Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion Highlights in Spondylitis Research CURING AUTOIMMUNE DISEASE

A very well thought out and executed regimen!

You've inspired me to go get a gym pass. Exercise performance is a solid way of gauging where you're at physically. And I've maxed out my progressive at home bodyweight routine. Very similar to yours. Push ups, squats, chins/pulls 2-3 x's/week. I need weights though.

I'm going to make a few tweaks to my routine based on your write up.

I started the 8 hour eating window fast two days ago. I find myself a bit more wound up and stressed. Is that pretty typical?

I got two separate, wake me out of deep sleep, lightning bolts to the brain headaches when I was taking boron. Don't know if that's the reason. I've had tinea versicolor a few times in the past(years apart from each other) which I think is a fungal infection. It would make sense if it were still lingering in m system some where. It's about time I got a test that can determine which critters I'm battling. I need to order the tests myself. Anybody know if these would tell me most that I need to know in that department? eg. potential parasites, fungal infections, general gut bacteria etc? I've read that the gi effects 2200 is the Rolls Royce of stool tests but you need a doctor to order it.

this place lets you order them as a patient but I'm not certain which ones to get. I was thinking about these two.
http://labtestsplus.com/product/comprehensive-digestive-stool-analysis-wparasitology-x2/
http://labtestsplus.com/product/gastrointestinal-pathogen-screen-wh-pylori-401-h/

Insight or opinions on those?

Thanks for the thorough run down on your day to day. Much appreciated. Now I'm off to get a gym pass...tomorrow

Slight correct. On Wednesday I do 2 sets of DIPS not pull ups.

Wound up and stressed....I was typically I realise now prior to taking PS and adding carbs back in. It affected my sleep terribly as a result. From what I read, that was possibly a symptom of a prolonged very low carb diet and boosted cortisol hormone as a result. Cortisol is naturally at its peak in the mornings (30 minutes after waking typically) as part of the waking process. Add in a coffee (which I do) and you will be ready to rock. I use this period to my advantage by waking up and getting on with whatever needs doing to midday.

If you still feel the same way at night or your sleep is bad, I would try Potato Starch 4-5 hours before bed, and if good with that try starchy carbs like Potatoes/rice (in small amounts to start) every 2nd day or so (preferably after your workout where they have the most use).

I don't really feel stressed these days even in the mornings. Black Coffee on an empty stomach could be doing that. I like that feeling, and I also find after a while that you get used to that caffeine. Its a big energy boost to me, but everyone is different.

Borax - I pushed on with the high dose regardless and pushed through the headaches and gut aches. Today I feel relaxed and have that washed out feeling like what you get after recovering from a bout of a stomach bug. The borax is doing something...I'm presuming that its attacked some fungus, which in turn has produced some toxins in defence, which gave me headaches, tiredness, sensitivity to light, lack of hunger and a general horrible feeling ...almost nausea but not quite....and now I've got through it and maybe killed something (fungus maybe) in the process. The aches and pains I normally get at night, weren't so bad last night and stayed away today as well. Lets see how it is after a week of 5 days of borax and 2 days off.

I haven't had any lab tests done so don't have a clue what I may or may not be battling.

Just correction above.....Black coffee on an empty stomach could be making you feel stressed and over amped that is. It boost cortisol as well. I only have coffee when I wake and at 10am most days.

Thanks for the info on your workouts Dlee. How have you gone (in the past and recently) with maintaining or gaining muscle mass? I lost a fair whack of muscle when I did that three day water fast about six months ago and haven't been able to put it back on.

I'm 6'3 and have been around 83 kgs for the last 2 years since starting NSD (dropped a heap of weight quickly). I tend to bottom out at 82/83 kgs and don't go any lower than that. That's 83kgs of lean body and no muscle ......people say I look like a lollipop with a big skinny head and a skinny body (like an alien). So I want to add some lean muscle.

I've been doing weights for many years.....but just the a useless regime really and didn't put proper effort into it or have the right gear. And no real gains as a result.

I've been doing this regime only fully for the last 5 weeks since getting a weight cage for home (I hate going to a gym I'd rather have the gear at home). I'm up to 87 kgs. When I took PS for the first 2-3 weeks I rocketed up to 90kg but that's typical apparently and it comes back down which has proven to be the case. I seem to have settled for now around 87kgs so gained 3-4 kgs somewhere....its not fat. There are changes taking place and I'm starting to like what I see. You don't need to add much muscle to make a difference when you are already lean. Abs are starting to come out from those squats and dead lifts.

