Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group Hello again, and a couple of questions.

my first symptoms were "IBS" (loose bowels with undigested food predominantly in the morning. i was still having my daily bowel movements, but their consistency changed. and i wasn't digesting my food properly). since there was no pain associated with that, i just kind of lived with it that year.

the following year, when i hit 30, severe gastritis hit me over a few day period. the pain was so bad, it was frightening. had a good GP who had me thoroughly tested. was able to rule out an ulcer, gallbladder, pancreas, etc, but did scope me and found gastritis.

the doc put me on one of the histamine blockers and then another (zantac and one other) and then when they weren't doing very much, prilosec. that was the first thing that made a difference.

but it wasn't enough. i found that what i ate influenced the gastritis as well. and the bowels. i did notice a direct correlation between my gastritis and the "IBS". when the gastritis pain was at its worst, the undigested bowel movements were at their worst. if i focussed on healing the stomach, the bowels seemed to follow.

for me, keeping a food / symptom diary was essential. we're probably all different as to our triggers, but i think the food / symptom diary is general enough that anyone could benefit from doing that. for me, the things that flared the gastritis were: caffeine, dairy, anything acidic, underripe fruit. so staying clear of those things was key. when my bowels were bad, i had to be very careful with the fruits and veggies. i could only eat some dried fruits like raisins, mango, nothing acidic though, or cooked fruit like applesauce, or canned, like canned pears. and about the only veggies that i seemed to digest were the cruciferous (well cooked broccoli, cabbage (even raw like coleslaw, sourkraut, etc). and yams. meats seemed ok. and starches were the only thing that seemed to put out the burn in my stomach.

one really terrible year. then two more where i slowly crawled back to a more normal existence.

during this time, psyllium was a godsend. it helped absorb the acid in my stomach so it would stop gnawing at itself. and it firmed up the bowels to prevent accidents. psyllium is kinda magical for me, because it also seems to loosen constipation as well. my GI doc is a big proponent of psyllium.

fast forward a few years, to the age of 35, and that's when the undiff spondy / enthesitis / sacroiliitis (age 37) / neck issues started.

for the last dozen years i can tell that the gastritis and bowel issues flare and then so does the joints / tendons / ligaments.

back when i was having periods (those days are behind me) i would flare a bit each month around the start of each, some months worse than most. i used to get terrible cramps, which now i understand to be muscle spasms. thus the same thing that helps my other muscle spasms would help those. namely a hot water bottle, hot bath, etc.

but yes, GI inflammation and joint inflammation, same disease process. and yes, hormones seemed to flare them.

fast forward to today. i get more constipation than diarrhea. working on that with probiotics, magnesium, and the usual lots of water, fiber, and exercise. the loose bowels are less frequent.

also through testing found that my body was responding to dairy (casein) and egg antigens. supposedly the lack of the good bacterium lactobacillus was outcompeted by the bad bacteria (unknown bacilli) which contributed to leaky gut which allows those larger food antigen through the gut wall into the blood stream. and then my body produces an inflammatory response to those. so the other thing i do to try to control all the symptoms is stay clear of dairy and eggs.

also you can see everything else i'm doing, below my name.

every little bit helps. while i still flare, doing very well between flares right now.

more on hands and wrists in a bit.........