Dealing With Autoimmune Plus Other Issues Through Diet?

[Levi1989]

HI,

I’m 28 years old male and I was diagnosed with AS (Ankylosing Spondylitis) 3 years ago. For anyone not aware of this, it’s an autoimmune disease which mainly attacks the lower spine joints and can cause long term bone fusion if untreated but it can effect anywhere in the body.

After suffering with lower back pain and stiffness in the morning for years now (my mum tells me I complained of it as a child) I was given an MRI back in 2008 but was told it was just a damaged disc.

Fast forward to early 2015 the lower back pain became a constant, every day, bouts of acute anterior Uveitis amongst other inflammatory symptoms I was finally diagnosed.

After trying Naproxen (put me in A&E 3 times in 10 days) and other NSAIDS they just made me worse, in fact I spent approx. 4-6 months in a huge flare after the medication.

I stopped medication in January 16 and have been able to manage it ok since then but I still feel ill a lot of the time.

I have played around with no gluten, no starch diets, I try and keep PUFA to a limit or at least on a weekend if I can help it.

The reason I am on here is to seek life / dietary advice or suggestions as I really do not want to keep feeling ill. My list of complaints / symptoms are as follows


· Feel sick when I wake up after eating in the evening. Sometimes feels like I need 6 hours to digest my food before bed to avoid the sick feeling in the morning. I did have a test which showed my digestive enzymes are shot away.


· Pale/Yellow ish/dry skin

· Finger joints on 2 fingers on my left hand and one on my right are constantly red, inflamed and dry, they do not hurt but im very conscious of them. A doctor described them as a nodule, others as some form of psoriatic arthritis, I would love to get rid of them.

· Common sinus infections

· Mouth sores/ulcers seem more regular than most people

· Headaches more than most

· Brain Fog

· Extreme fatigue and tiredness a lot of the time

· Severe lower back pain most mornings

· Sometimes a stiff neck etc

· Short term memory issues (the last two years)

· Sceptical to colds/viruses

· Irritableness

· Anxiety

· Struggle waking up in the morning

· Wake up feeling almost hung over some days

· Dark circles under my eyes

· Sore throat can be quite regular

· Cold hands and feet

· If I drink alcohol (rarely) (a fair amount) it will take me 2 days to feel normal again

· Pretty much every symptom of Adrenal Fatigue

· Low body temperature

· I probably go to toilet twice a week

· Trouble keeping focus/concentrating on tasks/motivation



I definitely felt an improvement removing gluten and pufa from my diet and tried to introduce protein earlier in the day, I work 50 hours a week 7.30-6 usually so it’s hard to fit a healthy diet and give my body the appropriate rest it needs, I am going to try and go to part time soon as I make an effort to get this disease under control before it’s too late and I end up with further autoimmune related diseases. Cancers etc

I have played around with bone broths using organic marrow bone and chicken feet with organic veg, apple cider vinegar and salt. I didn’t feel huge benefit but I only did it for 2-3 weeks but I know it’s something I must re-visit

typical week for me will consist of Protein Yogurts, Mild Cheese, Rice, Mash Potato, Jacket Potato, Haddock, Gluten Free Pizza, Gluten Free Pasta (both of these once a week)

I do allow gluten to slip in and pufa though from time to time as I do struggle to keep away from it. I think if I was seeing big reduction in all the symptoms I would find it easier to stick to a diet.

but for many years it was a high pufa high gluten diet that I know has done plenty of damage and it's a long road to try and undo some of the damage.

For a treat on a weekend I will have a take away Korma, which I find sometimes although high in PUFA it seems to cool my back pain the next day.

Any advice will be hugely appreciated, I am open to any suggestions. Any questions are welcomed,

thanks so much for reading,

Levi

 

[Taotatoes]

Welcome Levi!

 

[Levi1989]

Welcome Levi!

Thank you :)

 

[InChristAlone]

Try going nightshade free. I personally think nightshades are worse than bread. Or at least try not eating them every single day.

 

[Dolomite]

My back pain went away after removing the last bit of gluten from my diet. I was never tested for celiac but my experience is enough to never eat it again.

Ray Peat suggests milk and oj for their high nutrient content. My health has improved greatly since adding as much milk and oj to my diet as I can. I quit eating yogurt after daily consumption for forty years because Ray Peat says it is more difficult for your body to handle lactic acid from fermented food than to handle lactic acid in your muscles.

I drink Lactaid lactase treated milk as regular milk still causes problems.

Others here will agree that getting enough calories may be the most important step you can take.

You are young and I hope you can stop and reverse any damage.

 

[Levi1989]

Hi, thanks for your reply.

Can I ask if that milk is available in the UK mate.

Not sure I’ve heard of it before that’s all

My back pain went away after removing the last bit of gluten from my diet. I was never tested for celiac but my experience is enough to never eat it again.

Ray Peat suggests milk and oj for their high nutrient content. My health has improved greatly since adding as much milk and oj to my diet as I can. I quit eating yogurt after daily consumption for forty years because Ray Peat says it is more difficult for your body to handle lactic acid from fermented food than to handle lactic acid in your muscles.

I drink Lactaid lactase treated milk as regular milk still causes problems.

