SI Pain: 34/100 | Rib Pain: 0/100 | Concrete Back: 15/100

This is quite an important post.

Yesterday, I felt pretty terrible from the AS.

I knew that today I would feel bad as well and so I made a decision to try fasting.

This is the first time I have ever tried this.

I’ve read multiple times on the KickAS forum and on the Facebook group (and elsewhere) that fasting can be really helpful in knocking you out of a flare.

There are a range of possible reasons for this.

One being that you are starving the Klebsiella. It could also be a continuation of the intermittent fasting effect, which I have found to be hugely anti-inflammatory and effective for me.

I need to get my research in order and put together an article together that unpacks all the reasons behind why it might help. Whatever the reason, people that I respect and who have had real success with their Ankylosing Spondylitis have had great success from fasting to manage flares.

How long is the fast?

Some people do a 24-hour fast, some do 36 hours, 48 hours or even 72 hours+.

The general rule of thumb seems to be that you need to keep going until the pain goes away entirely.

So, I am going to start with 24 hours and see how I get on.

The last meal I had was dinner last night at about 8pm. As I write this now, it is nearly 4pm and I haven’t eaten since then.

The only thing I have had is some water and a large black coffee.

What I will say – as an initial finding less than 24 hours in – is that although I am still in pain, the pain seems to have stabilised. It definitely hasn’t got worse.

I woke up today with the pain in my lower left SI joints at around the 30 out of 100 mark.

This is fairly typical these days when I’m in flare (and better than it used to be).

It wasn’t so bad last night that I couldn’t sleep at all, but it was painful, and I was changing sides a lot.

My daily ice cold shower helped a bit but not as much as usual. Often when I have AS sensation but am not in a flare, the cold shower can completely fix things. Today, it felt more like something that was worth doing but wasn’t a silver bullet.

Sitting in my good office chair feels like it has helped, and surprisingly, even though I’ve been sat down for a good chunk of the day the pain doesn’t seem to have got worse.

The thing I’m really surprised about is that I haven’t felt hungry.

I am always hungry and normally, come lunchtime, I’m champing at the bit to eat.

So, it is a relief and pretty cool to discover that just by having the intention to fast for a bit seems to have staved off a lot of the hunger.

I don’t feel at all light-headed yet either, or panicky or hangry. I don’t understand this because the other day when I didn’t have lunch, I got really quite panicky..

The challenge is that when I have expended more energy, I might feel differently.

The trick, from what I’ve read online, is to drink lots of water. I also have some bone broth, so I might have a few cups of that. Maybe that will help fill me up.

If I can get through the whole day without eating anything and then go to sleep, that will mean I will have done 36 hours of fasting. Worth a go.