I found Vitamin E with selenium to be tolerable, but I'm wondering how beneficial this is at chelating heavy metals.

Most vitamin E is made from soybean oil, and it's unclear whether the Vitamin E from soybean oil is beneficial at all. Soy can be some pretty nasty stuff.

I switched to green tea from coffee a few weeks ago and my arthritis persisted, so I think it really is the caffeine or another molecule present in both coffee and tea causing, or exacerbating the problem.

My coffee "experiment" ended quickly due to an arthritis flare-up, even though I was using good coffee and cold-brewed methods.

I believe my arthritis is highly correlated with my other autoimmune issues, I wonder if caffeine is the underlyig cause...

My situation sounds identical to yours, this is what has helped me:

1. Take a good digestive enzyme with every meal, this helps immensely. I found enzymedica digest spectrum to work 10x fold better than any other brand, although it's expensive ;/.

2. Take 1-6 grams of fish oil with every meal. The fish oil helps to calm the system and soothe the digestive tract. I typically take 2 grams per day, unless my system if flaring up.

3. The only probiotic that has worked for me is the jarrodophilus EPS 5bil organisms per capsule. I usually take 30bil a day, although sometimes I'll up it to 60bil a day if I feel I need it. Depending upon how sick you are, this may initially make you feel much worse, although it's necessary to correct the gastrointestinal imbalance.

4. Take 5,000IU of Vitamin D3 per day. I've also found the NOW brand to be particularly effective and inexpensive.

5. Eat real sauerkraut or highly cultured vegetables with every meal if you can tolerate them. High meat will work too if you can stomach it, although I've found when you are really sick - your body tends to absorb cooked much better.

6. Cut out all food allergens completely.

6. Address the cause of your illness. I believe my imbalance was caused by my 8 amalgam filings. The mercury in the amalgam filings leached into my body, "priming" my immune system to any little allergen. So when I eat an allergen my immune system goes nuts. The mercury kills the digestive enzymes and beneficial flora in the body and replaces mineral locations in cells where a calcium, iron, selenium, ect... molecule would reside (this causes major havoc in the body).

Thank you for the pointers guys.

I've yet to be able to find GMO free eggs... I think all of them have at least corn or soy.

After doing a bunch of research last night, I'm going to give up caffeine. I believe I may actually have an allergy to it and it may be the cause of my eczema and other auto-immune issues. I also read that overtime it eats away at the mucosa barrier of the digestive wall, which I believe is strongly associated with auto-immune issues.

Do you guys ever worry about calcium on a raw paleo diet? I guess it's not a problem as long as you can get raw dairy. I know Loren Cordain states you don't need nearly as much as the modern RDA states, although I'd be interested to hear y'alls take.