Others here will agree that getting enough calories may be the most important step you can take.

You are young and I hope you can stop and reverse any damage.

Hi,

Thanks

 

[Levi1989]

Try going nightshade free. I personally think nightshades are worse than bread. Or at least try not eating them every single day.

Hi,

I’ve thought about trying a nightshade free diet for a while.

Think this will be my next try.

 

[Elize]

Hi and welcome from Elize.
Have you had your thyroid checked. Sounds like you are hypothyroid

 

[Dolomite]

I do not know if Lactaid milk is sold in the UK. I imagine there is some brand of milk that is lactose reduced. In the US Walmart sells a store brand so perhaps a store brand is available. The lactase enzyme should be listed with ingredients.

 

[CLASH]

@Levi1989
I had similar symptoms to you with stiff joints in the morning and pain around the SI joint and neck (i’m 23 year old male). I had a stool test and I tested positive for klebsiella pneumoniae (the bacteria supposedly causitive in AS in conjunction with hla-b27 gene; I am not positive for hla-b27 so my symptoms were mild). With this in mind I found that I personally dont do well with starch at all after reading about the relationship between klebsiella, starch and AS from dr. Alan Erbringer (I think thats his name). To deal with this issue what I did was basically re-breastfeed myself with raw goat (goat milk is A2 milk, thus it doesnt have as much opiate effect as A1 milk causing less GI issues and mental issues) milk for a few months (milk modulates the micrbiome of the intestine, specifically raw milk). Then I tapered off the almost all raw milk diet (i ate seafood, meat and honey while i was on the milk diet as well) to a diet of meat, organs, seafood, carrots, sometimes cooked leaves, ripe/cooked fruits and cane sugar. From what I understand and what I’ve experienced sugar doesnt feed the klebsiella bacteria so the main carb source with this has to be sucrose or monosaccharides of glucose and fructose (keep in mind fructose if a free monosaccharide should be in or close to a 1:1 ratio with glucose). So if I were you, I’d ditch the pizza, pasta, rice, potatoes. I’d replace your carbs with cane sugar soda, fruit juice (juices with a 1:1 glucose to fructose ratio would be more ideal like oj, pomegranate or pineapple juice) and super ripe fruits (test each fruit out one by one to see its effect on you). I’d increase your protein from red meat, eggs, white fish (cod, haddock, sole, flounder), and i’d increase your fats from beef tallow, butter/ghee, coconut oil (if you tolerate it). Higher fat works better for me because it improves my intestinal function and protects me against endotoxins in my experience so i eat about 150g per day from the sources mentioned above (it also makes me leaner and more mentally stable with a higher libido). On top of this i eat 200-300g of sugar from cane sugar dissolved in water mostly (digest the easiest) and 150g of protein mostly from red meats and organs (for point of reference I’m 6’2” 195lbs around 10% bodyfat). Hope this helps. Let me know if you need any clarification.

 

[EIRE24]

@Levi1989
I had similar symptoms to you with stiff joints in the morning and pain around the SI joint and neck (i’m 23 year old male). I had a stool test and I tested positive for klebsiella pneumoniae (the bacteria supposedly causitive in AS in conjunction with hla-b27 gene; I am not positive for hla-b27 so my symptoms were mild). With this in mind I found that I personally dont do well with starch at all after reading about the relationship between klebsiella, starch and AS from dr. Alan Erbringer (I think thats his name). To deal with this issue what I did was basically re-breastfeed myself with raw goat (goat milk is A2 milk, thus it doesnt have as much opiate effect as A1 milk causing less GI issues and mental issues) milk for a few months (milk modulates the micrbiome of the intestine, specifically raw milk). Then I tapered off the almost all raw milk diet (i ate seafood, meat and honey while i was on the milk diet as well) to a diet of meat, organs, seafood, carrots, sometimes cooked leaves, ripe/cooked fruits and cane sugar. From what I understand and what I’ve experienced sugar doesnt feed the klebsiella bacteria so the main carb source with this has to be sucrose or monosaccharides of glucose and fructose (keep in mind fructose if a free monosaccharide should be in or close to a 1:1 ratio with glucose). So if I were you, I’d ditch the pizza, pasta, rice, potatoes. I’d replace your carbs with cane sugar soda, fruit juice (juices with a 1:1 glucose to fructose ratio would be more ideal like oj, pomegranate or pineapple juice) and super ripe fruits (test each fruit out one by one to see its effect on you). I’d increase your protein from red meat, eggs, white fish (cod, haddock, sole, flounder), and i’d increase your fats from beef tallow, butter/ghee, coconut oil (if you tolerate it). Higher fat works better for me because it improves my intestinal function and protects me against endotoxins in my experience so i eat about 150g per day from the sources mentioned above (it also makes me leaner and more mentally stable with a higher libido). On top of this i eat 200-300g of sugar from cane sugar dissolved in water mostly (digest the easiest) and 150g of protein mostly from red meats and organs (for point of reference I’m 6’2” 195lbs around 10% bodyfat). Hope this helps. Let me know if you need any clarification.

Will you have to eat like this forever or is it a case that the bad bacteria are gone and you just choose to eat this way?