Kickas.org Forums Treatments, Drugs and Alternatives NSD and diet-related; UVB - how is it working for you ???

Hi Peg

I appreciate to hear about your experience with sun<->AS.
I think it would be very helpful for all of us it we had some good statistic on this connection. Myself I was really amazed recently when thinking back on my AS history and seeing such clear connection between season and AS. Also I lived in Australia with it's sunny climate 2000-2003. Here I also had autoimmune problems but mainly Crohn type problems. The AS first got really bad 2004 after returning to Sweden, during the first winter at home.

hi: i´ve been having sun ( 20 min per day ) for half a year and to sun beds (5 min per day) for half a year. so i have had uvb exposure during a year for at least 3-4 times a week.

I can say that this has take me out from as pain. my last blood test were perfect, and i can say that durin this year i have had some weeks without uvb exposure, and after about 10 days, i started having some pain, that disaperared after 4 or 5 days of sun or sunbed.

I satarted taking cod liver oil, but the rda of d vitamin is too low (this was created with the vit d dose necesary to avoid rickets, but this may not be the necesary dose for being totally heatlh)(althogh, this dose is the necesary dose to keep Calcium metabolism ok, but d vit has other functions). if you want to take the same dose of d vit with cod liver oil that you get with 10min of sun you have to take about 150 pills per day.

How long does one need to stay in the sun per day, to see if this will help? And how long before you notice a difference?

That is very interesting Sergio !!!

I am starting to think that UVB is helpful in general for people with AS. I have been worried about that UVB might only help very few people with AS and not in general. But hearing from more and more of you guys that UVB helps makes me very happy!

On a scale from 1 to 10, how well is UVB doing against AS???
What is your experience with the difference in effect on AS between sunshine and artificial sun beds?

Myself, I have to stay indoors mostly during these days due to pollen allergy, but next week I am going to embrase the sun

About cod liver oil I definately agree with you, it does not help against AS. First of all most cod liver oil has natural vitamin D removed and replaced by synthetic vitamin D, which is absolutely useless. But even the real thing does not help me at all. My opinion these days is that not only does UVB exposure produce way more vitamin D but also there is something different good happening when exposed to sun which is not related to vitamin D.

hi dean.
sun has make an improvement of almost 8 from 1 to 10. I can´t say 10 beacause if i stop having sun baths for about 5-7 days, i start feeling some pain.

I have not felt difference between the positive efects of sun beds and natural sun. But i have to tell you that sun beds ( 5 min per day) has got much more important efect on tanning and drying my skin (side effects) than natural sun (about 25 min per day).

I agree with you when you say that there is anything more in sun that dvit that helps us. May be UVC rays. this UVC rays have antibiotic effects (i dont know if antiproliferative effects or bacterial-killing efects). this would have effects in Klebsiella proliferation?. or in our suposed overactive inmune sistem?. i don´t know.

I have not tested my d vit blood level during the last 6 months (if there is not pain, you dont worry about getting answers about AS). But i want to test it again, may be the next week. i will let you know the results.

It's interesting. I definitely felt better in summers when lived up north. Then I moved to Dallas and there was very little difference between summer and winter (always sunny), overall felt good. But now I've moved to Seattle and we had over 90 days without sun this winter. My condition is definitely worse now than was in Dallas and I can't stabilize it by means of NSD yet. So, it is quite possible that there's a connection between sun and AS activity

> How long does one need to stay in the sun per day, to see if this will help? And how long before you notice a difference?

Usually I do about 10-15mins sun on a summer day, longer on a winter day, walk for 30-45 mins/day, drink 1-2 big glasses of milk (vit d added milk).

I started to see significant reduction in pain in say 1 month. And ESR, CRP dropped to normal in say 2.5 months ( from ESR: 96 mm/hr, CRP: 20.5 mg/dl) and free of AS symptoms with normal balanced food.

What I noticed is all three are important sunlight, milk and walking ( eg., sun, walking alone did not help much. milk, walking alone did not help much. walking/exercise alone did not help much).

I live in a semi desesrt area. I do lots of walking. Try for 1 hour per day. So I walk lots and in the summer get lots of sun. I am not able to drink milk or ingest any dairy at all. But all the sun I get in the summer doesn't make me feel any better than in the winter. I guess everyone is a different and what works for one may or may not work for another. It would be so easy if that was all it took. Glad you have found what works for you.

Debbie

Debbie,
> I am not able to drink milk or ingest any dairy at all.
What are your natural sources of calcium, magnesium?
Rgds.,

Hi Krishna,

I was taking a calcium, magnesium supplement during the day and a liquid calcium, magnesium supplement at night. I am temporarily off them at this time due to stomach issues that I am working to correct. As for natural sources of calcium, almonds, broccolli, salmon, and leafy greens. At the moment my calcium intake is low but overall it has been above the recommended daily dose.

Debbie