SI Pain: 0/100 | Rib Pain: 0/100 | Concrete Back: 10/100

Now that I don’t do diary entries every day, I find that if I’m not in pain (or if nothing interesting has happened AS-wise) then often I don’t leave a diary entry at all.

But something stood out to me today when I was filling out my wellness plan.

I looked at the colours over the last week and there is a splash of BRIGHT GREEN.

It has been like this for the last few days, and this basically means (in my weird colour coding system) that I have been almost 100% pain-free.

By that I mean no sensation in my SI joints whatsoever. Minimal stiffness, if at all (which is miraculous).

And I have had loads of energy and focus.

So, I really don’t have anything to report today other than that.

I just want to mention it because one of the reasons for this diary is to show what managing gut health, diet and lifestyle can do. And it’s really working.

I am super excited to crunch the numbers on my second year of results.

I think I have mentioned it in the diary before, but I am tracking 94 variables this time around (the screenshot above shows a tiny fraction of the full width of the spreadsheet).

I know just from how I have felt over the last year, and from glancing at the separate spreadsheet where I marked down flares, that the difference between year two compared to year one is unbelievable.

It makes sense because I have got to grips with the diet. I know my triggers and so on and so forth.

But with all that said there are still these moments where I have to pinch myself.

I’m in disbelief a lot of the time that there are these things you can do naturally to take on this disease that actually work.

If you put the work in and tailor it to you and do the right things in terms of exercise and stretching, it can turn the most painful debilitating illness into something that genuinely really feels like it’s reversing.

It just seems to be getting better and better all the time.

It’s not perfect and there are tough days. Whenever I do hit a flare (and they do still happen from time to time) it completely knocks my confidence and I have loads of self-doubt.

But now all I have to do is look back at the diaries and look at my spreadsheet, and I can see the difference from before is enormous. Completely night and day. Constant pain and a feeling of hopelessness and fear of the future to feeling really upset if I have a (now rare) 20/100 pain day.

So anyway, I just wanted to do a short entry for today to highlight what’s been happening recently.

In other news and probably something I should have led with, I have bitten the bullet and changed the name of the website.

I have had the “Your Happy Back” for well over a decade now. Though I like it, it never quite sat well once I really got going with adding content to this site.

I only started adding my more detailed findings on ankylosing spondylitis about two years ago (when I found out it had a name).

From from that standpoint the site is still relatively new. So, I think I still had time to change it.

I am on a tangent here, but I’m just writing this in case anyone wonders what is going on with the name change. I’ve changed it because really, my focus and passion is on talking about gut health to manage ankylosing spondylitis and autoimmune conditions.

Whenever I try to explain what I’m doing to someone new, I just find myself stumbling over the words and having to explain why I call it “Your Happy Back” in a roundabout way.

“Gut Heroes” takes me to the explanation faster because it’s the cause I am championing.

Gut health is key and I want governments to start funding, researching and offering it as treatment and ordinary people to be aware of all the options.

If a single person is able to safely make changes to their diet and lifestyle that helps them then I will be over the moon.

So, that is the goal, and this is the name change. I have felt quite sad for the last few hours changing the logo and bits and bobs. I will probably tinker with those a bit more, but I feel good about the change, and I think it’s easier in terms of raising awareness.