A.S. Face 0289: Tim
Hi, my name is Tim. I’m 49 years old and have Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS.) I have watched face after face on this blog tell their stories. The sad thing about these stories is not that they have AS, but these people actually believe the lies that their doctor/rheumatologist have told them. The standard story is that AS is incurable, they don’t know what causes it, the only treatment is from a pharmaceutical company, etc.
These lies could not be further from the truth. AS can be controlled and put into remission. I like the term “inactive.” AS is an auto-immune disease where the body’s immune system attacks healthy, normal tissue. The question is why? Well folks, it all starts in the gut!
There’s a sneaky little bacteria called Klebsiella Pneumoniae that resides in your colon. The colon is the last stop for your waste before it comes out of your body. It’s about 5 feet long and contains 800 trillion bacteria cells. The human body is composed of a total of around 80 trillion cells. That’s right folks, you’re outnumbered by 10 to 1 by the bacteria in your body.
The problem with Klebsiella (I call it Klebzilla) is the similarity between it and some of your own, natural tissue. The collagen in your body actually has similar protein structures with Klebzilla. Through a process called “molecular mimicry” the body becomes confused and start attacking it’s own healthy tissues. Yes folks, AS is caused by a bacterial infection!
Right now you’re saying, “It can’t be that simple!” Well, yes it is. Did you ever wonder why around 90% of the people with HLA-B27 do not have AS? Did you ever wonder why one twin can have AS but the other one doesn’t? (Concordance rate) The answer is your environment! The best way to understand any disease is the saying: “Genetics loads the gun, and your environment pulls the trigger.”
Now, lets get back to Klebzilla. The bacteria in your colon feed off of the undigested food particles that make their way to the colon. Klebzilla loves one specific type of food. It loves starch! When you feed Klebzilla by consuming starch then it will multiply and make babies which will do the same thing.
The problem occurs when your body senses the Klebzilla colony and mounts an attack against it. Normal levels of Klebzilla do not trigger this response. The problem with the immune system’s attack is that it is a war declaration against this invader and your body fails to properly distinguish (through molecular mimicry) between self and non-self. The body actually starts attacking it’s own healthy tissues. This process can occur over a very long period of time and no damage is noticed until it’s too late. That’s why AS is an “unseen menace.”
So, how do we keep AS inactivated you ask? The answer is simple, DON’T EAT ANY STARCH! Starch is a polysaccharide, which is a complex sugar. Examples of starch are bread, potatoes, rice, etc. It’s called the No Starch Diet (NSD.) I’ve been on the NSD since 15 June 11.
Prior to the NSD I was on Remicade for 3 ½ years. It was very useful in keeping the pain and stiffness at bay. The problem with these biologics is that the body sooner or later develops anti-bodies to them and then they stop working.
I started looking for alternatives to being tethered to an expensive and dangerous drug for the rest of my life and stumbled upon the NSD. The NSD works. Since I’ve started the diet in June of 11 I’ve only had two aspirins and amoxicillin due to a cold. That’s it! Nothing else but good food and NO STARCH! No morning stiffness, no joint pain, no eye problems.
A lady named Carol Sinclair wrote the bible on AS called: The IBS Low Starch Diet. Here’s her web site is: lowstarchdiet.net
More web sites to check out are www.kickas.org and my blog at unseenmenace.wordpress.com.
The NSD is outlined at kickas.org. There’s a outline you can print out to get you started on the diet.
Wills Point Texas United States of America
Hi Tim,
YAY! I LOVE reading No Starch Diet success stories! Thank you for posting! I also read Carol Sinclair’s book, and love the kickas.org site!
I too am seeing good results by being 100% starch free. I am super strict and test everything with a drop of iodine. I am on month 5. I eat a very healthly diet mostly raw fruit & veggie based, with nuts, seeds, and some meats. My only bummer is now I am finding that I am needing to cut out natural sugars like honey, or just cut way back on consuming them (hard to do with a sweet tooth!). Still exploring this, but still feel I’ve made great progress going starch free, and I believe it’s totally worth the effort!!!
I am actually getting ready to start a 30 day [starch free] juice fast after being inspired by the movie, “Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead.” http://www.fatsickandnearlydead.com/ Watching this guy cure his auto-immune disease was such an inspriation, as are you for posting your story!!
Thanks again!
Andrea
Dear Tim,
Thank you so much for sharing your story with us. Thank you for sharing the information about the NSD and the effects it has had on you.
Sincerely Cookie
Thank you for the information Tim, I will check out those sites.
tim i myself have started a no starch free diet a few weeks ago it just happend to be at the same time as lent. but i do have to say that diet does not help everything and it is not a compleat solution.my right hip is missing cartridge so i am unable to walk without a cane,i have a hump on the back of my neck that is bone and it hurts real bad.i can’t walk up staires.in 2009 after 24 yrs of pain without answers or people beleaving me.i found myself in the ER in so much pain i sounded like a banchee.i love my drugs because i never want to feel that kind of pain again.my dr’s told me the drugs would not take all the pain away only make it so i wont feel that kind of pain.i love my drugs and i don’t care what people say.after the trauma i went thru no one can tell me otherwise.my husband,2 cats,and my dog are traumatized by the screams i did in 2009.1 of those 2 cats will not leave my side and when i sleep he checks to see if i am still breathing.he sometimes yells at me if he thinks i am pushing my self.i am happy this worked for you but not all people with AS are the same and this could be more harm then good.this is my opion after 27 yrs now of pain.the longer you go without some kind of help the more damage there is.then there is the fatigue.thanks for sharing your story but for me i disagree.i have found no connection with food and flair/pain.i have started the starch free because of a very dear friend who asked me too.
Thank you for sharing your story. I bought the book. Not sure it’s something that will work for me, but It’s worth checking into to. What can it hurt….right??
Glad it works for you, but it is worth pointing out that it works for some people and not for others.
What you’re saying is if my Harvard educated doctors knew this and hadn’t kept this from me, I wouldn’t be crippled today? 40 years of agony, depression, suicidal thoughts, lost loves, severe loneliness, damage from drugs, vision damage from iritis, side effects from steroids, lost job that I loved, stuck on SSI and a life of poverty, state medicaid lien on my home because of my need for medical assistance, humiliation, threats from social security, reclusive, etc etc etc. All this from a little starch, unbelievable. Why would good doctors keep this info from us? I don’t understand…