Kickas.org Forums Treatments, Drugs and Alternatives NSD and diet-related; Tylenol and NSD

Hi there! First time poster:) I am sorry if this has been asked before. I have just started the NSD for the first time in the 9 years I have been suffering from AS symptoms.

All the Tylenol (and generic Acetaminophen) at the drug store have corn starch in the in-active ingredients. Do you find that it will not effect things taking these pills, or does anyone have another suggestion for a brand that is starch free? Thanks!

PS: Also, I have been on the strict no-starch diet for 1 week now and have found no real improvement in my pain and inflammation. How long do people find it takes on this diet to start feeling better? I have been eating a lot of almonds with skins on and wondering if that is causing any problems? Thanks for any help, I appreciate it!

Hi Wade - Welcome to the KA family.

NSD 'can' take several weeks to kick in. Got to get rid of the starches in the body... Give it time. Dunno about almond skins, would sugges, 'probably' skins are starchy, but others will pile in soon with information and recommendations.

Take care -

I like BC Arthritis strength, though my docs don't want me to take them on a regular basis. I guess they would rather have something buffered? However, I rarely take anything, and when I do take them it's with a meal and a FULL glass of water. They work for me. Looking at the box, I see no starch. I also recommend taking your time in the aisle reading labels, even if other shoppers get pissy about it. Labels are important.

I will alternate with the occasional Motrin. But, like I said it's a very rare day when I'll take a pill. Usually only if my iritis is also flaring. Otherwise I just use heat, etc.

Also a fantastic worker for me, is the Activ-On arthritis strength rub. Someone recommended, and I thought yeah right. All I knew was the commercials annoyed me. But I have frozen shoulder, and that's about THE only thing that helps it. I use it on my lower back when I can get some help reaching.

Caution: it WILL melt, so be sure to not leave it near heat, don't let the kids and pets near it, etc. And the label says NO SHARING it. So...

Hang in there, the diet will kick in as Molly says! Welcome to KA!

Almonds skins are starchy. Planters sells skinless almonds. You can find them at wal-mart, walgreens, amazon, etc. Or you can blanch your own almonds, it's pretty easy, just google it. The diet can take a while, just make sure you don't starve yourself, which is what i tend to do, that'll make you even more tired and grumpy.

Also, mix it up as much as possible. Too much of one thing gets old and will kill your motivation.

Blanching almonds. Stick em in a pan of hot water. Let steep. Rub almonds between fingers, skins rub off. Then dry almonds. Could then roast em in a pinch or two of salt...

WELCOME, young_wade:

Even a very tiny amount of starch at the wrong time can trigger a flare. I was taking boron in teeny capsules that contained potato starch and flared.

I like the idea of doing enough EFAs and GLAs to eliminate the inflammation instead of NSAIDs even other drugs. Before retiring take a lot of borage seed oil and do some EVOliveOil during the day and see whether You still need anything. I mean it is a LOT of borage seed (or other GLA source) to get almost 2g daily, but it is fully safe and worth it to avoid drugs. The Mercola site has some other suggestions instead of NSAIDs in particular and also not to mix these with Tylenol drugs for kidney and even liver issues.

Best to wait for NSD to work, and it will but takes some time; we did not get sick over night and natural methods to get us back will not work quickly, but will be more effective than anything else.

If this stuff does not work, it might be possible to find a compounding pharmacy and ask how soluble the drug is in water; I was once considering doing filter-paper separations.

Glad to have You with us
HEALTH,
John

Hi Wade and welcome, If you crush a Tylenol up and test it you will find all of it turns black not just the coating. You need to give the NSD a chance and maybe switch off Tylenol for liquid Aleve and see if it makes a difference for you. I'm drug free now but I use to take Tylenol myself until I tested it. That motivated me to find other alternatives for pain. Hang in and Good Luck!

Try gel caps. The ones I have bought have been free of starch. Of course, do your own starch test with iodine before taking.

Here are some suggestions for cutting down on nsaids while waiting for the diet to kick-in:

https://www.kickas.org/ubbthreads/ubbthre...true#Post355748

https://www.kickas.org/ubbthreads/ubbthre...true#Post412103
(my post is a little urther down on this page)

In the UK I get soluble paracetamol (tylenol) - that doesn't seem to have starch.

Thank you all for the helpful responses and welcoming!

I'm already on max dose NSAIDs (Indomethacin) and have been for seven months straight. I need to supplement further pain relief as I have really bad pain late at night and can't sleep even on the NSAIDs. So right now I take Tylenol 3s even though I believe they contain starch because I have no other choice for pain relief and no other starch-free alternatives seem to be available. I will look further at the ingredients when I go to the drug store and hopefully there will be a pain reliever that does not contain starch and is not ibuprofen-based.