent foods so I have a good baseline. What did you start with and why?

Any recipe tips or general info would be great as well!

last week i had my worst reaction yet- PEANUTS. horrible stomach pain, gas, the whole nine. but ever since failing that reintro im noticing that my stomach is more sensitive, even to things that were fine before! for example- bananas will give me stomach pain, dried fruit will make me bloated, its like things just arent digesting as well. and im having body aches and trouble sleeping too! could this be residual from the peanut inflammation? or am i looking at a different issue?

As an eczema sufferer myself, I have always been interested in the impact of the condition on mental health. Now, as part of my psychology studies, I’m researching this topic. I’m inviting people with eczema, psoriasis or Crohn’s disease to take a 15 minute, anonymous survey! I’d love for people from around the world to join in. If you’re interested, please take part and share it widely. Thank you! https://eu.surveymonkey.com/r/Q82DH6B

Did you guys (or your spouses) have trouble conceiving? Was the pregnancy difficult? Are the kids healthy (so far)?

I am on the AIP diet, but next week my best friend, who is vegetarian, will be visiting. I was wondering if you could share a few recipes that accommodate both of our dietary restrictions.

Is anyone out there taking iron supplements and doing elimination phase of AIP? I’ve been doing it for two weeks and wondered why my GI issues are still present and then realised it is probably because I’m supplementing iron…

Or perhaps I am reacting to a food but I’m not sure which! I don’t want to stop taking iron as my iron is very low :(

Been eating this way for over a month and for the most part have been enjoying meals. However, I don't always have a huge amount of time to prep every single meal so there are a few shortcuts I've developed to make sure I have easy meals for every meal on top of more elaborate meal prep and freezer meals.

Breakfast:

Breakfast bowls that usually consist of my bulk prepping a number of elements: sweet potatoes, collards or other green, uncured sugar free bacon or other protein choice, beets, some sort of sauce like pesto or nutritional yeast garlic sauce or even just plain nutritional yeast if you don't have time for all of that. All of these elements are pretty easy and low maintenance to prep...I usually just bulk bake some sweet potatoes and beets and then have them waiting in the fridge to be assembled and are useful for other meals. Add avocado to the top. It's delicious! These can also be turned into yummy tacos/burritos with plantain tortillas.

The most delicious "granola" I've ever had is the homemade tigernut granola flavored with coconut flakes and maple syrup. This can be bulk prepped also. Homemade coconut keifer pairs well with this and is very low maintance to make!

Lunch:

Bulk prep AIP wraps made with coconut milk, cassava flour, and tapioca starch. They can be refrigerated or frozen. Then you can make any delicious wrap with lunch meat and various toppings. I will usually add horse radish spread and mustard.

Borscht. I bulk prep this to fill in the gaps and always having some frozen. It's always delicious. It tastes great with lamb but you can use other less expensive meats depending on your budget. This could be replaced with any soup or stew that is your favorite.

Salads. I will usually have some meat prepared (sometimes left overs) and make an AIP friendly dressing to make salads. Roasted veggies go well on this as well.

Dinner:

If low on time I usually will just cook up a protein and some veggies sides and it's always healthy and delicious! Asparagus has been one of my go tos as it's very easy to prepare and always great.

Dessert: I find preparing some sweeter stuff to occasionally have around is good to keep the temptations of cheating at bay. For this I found making cassava fruit crumbles or coconut date balls are quite easy and delicious.

I've found ordering in bulk online for some of the fancier health food stuff to be easiest and most cost effective since a lot of grocery stores don't even carry them. I've been finding best deals on Amazon or Thrive Market so far. However, I discovered this other platform that has by far the best prices called Azure Market. They have a number of pick up spots around the country that you pick your groceries up so you don't have to pay for shipping. There are A LOT of spots so I am excited to try this out.

Some foods I've discovered i like to have in bulk I never really used before are: -cassava flour -tigernut slices -ginger for tea -dates -nutritional yeast -tapioca starch -coconut cream -coconut water -sweet potatoes -coconut flakes -coconut oil -avocado oil -coconut aminos -honey -maple syrup -green tea

These on top of more elaborate meals when I have the time is keeping things varied and delicious. Let me know if you have any short cuts!