How the Autoimmune Protocol Diet helped with my Ankylosing Spondylitis / Chronic Pain
For the first 10 years of having Ankylosing Spondylitis and chronic pain, I followed all the traditional Western wisdom for healing. I took medication and was constantly being treated by physiotherapists, massage therapists and chiropractors. It all helped slightly, but it all felt like a temporary band-aid solution.
Someone had suggested I try a Naturopathic doctor (which was completely foreign to me at the time). I did my research and found someone reputable in town. Upon my first meeting with Dr. Yim, he seemed to fully believe that I could mitigate my symptoms naturally and one of the most effective ways to do so was through diet. He explained that someone with an autoimmune condition can be much more sensitive to food. This means that a dysregulated immune system may detect certain foods (even traditionally “healthy” foods) in the digestive tract as foreign invaders which then triggers an inflammatory response. When our inflammatory response is accurate, it can tell our bodies to start defending themselves and this is a very potent survival mechanism. However, in this case, our dysregulated immune system is inaccurately perceiving these foods as dangerous, and then creating unnecessary inflammation. This excess inflammation then contributes to our system levels and can further exacerbate our symptoms.
Dr. Yim recommended I read the book The Autoimmune Solution by Dr. Amy Myers. It challenged a lot of my previous beliefs of healthy eating. Parts of me were skeptical until I tried it. Medication certainly keeps my base inflammation at bay, but my symptoms can still vary greatly. However, when I stick to this diet, my symptoms are very stable. The diet itself is quite intense as it considers MANY foods to be inflammatory. The book recommends trying a month of adhering to it strictly and then re-introducing foods slowly to see which foods you’re most sensitive too. For me, I avoid gluten, dairy, nuts, and highly processed foods.
Diet is one of those topics that can cause instant arguments. With that said, I am writing this article to simply share my experience and to not state it as fact. If I had found this book at the start of my Ankylosing Spondylitis diagnosis, then I would have saved myself many years of pain and exhaustion. So my intention is that someone reads this article and feels inspired to try the same route I took in case it may help them too!