Hi Wally and all,

I thought it may be interesting for you to hear and possibly(?) even understand my rational as one of those non-diet AS sufferers of 22 yrs.

I am not a dis-believer (as some may think), but to date I have not tried lsd/nsd. When I first came to KA and heard of this no-starch theory I admit to being initially pretty sceptical. The more I read the more I became curious as it seems there are a significant number of people who claim an obvious benefit. I figured something must be happening or why would so many be sooo adamant!

At 21 y/o, I was certainly not educated enough to challenge the considered opinion of a medical specialist, but now at 41 am more that happy to quiz my Rheumy constantly and make him qualify his position and advice. I asked my doc if the bacteria klebsiella was the cause. He said doubtful,... but maybe. He said that 'most' of Rheumatology suspects that it will eventually come down to a bacterial cause but that for now, they do not know which one(s) are responsible. So I continued reading and learning.

Over the summer, John (Dragonslayer) was kind enough to send me more extensive reading material (thanks again John!) and again I took this to my Rheumy. He has gotten to the point where he expects packages of homework! We revisited the discussion on Dr. Ebringer and his papers and he said that his work could never be replicated... could never be proven to be true. He said there were 4-5 attempts in different countries, but none were able to replicate the results. He did make a point of saying that no-one has disproven him either!

So here I am. I've been on nsaids for 22 yrs. I can make no connection from food to flare whatsoever, at least without adopting the diet. If I eat meat and veggies only one night, then meat, potatoes, bread and pie with ice-cream the next,... I'm in the same amount of pain either way. I may seem worse after a low starch day and feel better on a starch-filled day. I believe John's theory... that once in full flare nothing can make it worse may exactly explain my experience. I can however notice a fairly immediate health benefit when excluding diary... which I occasionally do to alleviate sinus pain (especially when I have a cold virus). But this doesn't improve AS pains.

I am not a healthy eater but not a big junk-food junkie either. Most of my diet consists of starch. As I read about the foods you eat, I can't imagine there would be enough to sustain me. Unfortunately, I have never really liked veggies from a very young age and love cereals and breads. I don't eat very much pasta but love rice. Even the few veggies I do like tend to be the starchy ones (to my limited knowledge). I like potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, snowpeas, squash, cauliflower, and I can eat a little bit of salad (lettuce, peppers, mushies) and force myself to eat a bit of broccoli occasionally. I don't like green as a flavour. Fruits are limited to bananas, apples, plums, melons, pineapple, but I don't eat much citrus and dislike most berries (except blueberries). I like most meat, but really dislike nuts. So you can see it would be extremely challenging for me to eat enough calories.

The obstacle that prevents me from trying even a low starch diet is that I cannot afford to lose weight. I've considered trying an apple fast (when meds fail to cover bad pain) but fear I'd lose too much. I weigh only 112-115 lbs, and I'm 5' 51/2" tall (formerly 5' 8"). Please don't jump all over me and say I will not lose because I do lose weight and far too easily, plus I already feel my weight is on a rather low-unhealthy side. My doc used to ask me if I was anorexic at every appt for years until I explained that if it were true, then I would've disappeared by now. The other big obstacle for me is that I "...just feel that food is the last good sensation I get from life." Okay..not quite... that's a tad exaggerated even for me... but it's close enough.

Anyways, thanks for listening!

mig

mig