Kickas.org Forums Treatments, Drugs and Alternatives NSD and diet-related; On NSD already but I feel I need little help

Hello Everyone

This is my first post, I'm 31, male from Mexico, got a diagnostic for AS 3 or 4 years ago.

As I said, I started going to the Dr. 4 years ago, and after describing my pain and a couple of Rx. he told me it was AS. Every 15 days I would take blood tests and he would adjust the medication, establishing me on Atrexel, Acrocia and Tramadol at the end. I stopped going to the doctor, just kept taking the meds but after a very strong depressive episode a Psychiatrist told me to stop the meds. I never went back to the Rheumatologist. A couple of months ago, following some reading on digestive wellness after having problems with my digestion I found this site, and little later I found courage to start the diet.

I was sold even before starting, and after one week on the NSD I experienced dramatic pain reduction, specially above the lower back. The iritis, a problem I didn't associated with the AS is almost gone.

But now that I'm no longer on NSAIDs and try to avoid tramadol as much as possible, the pain in my legs and SI still bothers me. I could say I went from a 8-9 pain to a 3-4 pain.

It's been almost 4 weeks now, and I'm on NSD without dairy and try to restrict myself from sugar as much as possible, but this is specially hard to me, I've always loved everything with sugar.

I drank too much (like 4 glasses) of lemonade with sugar 2 days in a row and I had discomfort in my guts the third day, to the point that after eating an apple I was very bothered by it, and it lasted like 1 hour before I felt alright again. Later that day (yesterday) I felt badly after a couple of sips from my green tea with honey.

Basically my diet is based in:
Meat Eggs Fish Chicken Tuna Mayo Brocoli Lettuce Tomato Onion Apples Grapes Pineapple Plums Raisins Almonds Coffee Sugar Honey

I wish I could eat chocolate but after trying a couple of times, dark chocolate would upset my stomach which gave me more pain.

So, almost 4 weeks in and I'm a bit desperate because there have been no improvements after the first week, and the diet is taking its toll on my humor, and now that I'm trying to avoid sugary fruits is a bit worse.

I was hoping any of you had any idea to improve my regime? Is there any way of telling besides the obvious pain and inflammation whether or not I'm improving?

I read here somewhere that some use antibiotics, is this helpful? Oh and I also read about food testing your blood, does this helps ??

Ok, thanks for reading my post and I hope you guys can help me, and if not at least there's someone out there that knows how it feels, I feel that sometimes even tho at home they are kind to me and all, that they don't understand what is the pain like.

Greetings to all.

WELCOME, chicharito:

Sorry Your diet is now so restrictive; hopefully You will soon experience enough gut-healing to tolerate some foods more.

I have used antibiotics with great success, but it is important to know they can be a two-edged sword and better to get under full control naturally, if possible. And the fact that You seem to nearly be doing this now.

More than a year after starting diet+antibiotics I was still improving--in some little more subtle ways than just eliminating the constant obvious symptoms--most of these cleared out in six months, but often I would find that expected pain or discomfort was gone--stuff I had forgotten about or grown used to. So "improving" is a subjective thing and we should be improving if symptoms are under control and more are decreasing, never to return.

I very much recommend doing some antibiotics as a minimum to eliminate colonies outside of the colon, but also to eliminate the potential for giardiasis--which can mimic AS in early stages. It is important to devise a plan to keep down C. difficile, another potential hazard and also keep down the fungal problems.

Good to supplement especially with trace minerals but also lysine, vitC, vitE, and niacin--for starters. Calcium and magnesium of course and do EFAs (essential fatty acids).

I would add more nuts like walnuts, macadamia nuts, and pistachios, other dried fruit would be good, tofu, yoghurt (small portions at first), okra, lychee fruit, and gelatin, and seaweeds if eaten there.

I can send to You my AP for AS (antibiotic regimen), if desired.

You will regain Your
HEALTH,
John

So good to meet you, Chicharito, and welcome to this group! I'm really sorry you have AS, but am glad to read that you are already experiencing benefits from changing your diet. I think you are doing great! It's a process. I wonder if tomatoes bother you, since they do bother many people with arthritis. I also wonder if onions upset your stomach. Coffee is really hard on people's digestion if they have IBS, but tea is easier. Almonds: blanched or with skin on? The skins have starch. Sugar, yeah, it is really hard but switching to honey does help a lot. Later on, you can add foods back in I bet. How about probiotics? Can you eat a little yogurt or take a probiotic supplement? Fish oil, too?
Do you do any exercise like swimming?
How about your stress level? Do you feel as though you have enough support and social times in your life, enough fun and laughter?
Just some thoughts I have because in the past I would be so focused on the diet and wished it would cure me completely, and now I try and look at diet and the whole picture, and focus on wellness holistically. For what its worth, that was just my thinking out loud as I read your post. Feel free to post whenever you want as we are all here to support each other!
Keep on kicking AS...

Chicharito,

I'm glad you've found pain and iritis relief with NSD. You need to take a long-term approach to NSD, keeping in mind that it may take months to find the combination of foods that work best for you. Be sure you check the ingredients on all processed foods, as many of them contain starch.

