Hi all,
I'm not on medication so I have a milder case than many of you. My AS symptoms used show up at 5 am in the form of back pain. As time went on, that 5am crept earlier to 4am and then to 3am.
I have tried almost everything short of the really strong medications - including the LSD/NSD diet, Perfect Health Diet, Paleo, NSAIDS, yoga, swimming, meditation, vitamins, supplements, etc but nothing really seemed to work.
Recently, I have had several nights of little or no pain and I am very happy about that! Here's my story:
About a month ago, I went very strict on Paleo, and at the same time I started working out at the gym a few times a week at night. I would do pullups to exhaustion, pushups to exhaustion, and lots of crunches. I hadn't worked out this hard consistently in several years.
Within a few days I started noticing that my morning back pain was significantly decreased.
I have figured out that I can get away with doing my workout every other day. But if I skip 2 or 3 days, the pain comes back with a vengeance. All I have to do is go back to the gym and do more pullups and pushups and I will be fine for another day or two.
Diet does seem to have an effect on me. If I do my pushup/pullups, even if I had eaten poorly that day, I can still sleep that night with little or no pain. If I eat well that day, the pain is even less. Poor diet can be overcome with exercise. But with no exercise, good diet does not manage my pain. Good diet + exercise is the best for me.
If I were to guess, I would say that it is the pullups that are helping me the most. But I always work out the back and the chest on the same day.
This has been a great breakthrough for me. I hope this might be helpful to someone! Happy holidays!
