I have rheumatoid arthritis and my doctor says that I should start to eat a vegan diet to relieve the pain. Will this help?

Your doctor is a first rate idiot who knows nothing about arthritis. Rheumatoid arthritis is a very complex disorder that tends to affect joints and many other organs in the body. The disorder can lead to joint deformities, is painful and leads to a very poor quality of life. There is no cure for this disorder and all the treatments are aimed at relieving pain and joint stiffness. Over the years, many diet regimens have been explored. The Mediterranean diet, the vegan diet, elemental diet, low protein, high protein, high carb, low carb diets have all been investigated. Others have eliminated certain foods from their diet and yet other have added a variety of healthy supplements. 

In every single case, the data on diets has been conflicting and irreproducible. In most studies the dropout rates were high because of the restrictive nature of the diets. As of today, diet has very little influence on the course of rheumatoid arthritis. If you have common sense, dump your doctor, go see a rheumatologist who practices real medicine and does not believe in fairy tales.