Thankfully my sister-in-law happens to be an immunologist and had a hunch it might be tied to chronic immune reactions. It turned out that gluten was the problem.
She got me on to t4 phages. which for those unfamiliar, bacteriophages are viruses that infect and kill bacteria.
Anyway within weeks of taking them, i noticed a stark reduction in my pain. it felt like a fog had been lifted.
it’s not a universal solution, and I don't fully understand the mechanism but it's made a monumental difference in my life. I still get flare-ups but at least now they are tolerable
As an aside, my dog also seems to be allergic to chicken, which my vet says it's very common now what with all the highly processed mass produced dog foods