Crazy question...the last few months I have developed a craving for raw lemons and eat at least 2-3 a day. Has anyone else experienced this? Other than the obvious enamel decay issue, is there another downside to lemons and SJ anyone is aware of? Thanks!
Hi Catherine :)
Lemons and ginger are both good saliva stimulants - so maybe your body is telling you to do just that. The only downside I could see - apart from enamel erosion - is if you ever develop any bladder problems. I was dxd with an irritable bladder and was given a list of things not to eat - citrus being one of them. (Haven't totally given up on it though - it depends what I feel like!)
Take care - Scottie :)
Bladder problems??? Oh no! One more to add to the list :(. That sounds awful. I do have constipation but no bladder issues YET. Hope you are able to control it without too much difficulty poor thing.
Oh yes, and acid reflux could become an issue. Have you thought about having your PH tested? Maybe you're system is more alkaline than acidic and is trying to balance itself out.
I am starting to have acid reflux at night, so perhaps that is the cause thanks! No I have not had my PH levels checked. Is this a gastro test or blood work my rheumy orders? I have yet to go see a gastro since having giardiasis a few years back (which is what I personally believe triggered this whole SJ for me).
Lemons were the worst thing in the world for me...they make my parotid glands swell up like balloons and actually make
my mouth/teeth seem alot dryer. Any citrus fruits a no-no for me anyways.
Gursie
When I was pregnant I craved oranges. I see you're age is 40, so it's not out of the question! :D
Quote from: Scottietottie on July 08, 2013, 03:57:42 PM
Hi Catherine :)
Lemons and ginger are both good saliva stimulants - so maybe your body is telling you to do just that.
Take care - Scottie :)
Thanks Scottie...explains why I pick up ginger root at the market. Of course then it dries out when I get home and "forget" about it.. ;)
Rinse your mouth out well.
Duchess
Like Abbyroad, I craved oranges when pregnant with my son and Lavender Lemonade with my twin girls. Hmm....
Recently, citrus especially lemon seem to make my glands and ducts hurt. Bummer.
In general, I am a firm believer in "everything in moderation".
Instead of eating a raw lemon wouldn't you get a similar affect if you just squeeze one into water?
Hi again :)
Please don't think that because I have bladder problems you may develop them. My irritable bladder may - or may not have anything to do with SjS. The thing with SjS is that it is perfectly possible to get other things that are actually unrelated.
Take care - Scottie :)
Quote from: Cassi307 on July 09, 2013, 02:55:11 PM
Instead of eating a raw lemon wouldn't you get a similar affect if you just squeeze one into water?
Yes, but I crave eating them for some reason!!! And NO on the pregnancy. It takes a lot to get me pregnant and my three boys are enough for me as it is! Plus with all this dryness, TMI but sex life ain;t what it used to be my poor hubby :(
It could be anemia. Craving non-nutritive substances such as lemons, ice, peppermint, even paper, chalk, dust or clay are it's hallmarks. I have mod-severe autoimmune, iron-deficient anemia (not all anemia is iron-deficient.) I become an ice connoisseur--freezing methods, shapes, flavors/smells, textures--and I get a wicked craving for a particular brand of peppermints. I could eat those two things exclusively and it can start with just having a thing for smoothies or frozen fruit, then sno cones or granita with fruit puree on top, finally wanting just the ice. As soon as I have a transfusion, it seems to clear itself up.
The test is quick and painless and the results can be substantial, esp. in terms of energy and overall health.
Otherwise, maybe your doctor could screen you for electrolyte deficiency or electrolyte imbalance. Both go hand in glove with craving raw lemons. You may want to try coconut water. During WWII it was considered such a near-perfect, sterile substitute for patients with low electrolytes/requiring rapid hydration so the coconuts themselves were hung on i.v. poles for direct infusion (being stationed in the tropics of Asia, coconuts could be found almost everywhere, benefiting American, English and Japanese soldiers alike.)
Whenever I'm recovering from something like surgery (there's been a lot of dental surgery lately), I always drink a couple quarts of coconut water so I can get back on my feet a little faster. Sports drinks would work, too. I'm just not crazy about all the acid and artificial ingredients they have, though.
Hope this helps,
Take Care, Catherine1234
verythankfull
(No chance of pregnancy for me either. An acute autoimmune disease finished that off about 17 years ago. Not that it's been entirely a bad thing--with so many autoimmunes it's given me one less thing to worry about :))
I was going to say the same thing? When I was pregnant, I became extremely anemic (always been anemic) and I was buying the 5lb bags of ice and eating a bag every couple of days. Then I started eating lemons. I would cut one up and eat the whole thing. When I went for my next check-up, she asked about unusual cravings and when I told her, she drug me down to the lab and tested my iron immediately. She said those were classic signs.
