Hi, Bleen:
It is good that you are hanging in there to see whether the NSD will work for you, long-term. In most cases when it has failed even after a couple of months, there are complicating factors like candidiasis. I sometimes take treatment for this because I use antibiotics and want to avoid an overgrowth. Perhaps the addition of coconut (for the caprylic acid) meat and some Stonyfield Farms yoghurt would help things along.
Salmonellosis? THAT is bad luck for ASers, and means that you really could have some severe and lasting lesions. I would be so paranoid as to soak the eggs in some mild bleach solution--then rinsing--before breaking the shells; I am very careful to keep shell bits out of contact with the egg liquid. Ebringer's evaluations for his LSD took nine months, but the NSD should really show results in much less time--but in some cases over a month is not unusual. I cheated by using antibiotics, but continued to improve (attributed to diet) for over a year.
If you show elevated ESR during a flare, you might be able to monitor your progress in this less-subjective way. Many of his patients showed a twenty point drop in ESR, but would still have been in quite a lot of pain, starting from very high numbers in the first place.
Carol Sinclair uses almond flour in cooking and never mentioned it set off her IBS. Could your symptoms be ulcer-related, perhaps? I often had a hard and bloated stomach from eating many things (especially raw, but milk products were murder), after I had developed ulcers due to using NSAIDs.
Have you been taking a couple of spoonfuls of cod liver oil daily? I find this and other EFAs help very much, but borage seed oil (about 600mg) last thing before retiring helps very much with inflammation.
The Humira might be a good choice, and if you began it from a situation of low-IgA, it might work very rapidly for you.
Hope you will keep us posted and keep trying--sometimes this diet takes extra time and effort; I can still hardly get by on the NSD alone...without taking antibiotics. I hope that you are not in the same category, but I will gladly send you my own protocol, if you are interested.
Best to You,
John
"Ah but if somehow you could pack up your sorrows, and give them all to me--
You would lose them, but I know how to use them; give them all to me""
Pack Up Your Sorrows Richard Fariña and Pauline Marden
