Kickas.org Forums Treatments, Drugs and Alternatives NSD and diet-related; Help to get out of a flare

Hi All,
I'm in a constant flare for almost 2 months now and would be grateful of any advice ye have to get out of this. A few weeks ago I tried the 3 day apple diet but that did not help. Now I've restricted my diet to just bacon and eggs and its helps but only a little. Still in major pain. I cant walk around now without a crutch.
The pain is now down the front of both legs. The weather here has gotten very cold and wet so think this may have something to do with it.
Anyone got any ideas?

MAB

How is the bacon prepared? I avoid commercial bacon myself out of fear of preservatives and other fillers that may be starchy.

Are you eating anything else... fruits/veggies?

Are you taking any meds at the moment?

Tim

Hi Tim,
The bacon I'm eating I have to boil. I dont eat rashers (ye call these bacon). For the last 5 days thats all I have eaten. I thought it was best to eat one or two items for about a week and then build up slowly. So I'm not eating any fruit or veg right now. Do you think bacon could be a problem? What would you suggest I eat.
When pain gets really bad or I get fed up with trying to deal with it then I take anti-inflams. Could take up to 3 of them a day but usually just take the one and try and grin and bear whatever pain is left.

MAB

Hi Mab,

How about a multi-vitamin/mineral tablet (such as centrum) and say 500mg calcium citrate before going to bed? I do that when Iam I don't get sun(vit D) or drink milk(calcium etc.,).

I blv immune system dissolves bone to make necessary minerals 'cause we don't eat enough, poor absorption due to vit D deficiency.

Hope you get outof the flare quickly.

Rgds.,
Krishna

Hi, MAB:

Bacon can be a big problem, but it is more individualistic and it goes something like this: The metabolic byproducts of the very dense fat molecules create free-radicals that can damage the intestinal epithelium and also the hydrophilic fat itself can adhere to the intestinal wall and allow transport of both free-radicals and bacteria through this medium. Also, the byproducts themselves are pro-inflammatory arachidonic acid precursors that can contribute to the inflammation cascade.

Even the whole eggs have some of these same properties, albeit to a far lower extent.

You are not getting enough anti-oxidants in your diet to counter the free-radicals and you are not getting enough balanced nutrition to help repair the damage both from AS and the foods you are eating.

If the apple diet did not work very well, it can be repeated; sometimes it takes several cycles of this, but even another fruit monodiet like grapes, cherries, blueberries, etc may help you very much.

For now, I strongly suggest taking 4-6oz fresh wheatgrass juice each of three days in a row. Be certain to take some EVolive oil during the day (by the teaspoonful) and the following immediately upon retiring: Try to get 1g (it may take four capsules) GLA from any source (usually borage seed oil), 1g salmon oil (DMAE), at least 1200IU vitE, and at least 1g flaxseed oil. That's a lot of stuff to take before sleep, and to avoid trouble with that 1g calcium and 500mg magnesium could be taken (the magnesium citrate liquid is acceptable; about 1-2oz) 1-2 hours prior to the oils. The Cal-Mag promotes sleep.

Upon arising take a cup of fresh strong ginger tea, made from the whole root--not any powder. Boswellia at 2g total daily does help, as does alpha lipoic acid. If you can find fresh vegetable juices, such a celery, whole beet, parsley, cabbage, etc these would be very good with the noon meal, which should be a salad. Salmon, tuna, or chicken for dinner and drink some prune juice before this meal and even eat many small meals daily instead of a few large ones. It is very important to alkaize your system and follow a generally laxative dietary regimen. What we are missing too often are enzymes and specifically those from fresh (raw) vegetables and sprouting (eat alfalfa sprouts every opportunity) can help in our anti-inflammation regimen, also. At the same time, some of what we need can provoke AS (like yoghurt), so we are on a rather narrow path. Okra and lychee fruits are very good, and it is also important to supplement with about 3g vitC, 200-600mcg selenium, up to 250mg vitB6, and 50-200mg vitB5 (cooking destroys this vit, aka panthothenic acid).

Depending upon how long you have had AS, there can be 'overlaying' conditions like candidiasis that will sabotage the diet, as will long-established large colonies of the germ. These exist outside the intestinal tract, so are independent of what we eat. I was impatient enough with the diet to use antibiotics and had great results, but they are not for everyone. I can send to you my protocol, if you are interested.

Please let us know how you are doing with whatever changes you are able to make,
John

Hi Mab, sorry to hear what a hard time you are having right now

To knock a flare on the head my hubby Jon used to fast. It usually brought the flare down within 24 hours. Sometimes he would semi-fast by just having green tea with honey and one type of fruit eg apples or green grapes.

I notice the apple diet didn't help you much - it's possible the apples were starchy. This whole season I have not been able to get my hands on non-starchy apples here in NZ. Been driving me nuts.

Fruit and veg is always a good idea. For now stick with the ultra safe stuff like salads and raw vegies and don't put any commercial dressing or mayo on them unless you are sure there is nothing dodgy in it or have tested it with iodine and it's OK. Green grapes are always safe. Canned tuna and salmon that is only packed in oil or springwater is good to have for lunch with a salad.

Good luck, hope you feel better soon
Chelsea

I have a flare right now and I sleep alot. I also take arthrotec to calm it down. I don't lift anything because that is usually what triggers my flare. I don't know if this helps but I hope you feel better soon. My heart goes out to you.

Hi Mab,

Do you have some iodine, so you can test all your food for starch? I just recieved Carol Sinclair's book and have been reading it, so I too have been trying to fine tune the diet. I am no longer in crippeling inflamation stage of the sacrioliitis pain, but I would love for the arthritis in my spine to go away, which is taking a long time and not responding to the diet, so I am trying to figure out where I need to make changes. So many things have starch, I'm starting to think, it's probably safest to test all food with iodine.

Even pepper has starch! I didn't realize this. I used tons of pepper, at least until yesterday. Elmiminate all root, even carrots and beets. Cooked spinach or asparagus seems to be safe. Only ripe fruits and vegetables. Greens peppers are unripe, I didn't know this, had one in the fridge, gave it to the chickens this morning. Remove the skin from your almonds. The list goes on, get the book if you can, or at least get some iodione. Good Luck. Let us know how you are doing.

Thanks to everyone for replying. John I will go out at lunchtime and try and get all that you mentioned.
Guess it makes sense now that bacon may not be ideal for me. So I'll change and start a 3 day diet of grapes first. Then will eat more veg and fruit.
One more question I do have though. Some of ye mentioned to eat salads. I never know what to put into a salad. For example can tomatoes cause problems or onions? I think that usually I introduce so much that I end up in pain and not sure what caused it. So can people give an idea of safe salad please. Is real mayo ok to eat?

Thanks for all help so far.

MAB

Hey Mab....when you are out at lunchtime [wink/wink] pick up some iodine!!! you can test whatever you want to put in your salad, if it tests okay, go for it!!! I would like, spinach [having trouble getting in BC right now! so I miss it], tomato, cubed cheese [cheddar/havarti]. That would be about it, 3 ingredients, lots of pretty colour! Actually I would probably add cubed cooked chicken [pan fried with real garlic maybe!]. I am not much for salad dressing but YES you can use real MAYO read the package carefully. In Canada I get Hellman's and it is okay. Keep your meals, simple, small, and eat several a day instead of just 3 big ones!

I hope that helps! I was encouraged to read your post saying you would go for a 3 day grape only, and then eat more fruits/veggies!! Good on ya!

Rita