Sources
Your doctor and your health care providers all have your best interests at heart.
Listen to them, respect them and work with them as much as you can.
At the same time remember they’re often time poor, resource poor.
They are also often unable to dispense with treatment based on the latest research. Lags in government trials, difficulty in getting funding and pressure from big pharma all contribute to what some estimate to be a 17 year lag in the time it takes scientific research to get into mainstream medicine.
They are also human. There is only so much that can be done in a 10-minute appointment.
You, on the other hand, have a great deal of resources at your disposal and everything to gain.
You have time. You have the ability to try (as long as it’s safe and your doctor is happy for you to do so) different lifestyle changes and test them over time.
You can create your own personalised health care protocol.
If you do this, I truly believe without doubt that you will feel better than you have ever felt.
Peer Reviewed Studies on Ankylosing Spondylitis
Many of the approaches and are informed by findings from research papers and studies.
You can find a small cross-section of papers which are specifically relevant to ankylosing spondylitis here.
Google Scholar is also a great place to dive into additional studies (there are over 270k in total!)
The Low/No Starch Lifestyle for Ankylosing Spondylitis:
Facebook Group
13 thousand members strong and counting.
The impact this free group, which is run by extremely knowledgeable, thoughtful and generous individuals, has had for thousands of sufferers is enormous.
Some of the information shared on here is life changing.
What really sets this group apart is the thirst for testing, scientific enquiry and asking the right questions.
Note: While some of the information you’ll find here is linked to or inspired by academic research you’ll also find self reported and/or anecodotal findings. This can be invaluable but remember you may have different results
My Ankylosing Spondylitis Study
400+ Days Testing on 30 Data Points
The process: I keep a daily, detailed record of everything I eat, every suppplement I take, the amount of activity undertaken that day and so on to find out specific pain triggers and symptom relievers.
There are over 30 different data points (covered each day). Every new supplement tried is introduced alone, so as not to cloud results, and given a minimum of 2 weeks.
Note: These are findings from my personal, ankylosing spondylitis study. They are not undertaken in laboratory settings or peer reviewed. Remember we are all different and you may have different results
The Work of Professor Alan Ebringer
The ground-breaking work of Alan Ebringer B.Sc, MD, FRCP, FRACP, FRCPath, Australian immunologist, professor at King’s College in the University of London and Honorary Consultant Rheumatologist at the Middlesex Hospital (now UCH school of medicine) has made the single biggest contribution to so many people living with ankylosing spondylitis.
Professor Ebringer is the source of so many of the life changing breakthroughs so many proponents of the AS protocol described on this website.
More info: You can find many of his Professor Ebringer’s studies on the research pages here and his (for so many) life changing protocol in the Kick AS website here.