Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group Fasting

I was recently diagnosed with AS, but have probably had it since I was a teenager. I am now 35 years old. I am in a lot of pain and have started a fast to try to kick this disease into remission. I have been following the no starch diet for the past week. Has anyone had good success with fasting. I am only drinking water right now and plan to do the fast for three days. I have all of the usual AS pain... one of the hardest to manage is my achilles tendon and heal pain. Most of the time I just want to be on crutches because it hurts so bad.

Hello, Phatmarisa:

Fasting is one of the fastest ways to eliminate AS symptoms. I often fasted between 5 and 8 days, often 11 days and once 20 days that put me in solid remission for many months.

Eventually I learned to never actually tell anyone I was fasting because it seems everyone has some opinion about it--especially those who have never and would never fast!

Great way to kick off NSD!

Hope You are feeling great by now.

HEALTH,
John

Thank you John-
I actually had to eat something.. my blood pressure is normally very low and the fast made it so I could barely stand up. However, I am sticking with the NSD. I can't say I have experienced a reduction in my pain yet. I am trying to remain hopeful though. I am having a difficult time coming to terms with the fact that I have this. I'd like to be able to ride my bike again and go for hikes! Things like carrying my laundry basket and cleaning my bathroom are fairly tough for me. It is for sure frustrating. One of the things I am having a difficult time with is finding good supplements. I found D3 with no fillers, but have yet to fine curcumin without fillers. My vitamin d level is pretty low. Any thoughts about obtaining quality supplements without fillers?

Phatmarisa,

I have the same problem as you with blood pressure being too low. I fasted for a week once, but the only way I accomplished it was to kind of do a modified fast. I had to drink chicken broth twice when my blood pressure got too low. Even though I had to modify the fast a little, I still accomplished remission.

I didn't believe in fasting until I had to do it for a colon procedure, and I was shocked how good I was feeling come day 3. By that I mean from stiffness and fatigue.

I've also felt better after an initial antibiotic dosing.

I always have pain through from joint and bone damage. Spurring and disk narrowing/fusion is what it is. In the past I really like the chiropractor and acupuncture, but that can get expensive.

A.S. forces you to focus on what you can do/have to do, and let the rest go as best you can.

I am a bad patient though. I go on a pizza binge and suffer, no apologies, just saying it is hard and your not alone.

Fasting cuts the production of TNF-alpha which can improve AS symptoms in just days unfortunately when you eventually eat something the belly starts pumping TNF-alpha again.

I am undiagnosed, but thought i would give fasting a try.
I fasted for 4 days and did not notice any improvements in my back and neck stiffness.
Should i not see some bettering of stiffness after 4 days of water fasting, if AS is the case?

Hi, boz:



Yes, considerable improvement.

Regret You did not experience relief, but congratulations on doing the fast!

In every case to date, of those with AS able to try the fast, almost every one experienced symptom reduction. In fact in cases where NSD is not very effective, fasting has still helped.

Based upon even my considerable experience with fasting and AS, I would still be unable to rule it out, and would consider whether You have found relief with steroids or NSAIDs, whether B27 positive, family history, etc.

There are usually explanations, but these are sometimes difficult to discover. If You have elevated inflammatory markers during flare, it would be interesting to note what it was prior to fast. I can get ESR measured on demand here in Philippines, and have done a lot of experimentation: Early days of diet, I could easily control my ESR through fasting/diet/antibiotics. I am no longer such a useful test subject.

Good Luck with Your diagnosis and I hope Your condition is much easier than AS.

HEALTH,
John

Is there a case where fasting wouldn't help eg an underlying cause of your leaky gut/immune problems that prevent it from being effective.

I have fasted seven and five days and never experienced any sense of well being or energy, non of that. I just got more weak and tired. Brain fog causes me to forget the effect on my mobility pain etc but I think it helped.

x

Thanks for great answer DragonSlayer! I will be taking all these questions with me to my next doctors appointment.
And i'll keep you guys updated.