I've got a few tricks to try yet all in good time. Creatine and a pre workout BCCA amino acid boost. But 1 thing at a time first. Borax, Potato starch and starchy post workout carbs is the main focus for now. I'm expecting by the end of this year to be around 90-92 kgs.....these things don't happen fast unless you popping steroids

Stress is correcting itself more and more every day:)

Morning pain has been through the roof the last few days! Diet has been great so I'm not sure what's going on? Felt major pressure in my stomach for a while but when it disappeared, the pain increased 100 fold. I'm again being positive in thinking that it was something that needed to get outta there and increased my pain when the waste entered my system. But probably due to the fact that I'm off my meds entirely and my immune system is getting out of being suppressed.

I have a tub of creatine monhydrate that I'm waiting to dive into. Like you, I want to know where I stand before I add that back in again. Aside from addng pstarch and pro-b's, I didn't do anything extra but somehow gained 4-5 kilos of muscle in the last 2-3 months. I'm 6 feet and was 150 but now am 162. I seem to be stable at this point. When I add creatine though, I anticipate gaining a further 10 lbs as I did before I wanted to stop using it. Target is 170.
This interview is pretty convincing regarding the efficacy of creatine. In short, creatine is a great supplement for anybody that does any form of exercise.

http://sportscoachradio.com/creatine-all...n-supplement-2/

This place has tons of quick and easy reads for exercises and supplement recs. I always get sucked in to the "top ten" type lists.

http://www.poliquingroup.com/

Every time I tried to get off my meds in the past I eventually suffer a slow insidious creep in inflammation until it evetually got too much (sometimes 48 hours, sometimes 4 days, sometimes 1 week). When I was fed up I had no hesitation getting right back on my meds (Dyclofenac). There's just no need to suffer I figure. But I was always annoyed that I had to got back on meds that in all reality are most likely preventing a full recovery.

I've been off my meds for 2 weeks now and feel pretty good. Possibly its PS, possibly its Borax.....maybe both.....Today is the last day of my 5 days of 1/8 teaspoon per day of Borax and then 2 days break from it. A mixed week really......absolute terrible headaches on Tuesday and slight nausea....washed out feeling of recovering from something on Wednesday, slight headache and mild nausea feeling yesterday......and back to normal today. Meanwhile, inflammation is at low levels generally and settling down at nights. Be interested to see what next week is like when I start up again with Borax on Monday.

Hope you can get your inflammation under control. Maybe go back on your meds for a few days.

Couldn't sleep or do anything at all within the first 3-4 hours of waking. Told myself I'd take enbrel if it didn't go away after about 5-6 days. Pride is more malleable than spinal fusion. Took a shot of enbrel yesterday and was able to sleep for 8 hrs. Felt pressure and light sensitivity in my left eye again so I took a couple drops of prednislone to get on top of that straight away.
Frustrating to say the least. Over 6 weeks with no meds until yesterday. Can't find any reason to think that biologics are hurting me but I know after my recent pain that they definitely weren't permenantly fixing anything. I wonder what did me in? My stress levels are really low. I didn't have the guts to figure out wether or not it was "die off" symptoms or herxing and bear through it. Right after my pressure filled stinky gas belly went away, the pain swooped in hard. Apart from pstarch, the only starch I ate was 1 cooked carrot spaced out over 2 days in four bowls of soup.
I'm routing for you Dlee. Based on the foods you can tolerate and the work you've done in the last couple years, you're gut looks to be in decent shape.

I've ordered LDN and am hoping that it'll get my iritis under control and give me the possibility to stay geographically mobile. 50-100$ per month as opposed to 1500-1600$ for enbrel. That only really matters if it works though, I suppose.

I'm interested to know what your reactions will be on Monday too. Hopefully your discomfort lessens with time and will be a possible sign of fewer internal fungal issues.

CoatTails, remember that there is no cure for AS. LDN is a terrific drug that certainly helps with inflammation, with iritis/uveitis and with gut problems but a magic want it aint, though a very useful and efficacious drug it is - that is for many but does not work on all. (AS an aside, LDN can be given to cats and dogs ! Discussion on the LDN forum treats of animals as well.)

Give LDN time to work. For some it takes a couple of months or more for others, like myself, it worked from the get-go, especially on my gut problems.

Look forward to your updates - take care -

Molly, but I could sooo use a magic wand right about now. I'm hoping that I'm one of those that it does work for. If it can help even in the slightest with my uveitis, I'll be a very happy guy. You know you're in a bad state when you're praying it's pink eye;)
I'll give it some time and see how I feel.
Thanks for putting me on to that info.

Enbrel is definitely working for me, just not as well as it used to. I'm treating my eye with a few drops of pred per day on top. I'm very lucky to have those options.