Did you have problems with sugar and dairy before starting NSD? Those stomach/gut problems are separate issues from NSD, and many on NSD continue to eat dairy and sugar with no problem. You may want to check out the FODMAP diet (search the web for that).

In my case, I continue to use OTC NSAIDs occasionally to help me get even more free of pain. Sometimes I get extra pain from physical activities, and the naproxen sodium helps.

It's good to see you getting more info and help. Best of luck to you.

--Greg

Thanks or your advice Dragon

I'm gonna follow your advice and try to stay away from the antibiotics for the moment, I'm going to focus on the diet.

About the supplements, I'm taking a liquid multivitamin, Organic Life, it has vitC 180mg, vitE 300IU, B1,B6,B12, calcium, magnesium, zinc, selenium, chromium. Not so sure abut the amount of lysine because it's grouped with other amino acids. It has plenty of other stuff. I'm also taking omega-3 fatty acids, the GNC brand ones, glutamine which I read somewhere was good for the gut, and glucosamine which I believe is good for the joints. I was also taking probiotics but thought of giving it a rest.

About the other food you recommend me it's hard to found some stuff around here, I haven't found walnuts or macadamia nuts, pistachios I read somewhere they were no good for AS?

I hope I can add yoghurt and milk later, I have no clue if they have an effect in my AS, but I read that most people have to eliminate dairy for the NSD to work.

Thanks for your comments!

Nice to meet you too naj, thanks for your comments.

About the tomatoes and the onions, I'm not quite sure you know, I've read about it and I've tried to see my reaction when I ate any of them but it seems they don't bother me much at least.
I'm addicted to coffee, and in the past I've had times it was bothering me so I had to quit drinking it for long periods, and I only drink 1 cup, and I do drink tea, with honey. I haven't found bleached almonds around here, and I can't think of any easy way to get rid of the skin, do you think the skin would have much effect on the diet??

About the probiotics, I was taking them, in capsules every night but I decided to give it a rest. What is the best way to take them? I was checking out in amazon some in form of pearls, many say they are good?

I run every other day on the treadmill, 5kms, in fact, I had been able to run in the last months due to the pain but now with the diet I started running again.

And about looking at the whole picture holistically, in the long run, I know I was like that when I started the diet, but I guess somewhere on the road I lost a little of motivation due to the lack of some foods that made part of my past life. I don't feel so pessimistic today, although it might have been the bar of chocolate I just ate.

THanks again naj

Thanks for your thoughts Greg

I'm not sure I had a problem with dairy or sugar, I read somewhere that 50% of adopters of the diet had to avoid dairy as well, so I thought it was best for me to do it, and same with sugar, I read that sometimes Klebs eats sugar when it doesn't get starch? I'm not sure tho, I only know I read it somewhere and took the safe road.

About the FODMAP diet, I read a bit about it and some of the things it recommends not to eat are cornerstone of my NSD diet, like apples and broccoli, it baffles me because I thought that the gut problems and the AS were deeply related?

About the NSAIDs, I read so many bad things about them that now I'm afraid of them, I'd rather stick to tramadol even though I know they are addictive. The last two days I've avoided taking the tramadol, and have taken 700mg or acetaminophen which lowers the pain level a bit.

Thanks Greg and I will check more about the FODMAP diet.

Some people with AS tend to have IBS also, so they have to take extra steps to ease the gut pains from that. Most sugar is digested before it ever enters the colon, so a limited intake of sugar should be fine for AS. However, sugar and dairy might aggravate IBS, if that is a problem. NSD and FODMAP or similar in the reduction of wheat products, but NSD goes further on reducing starch, while FODMAP goes further on reducing sugar, dairy, and eggs.

The reaction to apples, broccoli, and some other foods vary greatly (and even from source to source), so you can only try them and see how you react. Some people go to extremes in removing food items from their diet and then try reintroducing items one at a time to better check their reaction (much like the FODMAP diet does).

NSAIDs can be problems in strong dosages over long periods of use. From my viewpoint, occasional use of OTC dosages are fine and can be beneficial in helping to reduce pain by reducing inflammation.

Your biggest problem will come from trying to be too strict and then not being able to stick to the diet. Give yourself time to find what works best for you.

--Greg

Chicarito - Hi - if you soak almonds for about seven hours in water - the skins come off really easy - they are much more digestible this way too - hope this helps!!

I like how Bob, a member here says it:

http://www.sickopportunity.com/?p=123

Jarrow brand of probiotics is supposed to be really good, you can find it online.

It sounds like you are doing great! We all get low motivation at times and miss our favorite starchy foods!

Blanched almonds: have two bowls, one empty, one with hot almost boiling water in it, pour the almonds with skins into the hot water. When cool enough, take an almond, give it a little pinch and the skins slide right off. Soon you'll have a bowl full of blanched almonds. Put on some good music because it takes a while!
Some people say no skins, others may tolerate them.

I <3 chocolate!!