Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group Interesting Connection To Vitamin D Synthesis

Interesting article
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19758226

I wish I had access to it so I could see what bacteria they're talking about. Regardless, this might be part of the story. Being vitamin D replete is important in general.

Another article, which should be accessible in full form,
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4160567/

I found this very interesting, and I think it will be of much interest to the rest of you here. While they don't identify the particular intracellular bacteria that may be responsible, the entire theory seems to make sense and should at least be considered. By this reasoning immune suppression is the very opposite of what one should do.

My own theory: an occult organism (bacteria or some other pathogen) that infects in particular the brain and nervous system in some way.

Anyone have information on natural VDR ligands? The article does mention curcumin and omega 6 (not omega 3...surprising) acids as alternatives, but I wonder if these are as effective as the pharma mentioned. I prefer to avoid all pharmas.

PS in the article posted in the last link, there's a lot I don't agree with; I think vitamin D is good and don't agree with the studies they present saying that vitamin D availability is not a problem; that said, it's an interesting mechanism they describe for inflammatory processes

For maybe the last 20 years I have been taking a multivitamin daily along with extra vitamin c, d, omega 3, and calcium with additional cycles of B vitamins, zinc, magnesium, MSM, glucosamine, and a few other things. Then all of a sudden at the end of last year I suddenly get AS after a stomach infection.

I have been fine and healthy my entire life, my parents have been healthy and not much runs in our family except some diabetes here and there.

It's hard to say what went wrong, but I was absolutely fine until my h.pylori infection was irradicated with antibiotics, and thats when I got diagnosed with AS, and it was maybe a few months later that I actually started feeling the pain. I laughed when I was diagnosed because I thought my Rheumatologist was crazy, no pain, no stiffness no nothing, Maybe just some leftover stomach pains.

I would like to think/hope that I had something like ReA and it goes away, but you know can't always live on luck and dreams.

Sdot your post is interesting to me for a few reasons. First of all though, please read the article. They say supplementation with vitamin D doesn't help or can hurt--I myself don't believe this, but I do think they have a point that there's something wrong with the "vitamin D receptor" and this is what allows the inflammatory process to start. They claim that an intracellular occult pathogen (likely bacterial they claim) shuts down your body's vitamin D receptor. They recommend olmesartan (a hypertension drug) to fix this because it can act like a vitamin D receptor agonist off-label. But they also mention that curcumin (which I see you don't take) has the same effect, and a search on pubmed will reveal this to be the case.

It can't hurt to take curcumin. It's been demonstrated to have numerous benefits, so many of which are anti-inflammatory. I know for sure that curcumin took away my brain fog at least.

One part of your post I found interesting was that you said you took antibiotics and then you developed or were diagnosed with AS. Do you remember what antibiotics you took? I developed my worst symptoms of AS--if I had it before, it was nothing like this--after I took azythromycin (Zithromax) to treat a long tropical fever. I've been convinced since this time that it was possibly the antibiotic or its side effects (destruction of gut flora?) that caused AS, and not the tropical fever itself (looking back, I shouldn't have taken the antibiotic).

Anyway I'd be curious to hear what antibiotic you took if you remember, and how long after you developed any symptoms of AS that made you ask a doctor. Do you remember anything peculiar about the first onset of these symptoms--what were you eating around the time, how were you feeling otherwise, and so forth.

Thanks!

Thanks for the info....

Very interesting indeed.....I think vitamin D does play a serious role in this disease from a personal perspective I have backtracked my habits from the past 8 years and I found that the more indoors I was during those years my AS has progressed much more as I spent more time Indoors and less time in the Sun.

Since I began working as a technician which required me to be mobile and in the sun more often then becoming a draftsman for the latter periods which confined me to a PC most of the time my AS has gotten much much worse most in the last 3 years where I am indoors most of the time since I am now unemployed and freelancing for my X company.

Just check this article----> http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/823006 of the occurrences of AS by Country and you will see that in the colder countries where there is less sunshine there are higher rates of AS sufferers and then look at Africa with the lowest rates, then do a google search ---> keyword--> sunshine map global, and look at the Sun maps in images selection. You will see for yourself what I mean.

Thanks you have reminded me of the importance of Sunshine since I have become complacent these days....

I actually have been taking curcumin daily since being diagnosed however I didn't mention it as I was looking at things that I have been taking for years which would make me question myself being deficient in them.

At the time I was taking a number of anti-biotics. Apparently because of the type of infection, it is known to get used to the antibiotics and I was told that multiple strong antibiotics would get rid of the infection which it did, but now I have AS which is worse.

I think two of the anti-biotics were Tetracycline and Metronidazole. I think I may have been on one or two other anti-biotics at the time. This was in April of 2015.

I was diagnosed in October of 2015 with AS after being referred to a rheumatalogist by my gastro, however I had no symptoms of AS until maybe December. I was HLA-B27 positive and shown 2 spots of inflamation on two of my spinal joints, but never had stiffness or pain till later. It took me probably until Jan to feel a little sore.

Nothing really changed, I think during the stomach issues that I experienced I ate less spicy food, I lost weight and was eating a bit less as well as my stomach was a mess, after getting diagnosed I went into a panic and started eating more of an anti-inflammatory diet, tried to cut out starches, sugars and etc., I didn't notice much difference in symptoms. Eventually I couldn't deal with the pain and NSAIDS weren't that helpful, I opted for a biologic and it has been great. I am feeling 90% better 90% of the time and have been eating everything and anything pretty much.

So... let's cure this crap and get on with our lives.

Feel free to ask me anything.

Sdot may I ask why did you gastro refer you to a rheumatologist? What symptoms did you tell him you had that he thought to do so?

I was still feeling like crap after they got rid of the infection. Not symptoms of AS feeling like crap, but some stomach issues and fatigue I think it was..lose stool etc. I am not sure if he was used to people having these type of issues after having stomach issues.

good point ！