[Kmartinez15 (OP)]

Hello all,

I am curious if anyone has knowledge if this disease? I was diagnosed about 5 years ago when I was 34 years old. I have arthritis also in my hands and bursitis in one knee. My parents both have/had arthritis and I am also obese. I realize the weight doesn't help hoeever was told it is not the cause and losing weight will not be a cure. I basically wake up feeling like a car hit me each day am very stiff tense and sore in my neck shoulders and left side if lower back.

I am curious, is it rare to have AS at such a younger age?

Thanks!

[RD]

Q. Ankylosing Spondylitis, is it rare to have this so young? [34]

A. No ...

[Ankylosing Spondylitis] tends to first develop in teenagers and young adults. Most cases first start in people aged 20-30, with only a minority of cases first affecting adults over 45.

http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Ankylosing-spondylitis/Pages/Introduction.aspx

The arthritis in Ankylosing Spondylitis is not due to wear & tear, it's due to a genetic inflammatory autoimmune disease ... http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Ankylosing-spondylitis/Pages/Causes.aspx

[Atomic-S]

I can speak from some experience regarding this condition.  Upon contracting it, I learned from a certain controversial book that one physician had success treating the condition through a regime of raw food and allegen-identification.  The chiropractor I consulted early in the case also thought that a condition like that would, in a relatively young person, suggest a food allergy.  Following these leads, I eventually was able to identify food aggravants that, upon eliminating them from my diet, resulted in essential cure.  The offenders were chiefly wheat, and further experience suggests that the specific fraction of the wheat that could be responsible is the bran. In later years I also identified peanut butter as another major irritant, although raw peanuts do not seem to have as severe an effect.  I understand that wheat and peanuts are two things that many people have adverse reactions to.  Another thing that appeared to be involved was the lack of fats.  My other physician pointed out that fats were unhealthful for other reasons, but that pertained to high-cholesterol saturated fats.  The aforesaid book had strongly recommended fish oils, which I took for a time. Later I discovered that replacing some foods with fish resulted in noticeable improvements in the inflammation.  A third problem area that was eventually identified was poor elimination, during which symptoms were noticeably worse.  This was in agreement with the aforesaid controversial book, which had said that excellent elimination was a major feature in the treatment regimen they had recommended. A fourth area that I identified by experience was the time and manner of food intake. I learned that if I did not get my food, particularly things such as fish, on a proper daily schedule, it seemed to disturb my system in such a way that the inflammation flared.  All of the things just described have a common thread:  digestive disturbance.  They tell me that the spondylitis is triggered, fundamentally, by an irritated digestive system, and that by proper adjustment of the diet, the irritation is removed and the symptoms go away.  As for genetic causes:  that is very possible; in my anscestry there is one person who had this condition severely, although the condition has not been seen in known other relatives (but more conventional rheumatoid arthritis has been).  To say that the condition is caused by a dietary intolerance and to say that it is genetic is not a contradiction:  the patient inherits genes that gives him a dietary intolerance. The same diet in another patient might not affect him badly at all, or at least not in that way.  So, my advice to you is to assume that there may be some kind of a food allergy, possibly induced by excessive consumption of that food or by other problems such as poor elimination (note that the wheat and peanuts described earlier have been associated in some people with elimination problems), and, on that basis, work towards a diet that makes your digestive tract run as smoothly as possible.  Because people's genetic backgrounds differ, the exact dietary scenario I have described might not apply to you, so you should be open to experimentation. By the way, if the condition is food induced, a good test would be to go on a partial fast for several days, using only things such as fruit and gelatin desserts, to see if it relieves symptoms. If it does, then there is probably a food intolerance involved.