Kickas.org Forums Treatments, Drugs and Alternatives NSD and diet-related; Two AS Sub-groups?

Hi Wind_rider

I am sorry I didn't make myself clear. You described what seemed a direct cause and effect scenario. You took something - a bag of french fries - and then got neck-lock. The point I was attempting to make was that the french fries-flare connection, perhaps repeated many times over years for someone with a long AS history, would surely be obvious. There may be some Kickas members whose change in symptoms due to diet is subtle and perhaps not easy to identify. In my case it is so direct as to be obvious. I thought you were describing something similar but perhaps I was wrong.

I don't characterise those non-diet AS people as stubborn, unintelligent and ignorant. They have a sickness and would want to do anything which could relieve their symptoms just as would the diet-AS people. It is just they respect their doctors' opinions that diet is not a major factor and they see no evidence to contradict this. I believe if they had the same experience of taking certain food and getting a flare as I do they would soon see the link. My assumption was that the fact they saw no evidence to support diet as a factor was proof they didn't have a similar experience (I incorrectly used the word 'symptoms' here).

I also do not believe the medical profession is entirely disfunctional. We all know of historic examples when the current teaching on a certain illness was wrong but new research, new medical minds etc. eventually found the truth. I am sure there are young doctors and medical research scientists who would love to make their names by proving their profession was wrong by establishing the diet-AS link if they could.

I don't pretend any medical knowledge. My suggestion of 'two AS sub-groups' is based on judging the players involved and logic. It depends on -

- believing those (the majority) who see no diet link after many years with the disease. They're not all stupid.
- the assumption that if the link was as universal to all AS patients as many claim by now it would have been accepted by the medical profession.

The alternative argument - that the AS-diet link is common to all AS sufferers - also depends on assumptions.

- That the medical profession does not have the ability to recognize what is claimed is self-evident.
- That the non-diet AS people are not as clever in reading their bodies as Kickas members. They can live with the disease for decades and never notice the connection.

You may well be right. I just don't accept the certainty of your case. What if the vast majority of Kickas members turned out to have, say, blood type 'A'. Who knows what a survey would show. This website has brought together a unique group of people from all over the world because of their common disease and the belief in the AS-diet link. What else do they have in common?