Bilko, I must say that I have been on the NSD for quite a long time (and fairly strictly) and if I could get mine back to even 20 I'd do cartwheels. I think the point is that some people have a very high active AS, others moderate and others I know personally in our AS Group in Australia you would hardly know they had AS.
I think there could be a number of reasons for this but the most obvious one I believe is that those who had a very active AS that required (or were "put on") immunosuppressive drugs long term as I was (Methotrexate and Prednisone) for 2 years, have a more difficult (but not impossible) task of getting the condition to a manageable level. When one is on these drugs things are usually a lot better but in my experience once you decide to come off them after an extended period, your condition is far worse than before. This could simply be because the body's immune system was not fighting the Kleb. and allowed it to get out of control.
I guess thats why I have been so supportive of probiotics. My aim is to get my intestinal flora back to a pre-AS condition and then I would suspect that it follows there would be no need for a NSD (but perhaps an LSD for some insurance)
Don't think you can - KNOW YOU CAN
