My hip pain was diagnosed as AS (as I suspected it was partly because I have had iritis for decades). I looked on line for solutions, particularly regarding what actually CAUSES AS and dietary recommendations. A blood test also found I had ridiculously low vitamin D which is connected to AS.
I found the answers I was looking for. But what shocks me is that the doctors would not even suggest any of the things I had to find out for myself.
Basically - the pathogen "klebsiella" is known to spark off AS in those with the genetic profile - ie in some of those who have HLA-B27 as I do. Klebsiella is similar to the gene so that the immune system confuses the two and ends up attacking the body.
Klebsiella thrives when you eat starch and also when you consume a (probably quite high) amound of inulin. (Not inSulin - but inulin). Inulin is found as a supplement in health food stores so no one with AS should touch that. But it is also high in chicory. I had been consuming large amounts of chicory coffee thinking it was healthier than caffein for a couple of years - really loads of it.
So the high inulin from that would have possibly been a major factor in the development of my symptoms as it fed the klebsiella - and certainly I could not have recovered if I continued to drink it.
I have been following a non starch and non inulin diet for about a month and feel really great except my hip is permanently damaged so I have a pill for that (amitriptyline). I came off the anti inflamatories (naproxen) so that I could try the idea of drinking half a bottle of Chardonnay which kills klebsiella (I will provide the link to the study). And strictly follow non starch diet.
Many others with AS will be suffering greatly when they could have had the relief I have found.
Apart from the isolated dose of Chardonnay you should keep off anything that adds to/causes "leaky gut" which allows pathogens like klebsiella into the blood stream. The naproxen (and pain killers like ibuprofen) are very bad for the gut unfortunately.
I take aloe vera at the moment and keep of alcohol now to allow healing of the gut.
http://www.decanter.com/wine-news/white-wine-kills-e-coli-105647/
