Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group How the Human Microbiome causes Chronic Disease

That was really interesting! Found it incredibly informative.

Yes, it was the Olmesartan.

http://www.spondylitis.org/members/49.aspx

Here's another one :
Does the Microbiome Cause Ankylosing Spondylitis
By James Rosenbaum, MD

Winter 2011 Issue of Spondylitis Plus

This from SAA, Spondylitis Association America

Thanks !

A lot of research has been done between when that article was published (about 2 years ago) and now.

I don't think the HLAB27 gene dictates the microbiome, but may influence the effect that microbiome has on an individual.

And the research I've seen over and over again in the last 2 years has been human studies where they analyze the microbiome of "healthy" humans vs humans with said disease and compare the microbiome, and they see correlations. The healthy individuals will have one microbiome, the individuals with the specific disease will have a similar one, and different from the healthy one.

I've seen these correlation studies for: obesity, heart disease, diabetes, spondyloarthropathies like crohns and UC, RA, bipolar, etc.

Where the research seems to be is in understanding how the bacteria cause the various diseases, the molecular processes that lead to disease.

Animal studies have their place as well, but its been the human studies correlating bacterial gut populations with a specific disease and comparing that to healthy individuals that has caused me to sit up and pay attention.

One of the most recent article I found on the topic was this one :
http://arthritis-research.com/content/15/3/214

I may have posted it before but I don't get one word, it's extremly technical..

The Marshall Protocol uses the olmesartan for controlling the issues that the antibiotic causes when it's killing off the bacteria. They consider it dealing with intracellular bacteria. They consider, too, the vitamin d receptor to be compromised in some way, maybe by the bacteria, I'm not sure it's been a long time since I read there.
You actually take high dosages of olmesartan, and not for bp, it works for reducing inflammation. The only other thing that they say can do what the olmesartan does is quercitin.
Sometimes just avoiding vitamin d, all vitamin d, even sunlight, can activate the immune system enough to start the killing of bacteria. That can be why when the days start to get shorter and grayer, aches and pains can start to set in. Very interesting.

and a cute cartoon about microbiome :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DTrENdWvvM

Great links!

I have set up an appointment with Dr.Blaney, who was giving the lecture on olmesartan. It's a very costly investment and would like to get the most of my time with him. Admittedly, I'm a constant sucker for snake oil. All of the people on this thread seem very intelligent and am hoping that someone understands a few points better than myself. Do you think it's worth the visit? In his lecture, is he saying that his test subjects were given olmestartan for the full 5 year duration? There's a generic version of the olmesartan available at 1 fifth the price, too;
http://mpkb.org/home/mp/olmesartan/buying
I'm excited to meet him and am looking forward to relaying helpful info to my fellow kickas'ers.
Advice is appreciated and if there are any specific questions you guys think would be helpful, I'll try to include them in my health consultation.

Also, I'm having difficulties figuring out what to do/not to do with Vit D. And to make it even more confusing, it's not even a vitamin! There were a lot of variables leading up to my current bout of iritis but one of them was the inclusion of 5000IU vitD daily. Does anyone feel confident enough in their knowledge of AS and vit D to put it into lay men terms for me and possibly others to benefit from?