Wow, I was anemic as well during both pregnancies. I never new there was a connection. I had heard about eating dirt and clay but not lemons.
When I was pregnant with my first child I would sit and eat lemons with salt. I just craved them. I think that my body was needing something. I also get cravings or "pica" and ice is my craving. It is a symptom of having anemia and I had very low ferritin level at one time when I was eating the ice.
I also think that some of the stuff we crave is something that helps us with our dryness. If I don't keep on with my ice and slowly sipping liquids all day I am just parched. I have to have a sugar free cough drop in my mouth if I am not drinking. Can't go without something cause my throat just clamps up with the dryness. Good luck. IRish
Strange conversations. I know it isn't lemons, but I have craved orange juice ever since having a hysterectomy almost four years ago. Almost immediately following my surgery it began. I would drink OJ for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I didn't want anything else. I sm sure i was anemic then...with all the events leading up to the surgery. I still crave it today. I buy at least two half gallon jugs at a time. If I don't have it in the house I feel like someone in withdrawals......plus I have to have it over ice. I don't eat the ice necessarily, but it has to be over ice.
I love orange juice with ice----plus add some diet MT Dew and it is very yummy. You are lucky that your stomach tolerates the OJ. I could never drink that much as it really tears up my stomach when I drink a lot of it. Sometimes I dilute it with carbonated water also. Irish
My gyno told me that "what" you are craving is the body's way of telling you it's missing something. She even told me she a patient that would eat dirt. Wouldn't even eat her own yard dirt, but would drive to another county to get it because she said it tasted better. Of course, the gyno had to make her stop that as it wasn't healthy for her, but she said it turned out her calcium was low and once they added calcium supplements, she stopped craving it.
I also eat an entire lemon every night. I usually slice some to put in tonic water for my restless leg. I crave tomato juice or preferrably V8 juice. I could drink it all day, every day. I am afraid if I drink too much I will break out. So I try not to drink that much. I crave it constantly though!!
I am also anemic with low ferritin levels. I take iron and it goes back up to an acceptable range. If I stop taking iron it takes a dump.
Bobbie
Anemia! Okay let me check that one out. I have had so much blood work it seems odd that nobody would have checked for that especially seeing I do not eat white or red meat of any kind. Looking at my most recent workup, my RBC count is low at 3.72 M/CUMM. Is this significant enough to warrant anemia? What else should I be looking for??
I don't know if my rheumy would've checked for anemia except for me mentioning that my last two bloods labs were identical to when I was first diagnosed three years ago. That, plus, I mentioned I've been a strict vegetarian for the last 30-31 years and a light kind of went off for the dr, so he added panels for folate and b-12 as well. My pcp had been saying there was *no* way I was anemic, yet when the hematologist tested me I had only 7% of iron in my total blood volume, the shape of the red blood cells were distorted, my white blood cell count was through the roof and I was completely depleted of folate and b-12. A 6 hour infusion has restored me until there's another lapse.
It could be worth asking a few questions about your low red blood cell count. Having one autoimmune disease predisposes you to have another. Sometimes low red cell count is associated with hemolysis (when something is destroying your blood cells or your body may isn't able to produce enough.) Running labs would be the first step. If you have a very high white blood cell count, a hematologist may request, as a last ditch effort to diagnose the type of anemia, a bone marrow biopsy. Not fun, but generally one of the big things they look for is a Jak-2 (a type of autoimmune) abnormality. That's the one that would flag if you're not able to produce enough red blood cells. But that may be putting the cart before the horse...
By the time I'm seriously eating ice and peppermints, I need an iron infusion and I can't really correct things myself by taking vitamin supplements. Like Belsey mentioned, too, lots of things deplete us.
There's was a lot of blood loss with my hysterectomy. It was a really rough surgery, incl. organs having to be cut off of other organs due to growths from a stage 4 autoimmune disease. I drank Ensure with every meal for a month (yuck!) But the dr. said it would've taken me a lot longer to heal without it. So, in a pinch, Ensure might help you feel a bit better until the dr. runs comprehensive blood studies.
I'm just hoping you feel well soon--you certainly deserve it!
Take Care,
verythankfull
I don't have my report in front of me Catherine, but my RBC count stays low, plus some other things are low? Like my Lymphocytes and Neutrophils?
Yep, checked where my CBC one more time and it states at the bottom "This may represent an early or emerging anemia. Clinical correlation and continued follow up is recommended." Funny how none of the doctors pointed that out? Thank heavens I found you all! I am really learning to take control of this myself and not rely so much on my medical team catching things!!! There are pages of notes and this one never caught my eye before.
Time to start taking some iron supplements and put some more iron rich foods in my diet. It is not so easy when you do not meat and beans make my constipation worse. Good thing I love fatty fish and spinach!
THANK YOU!!!!!!!!