Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group New to KickAS; GERD/GORD, Gastritis and Duodenitis

Hello everyone. This is my first post here, so here we go.

I have been taking osomeprazole from June 2013 to February 2018, and then switched to omeprazole from then until a few weeks ago. I am now on a high dose (40mg) of pantoprazole to treat gastritis and duodenitis.

Ongoing issues:

I have struggled with arthritic pain in my fingers and toes since the Spring of 2015. All of this was after a laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Going on from here, my GI symptoms seemed to be worsening. Eventually, things seem to stable out so that the joint pain was there in the morning and then gone later in the day, and it wasn't severe. I also had 1-2 times a year where the pain would be really bad and my joints would be visibly swollen (primarily my fingers and toes but I’d feel pain in knees, shoulders, etc). In 2017, I was diagnosed with low-grade seronegative polyarthritis. Also, the Rheumy did a blood test, and I'm HLA-B27 negative.

Fast forward to recent times:

In December 2018 (just past), I had a horrible sickness bug with vomiting and diarrhea. A few days later, I started to experience really bad lower back aches. And over the days it was also felt in my hips, the boney parts under my butt, and also in the pelvic area, and possibly near my testicles.

By 9 January, I was experiencing worsening indigestion, and my appetite was getting worse and worse until it was completely gone. I haven’t been hungry once since about 24 January 2019. Within that few month period, I’ve also been put on antibiotics to treat a round of epididymis, tonsillitis, and now prostatitis. I also started experiencing the feeling like something was caught in my throat and aching pains in my throat around the cartilage that’s in the middle of the throat. I’ve also been feeling fuller quicker. They did a colonoscopy and gastroscopy on 4 March, and found moderate erosive gastritis in the bottom wall of the stomach and duodenitis.

Is it possible that AS has something to do with the gastritis and duodenitis? Also, I’ve been seeing quite a bit of posts about people not wanting to take PPI’s. Can someone explain to me why I would want to stop taking these and what they would recommend instead?

Also, I’ve started NSD a week and a half ago, but my wife was worried that I wasn’t eating enough in the day, so she asked me to have some rice and an avocado which was 2 days ago. I’m not sure if it’s in my head, but I think I feel much worse now.

Committing to NSD without an appetite has not been very fun. What might help me? Fasting? That might make my wife crazy.

Lansoprazole also known as Prevacid is the drug I take to protect my stomach from too much acid. I have been on it for years and find it works very well for me. THere are many such drugs so I suppose if you tried enough of them you might find one that works for you.

Welcome to the forum. I am fairly new also, plus struggeling with IBS for 8 years and full blown AS since december.

_Is it possible that AS has something to do with the gastritis and duodenitis?_

The general idea that I am getting is that it sure does. I suggest you read The Keystone Approach and The IBS-Low Starch diet. Both books explain how the gut interacts with artritis. Stomach problems make it so that food is digested worse, leading to intestinal problems as well.

My plan is to fix my gut and from there improve my AS. I have done tests recently and am intolerant for all kinds of foods. The diet is a very individual journey, it seems. Best advice I can think of is to analyze your own situation thoroughly and find a specific plan that suits you best. There is a lot of great help here, so ask away.

Good luck!!!