Kickas.org Forums Treatments, Drugs and Alternatives NSD and diet-related; NSD suddenly stops working?

Hello,

I've been on the NSD diet for more than 8 months with amazing results, almost pain free without any meds. But in the last 2-3 weeks symptoms came back, SI pain, wrist pain, etc. I'm still on the diet, I even tried a 1 day fast to reset (pain decreased in that day but came back later). Can the diet just stop working? Can you please give me some advice with what could I try to get back on the right track?

Hello, Stormb:

CONGRATULATIONS on sticking with the diet enough to get such great results!

The diet will continue to work, but please understand that there are "stealthy" starches that creep in. Also, Carol Sinclair noticed that she had reached about three plateaus where she progressively had to give up more and more sort of "borderline" things--"dodgy disaccharides" was one of them.

And things that are not so starchy--technically--can cause severe problems, also--like caramel (a polymerized--resistant--sugar).

Another major issue that Carol also experienced is that seasonal variations in things like fruit can wreck havoc on us--the nectarines, in particular she tested when season began and they were safe, but later they were harvested too early and contained the "most pernicious" type of starch. So please TEST EVERYTHING even if it once tested good--now this is every batch, not every morsel.

PROCESSED foods can change formulations and additives can be changed before the labels. And manufacturers might substitute guar gum for carrageenan and vice versa.

FOOD COMBINATIONS can also cause problems; watch out for mixing proteins (slow digesting) with sugars (rapid absorption) and starches, however borderline.

FORM vs FACT: A fellow from Canada called me and said he was able to eat yams, but not yam soup. Many tolerate some rice, but could never eat the same amount of starch, if it were rice flour; particle size is the key to why "processed foods" in general are so unhealthful for many and deadly for us.

Another possibility that I do not consider very high on the list, is developing some food sensitivity: Due to our restrictive diets, we rely upon some food sources and eating too often and too much of one thing can result in kind of an allergic reaction not easily explained, but these contain a "dross" or burden of normally innocuous compounds built up and not properly metabolized or eliminated.

I hope You are getting enough EFAs and especially GLAs--in any flare it is good to take about 2g effective GLA from borage seed oil, for example. Good to get some fresh wheatgrass juice to help break a flare.

HEALTH,
John

Thanks a lot DragonSlayer, it's very likely that hidden starch could be a problem as in this period I started eating a lot of different fruits and sweets. I'll try to tame this flare and hope to get back to where I was before.

Hello, louisay:

"Gut symptoms" is too subjective. I would say yes, with the caveat that we do not always know when we are having symptoms. Being on NSD, it is more likely that You have had enough gut healing that symptoms are reduced and it would be easy to conclude that joint damage will correspondingly also be reduced.

Following LSD/NSD is a statistical thing, and again our powers of observation are regrettably limited. The gut is a dynamic system, and presented with a specific challenge of starches might not trigger a flare at all one day, but five days of the same meal might jump the gap of not only perception, but also the threshold of molecular mimicry; putting us right back in the club.

HEALTH,
John

Are you having AS pain? You don't need to have gut pain in order to have an unhealthy gut.

I hate to be a bad sport, but I've found that since starting NSD back in 2007, I've found that whist NSD is far better than eating a whole bunch of carbs, it has become progressively less effective for me.

It seems now no matter how strict I am in relation to avoiding starch and sugars I cant stop the slow march of symptoms - in my case I have Undiff Spondyloarth. with ongoing issues with both axial and peripheral attachment sites - including those not associated with joints such as muscle attachment sites onto ribs.

It's interesting David because I too also have sebhorrhoeic dermatitis and Undiff Sp. I've recently had an Xray after maybe 7 years since the symptoms started and the doc said that the sacroiliac joint looks normal, no sign of damage. But the pain is still there. I've had 8 or 9 months of excellent results with the NSD but can't get it to work again. It's only been 2-3 weeks since the return of symptoms and they're not that bad so I still hope for the best.

Good question, I wish I had a good answer. I can only say that when was first diagnosed I was sure I had serious damage. Every time I tried to turn my head I heard clicking all through my neck. I'm not pain free but after some PT and following a a pretty strict diet that clicking and pain are much less. At the time I assumed I had so many bone spurs that it was causing the clicking. I also think that bad posture before awareness of AS can contribute. If stand up tall, it actually feels like I'm stretching. If you feel this way too you might have some muscles that have forshortened. Stretching will be a good idea no matter what. I'm usually pretty sure I'm flaring when I have SI burning and then either at same time or after my neck and back will feel stiff too. Hope this helps!