Hi, Wally:
Certainly, if there is a normal distribution of responses, you could draw a line through the inflections and isolate the tails and you would have two 'apparently' different extremes. Ebringer was keen to this potential, and his testing included people who actually
could not stick with the diet.
In reply to:
The fact that subsequent studies have have not generally vidicated his results suggests a level of doubt.
But this is not a fact. Ebringer has tonnes of data but his detractors have none. Zip. They only protest because he did not do the vaunted double blind tests with pre-approved DOE. Perhaps on prison populations, where there was better control over foods, but by the very nature of this beast the double blind studies are almost too difficult to administer.
Naturally, Ebringer's clinic had several groupings of family members--especially fathers and sons--and one son in particular had been doing much better than his father on the LSD, and Ebringer got an unsolicited datum from this source: "Dad has a potato with dinner every night; says it is just not a meal without it." Of course he was LSD...EXCEPT. I no longer wonder at the two positive-slopers on the 9-month graph (in my letter)--they thought they were 'free' to consume starches; they still took part in the studies and the data is there, showing who was naughty and who was nice.
Many of his patients were in the bilko camp--not enthusiastic about the diet at first, but they proved to themselves it works. I don't really want to be cruel, but there were many who cheated and just plain did not want a dietary regimen to work. I know that there is yet another group who have sincerely attempted the diet but had no results and I am certain that if, like myself, they had been able to get a headstart by fasting, the apple regimen, or antibiotics, they would have had results. But they first must be honest about their efforts. One person tried to tell us the diet did not work, but when questioned under oath, he admitted that he just had to have his gourmet popcorn!!
The awful thing about the diet not producing miracle results after four hours is that people will fool themselves into thinking that they can give up on it altogether, but even Ebringer's mixed studies showed significant biological differences--even if the patient did not 'feel' any different. The information on diet in this context is vital because it is being ignored while it could be a valuable adjunct.
I think most of us would do better if we had an older family member who had been killed or damaged by AS--because the majority of sufferers are mild-waiting-to-become-severe at the hands of NSAIDs (wow, I didn't say doctors) or MTX or steroids and the damage creeps upon them with little cat feet and before they know it they have become squatty, calcified hunchbacks.
In reply to:
I wonder at John's comment "..don't give up on us".
No, I know that you would not give up on the diet as you are one of the lucky ones who could prove the connection...but our group gets a bit 'difficult'
at times; the rest of kickas had to give us our own forum since we were causing too many arguments on that side in times past...only meant that I hope you will not be upset at our attitudes; we still need to learn from each other. The problem that you are working on is the most important one facing young and future ASers, and I do not have the intention of making light of it in any way, but the frustration wears upon us at times.
Best Regards,
John
A punk stopped me on the street and said: "You got a light Mack?"
