The last time I posted here was around a year ago. At that time my AS was basically under control and all I was using was a few voltaren a week and LDN. Then I went on holiday to Rarotonga and caught a stomach bug which was quickly followed by my first proper flare which has resulted in the AS shifting primarily into my neck. That was around July/August last year. Since that time I have been on 150mg of voltaren every day, which has not been particularly effective as I have still had quite a lot of pain at night/early morning. As an adjunct, I have also been trying the no starch diet and have given up caffeine and cholocate (both seem to lead to inflammation for me), none of which seemed to help the flare very much.

Getting to the point of the post. I love alcohol. I grew up on a vineyard. I drink every day (glass of wine or beer at lunch and then one or two at dinner). My wife has been bullying me to give up alcohol as she is of the view it makes my AS worse. I have never really taken much notice of her views on this, but decided to temporarily give up all alcohol on Christmas Eve of last year, as I have noticed the inflammation is often worse after heavy drinking.

Despite not really wanting to find a relationship between my AS and alcohol, I have found that having given it up my inflammation has dropped dramatically (it took around 3 weeks) to the point where I am not taking any voltaren (although I still take a LDN at night) and essentially only have the slightest amount of pain at night, but nothing compared to what it was, and not enough to go back to the voltaren.

This all leads me to the conclusion that alcohol may have been playing a major part in my inflammation, and it may be something that people should consider dropping from their diet for a month or two just to see whether it is making their AS worse.