Kickas.org Forums Treatments, Drugs and Alternatives NSD and diet-related; Results?

After a week on the diet, my neck pain has gotten a bit better. Actually it was less than a week because it took me 3 days to realise that sweet potato was very starchy.

It's not a massive difference. Saturday night I thought maybe 10% improvement, which is significant considering the pain had really been quite debilitating for about 2 months. And last night probably another 10% down on pain levels. My muscles still spasm when I make certain movements (seems to be linked to my shoulders especially), but I actually managed to sleep on my side and the pain when I woke was bearable. I had not been able to do that for 2 months because the pain would become quite unbearable.

I've also noticed the pain in my leg - which was not excruciating, but annoying as it made me limp sometimes - seems to have gone pretty much completely. I assumed it came from my hip and/or knee.

I'm not 100% convinced that it's all because of the diet. I've also been taking the high dose Omega 3. And it could be related to my hormone cycle, though the flare has lasted for more than one cycle. Or just a natural progression. The only way I'll be able to tell is to continue the diet for a while longer and then go off it and see if the flare comes back. Daunting idea, but it has to be done...

Hooray for those improvements, and long many they last!

Hi Linella
Great to hear of your progress. It is wonderful to have even a little bit more freedom to move and sleep and live. Thats worth celebrating!! To be able to sleep on your side...thats fantastic.

Im also a week into it and was really excited by the results last week but have woken this morning back almost back to square one.

Keep the results coming.
Bren

Linella,

It's great to hear that you're feeling better! I highly recommend you keep a daily food/pain diary. Early on, when you're tracking how effective the NSD is for you, it'll be valuable to keep one. Your skepticism about whether the NSD is healthy - in likelihood, the most comprehensive way to manage the disease is through numerous facets diet, meds, supplements, exercise, meditation, etc. so unless you try each one of those approaches out one at a time, it'll be difficult for you to decompose the effects of each. However, what I discovered was as I got better, it became very clear that the NSD was very effective because the slightest infraction would lead to some low back stiffness and this awful "gnawing" sensation in my SI joints.

I hope things continue to improve for you!

Freddie

"so unless you try each one of those approaches out one at a time, it'll be difficult for you to decompose the effects of each"

Yes, I do realise that. And if I wouldn't have felt so desperate, I would've stuck to one potential remedy at a time. But at least now I can drop one at a time and check if the pain gets back.

I should indeed keep a diary. Life's so busy at the moment that I'm struggling with the basics.

sounds like a better approach than mine! I didn't do the fast or the apple only session I just cut out starch. But I still eat sweet potato I thought was ok according to my naturopath! will have to check on that
I love sweet potato don't know how i could give that up.
I think i will have to keep a food diary and start from scratch this time and do it properly.
How do you cope with the weather in Canberra? Do you find the cold difficult? My hardest times of year are spring and autumn when it changes so much.

Hey Linella,

I wanted to mention something about our lovely muscle spasms we seem prone to with AS. I had taken cyclobenzaprine (muscle relaxer) since Aug. 2008 and recently I wanted to see how my radon mine experience and then a little foray into NSD was affecting me, so I went off the cyclo. I also started taking POTASSIUM and a CALCIUM, MAGNESIUM, ZINC combo. I noticed that the supplements really helped with the cramping, because when I forgot them, ouch!!!!!!

Good luck, I hope you keep feeling better and better. I was really worried about you when you were talking about scoring some "street heat" for your pain. That was you right??? If not, sorry. lol

Take Care,
Donette

Yes that was me, Donette. It wasn't a big deal as I had taken it before for recreational purposes. It didn't work to relax my muscles this time though. Actually didn't seem to affect me at all. I seem to be immune to drugs at the moment!

Hi Linella,

Hope my comments didn't appear off-putting. I know that we rarely have the luxury of running perfectly controlled experiments, and that in an effort to get relief we bombard ourselves with lots of different things. I know that in my determination to manage spondy, I definitely violated the "one thing at a time" guideline.

I hope you continue to improve!

Freddie

Freddie,

I wasn't offended! Hope I didn't sound that way. I was merely agreeing with you.

"How do you cope with the weather in Canberra? Do you find the cold difficult? My hardest times of year are spring and autumn when it changes so much"

I grew up in Belgium and only came to Australia when I was 28. I always thought the warmer temperatures and especially the lower humidity would make a difference to my symptoms, but unfortunately they have not. But I don't seem to get worse in any particular season.