Kickas.org Forums Treatments, Drugs and Alternatives NSD and diet-related; A visit to Starch World

After six months strict NSD, I decided it was time for me to test the diet. I started the NSD last summer when I was suddenly getting much worse. In the six months I've been on the diet, I've never once knowingly eaten starch. I wanted to give it my best shot.

I've never been diagnosed with anything, though I have a lot of symptoms consistent with an Undif Spondy diagnosis and I'm HLA-B27 positive. My symptoms have been relatively mild.

When I began the NSD, I started to see improvement immediately. I've been up and down before; was my improvement just a coincidence?

It's time to find out for sure. Without a clear diagnosis and without a clear and obvious response to the diet, I'm struggling with whether it is the answer for me or not.

So, on Tuesday evening I traveled to Starch World and I'm staying for a visit. I must admit it's been glorious! I've eaten bread and butter, pasta, minestrone soup, granola, fried zucchini, a baked potato and a chocolate chip cookie!!! Others at this forum have said that their tastes eventually change after a period of time NSD, but that hasn't happened for me. I'm savoring every bite of formerly forbidden foods on my visit to Starch World. I went out to dinner with some friends last night and ordered what I wanted from the menu, though I'm still avoiding dairy in order to clearly tell what I might be reacting to.

I'm 43 hours into the visit and I'm okay. I'd say my neck is a little more sore and stiff, but it's still within the range which I experienced on the NSD.

Many people here have reported an increase in pain within 12 hours of eating starch, but I'm not experiencing that. My daughter, whose symptoms are similar to mine and who has been on and off the NSD, says that it takes her 3-4 days of eating starch before she notices an increase in pain. Will that be true for me?

I don't know what the next couple of days will hold. If my pain comes back with a vengeance, then I'll KNOW. I'll go back to the NSD and there will be no more temptation to go off the diet than there would be to put my hand on a hot stove burner.

If my pain doesn't increase, then I will continue to eat starch, though if I went into another flare, I'd try the NSD again.

Any thoughts from anybody? How many people take more than 12 hours to react to starch? I'd welcome some input. If I start to flare in the next day or two, does anybody have any suggestions for getting the flare to subside?

Karen

I'll be very curious to see how you do with this, Karen.

I'm conducting a similar "experiment" of my own, but I'm testing the sugar theory on myself first.

I have significant increases in both stomach & joint issues when I ingest sugar. And I'm talking strictly about natural sources of sugar like fruit & dairy. I avoid all other sources of processed sugar.

I find Kiwi's post about Jon's eating green grapes after being in a flare very interesting. I ate some grapes last week & didn't think I'd live to tell about it. In fact, most fruits cause this problem for me, with melons & grapes being by far the worst.

As far as starch goes, I do know when I do eat any kind of starch, I do have more pain issues, but like you, I am wondering how much of it is coincidence as well.

Usually when I fall off the "no-starch wagon", it's because I'm extremely stressed, overly tired, or already not feeling well, so it's hard to determine what causes the subsequent increase in my pain levels - is it the starch alone, the increased stress, the lack of proper rest, or a combination of all these factors?

I hope your experiment will give you the answers you need without creating any significant problems for you to deal with after it's all over.

Keep us posted on what happens.

In my case, not always have the first symptoms appeared within 36 hours, but sometimes yes.
At first tried to eat starch and never ceased to appear pain in a short time, but I doubt if the remaining could be induced by the subconscious without me knowing it, is it possible?.
In recent times, it is my wife who puts the starch in some meals without my knowledge, and even so, have always appeared pain.
I have already stopped experimenting, I do not want sufrír.
Vima

Hi Karen,

Good luck with experiment. Pete (Dakotadan) was NSD for a year, then went back to starchy foods and has been able to follow normal diet since. Me... I am not so lucky. If I cheat, can typically feel some stiffness the same day, if I continue then I slowly get worse from there.

To get back out of flare I go very strict and usually take a few Tylenol's. However I do not cheat to the point it brings about a big flare.

Hopefully all works out for you and can add some starch back in.

In regards to taste changing... my taste buds did. Does not mean I do not enjoy the taste of starchy foods, I just got to the point I did not crave them like I did early in the diet when I eliminated if that makes sense.

Tim

Well, I must admit that I'm confused.

I've now spent two and a half days in Starch World and nothing dramatic has happened. In an attempt to really push my limits, I've eaten some of what others have found to be the worst possible foods like breaded and friend chicken wings.

I'd say my inflammation levels are up just a bit. I'm feeling some inflammatory action in my triceps tendon and in my ankles. I still hurt in all of the places I've injured, though. (I have different sources of pain, as described in "The three sources of pain", https://www.kickas.org/ubbthreads/showfla...true#Post287675 )

I have a few hypotheses at this point:
1) Its going to take a few days for the inflammation to really get going and then I'll need to go back to NSD.
2) I never had AS/Undif Spondy in the first place, so the fact that I began to improve when I started the NSD was a coincidence.
3) I had a mild case of Undif Spondy which I caught early. Since I have no history of long-term NSAID usage, I was able to accomplish significant gut healing in six months NSD.

I'm continuing the experiment until I get some answers.

Meanwhile, Starch World is a fun place to be. After six months of a very restricted diet, it's almost disorienting to be able to eat anything I want except for dairy.

Karen

Most times, I don't know East from West.

However, if I had to guess, I'd put my money on number 3.

I'm leaning toward #3 also. Thanks for the guess. I appreciate the input.

Karen

I'll through out a #4 for you. Celiac disease and gluten sensitivity often cause joint pain. I had it very severely (IBS being the most obvious symptoms) and was B27 positive and had the discomfort sleeping and so on and so diagnosed as AS. At the same time as that diagnosis I went gluten free (and dairy free) I'd also been mostly starch free for a long time since I have been on a low carb diet for 5 years.

Anyway, about 6 months after my diagnosis and subsequently about 8 months on a gluten free diet, my joint/tendon pains started to disappear. But I never knew if that was due to diet or due to the sulfasalazine I was taking. I finally worked up the nerve to stop the drug and the joint pain didn't come back. So now I know it was the dietary changes.

If I quit being gluten free I have a feeling that gradually, as my body and intestines get beaten up again, I'll probably go back to the painful joints. But I doubt it'd happen quickly. Might takes months or years.

That's another idea. I've had the newer blood test for celiac which is supposed to have a lower false negative rate than the old one. I tested negative, but I know that's still not definitive.

It might be worthwhile for me to do a gluten-free starch challenge.

So can you tolerate gluten-free starches now?

Karen