Wednesday 19 March 2014

What helps: Iritis, Uveitis, Enthesitis (pain in eyes, knees, hands and feet)


Whilst the NSD worked well for curing my iritis, I also had to stay away from mixtures of dairy and refined sucrose.

Here is a letter I wrote to a lady who was suffering from Iritis, I am sharing it here in case it helps someone:

I have suffered from Iritis in the past, in me this had occurred alongside another autoimmune disorder called Ankylosing Spondylitis. There are two things that worked for my iritis:

1. An antioxidant plant extract called Rutin
2. A diet called the No Starch Diet

- 1. Rutin -
This antioxidant worked quite well for me at a dosage of around 300mg twice a day. Usually with these things I would start with a smaller dose, watch for undesirable effects and gradually increase the dose. I'm uncertain as to whether this has worked well for others - have had practically no feedback. This supplement is not to be used during pregnancy. There is the potential of some immune suppression and I believed that a chest infection only cleared after stopping Rutin. But that would have been after many months of use, so short term use should be fine. For more details on safety, etc see here:
http://www.kickas.org/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=90568&page=1

- 2. No Starch Diet (NSD) -
This worked best for me. I have been following this diet for years out of absolute necessity as it has brought my Ankylosing Spondylitis well and truly under control AND as a bonus my iritis stopped altogether whilst on the diet. I also had to give up dairy, except butter and yoghurt are OK. Foods that mix sugar with dairy also caused trouble for my iritis, so watch out for that (protein shakes, caramels, custards, hot chocolate, etc). I have since learnt via observation that I do not tolerate sucrose (table sugar) very well but that I do tolerate glucose and fructose well, eg honey and butter is safe for me, whereas sugar and butter is not (your body may be different so just be on the lookout). I no longer need to take Rutin after starting the No Starch Diet. It is a difficult diet to start with and you really need to listen to your body a lot and observe how foods effect it. Paleo Diet is similar and you may find it easier to start there when looking for recipes (and perhaps skip the sweet potato and yam).


Here are my personal notes, with a few updates and edited for clarity. This is from many years ago when I still suffered from iritis (before No Starch Diet):


--= Helpful =--

**** Rutin. This is a plant derived antioxidant. It also cleared some mild inflammation I was getting in my hands, knees and foot too. I think it also cures my reflux? If you are pregnant or have chest infections then don't take this.
*** Oral prednisolone. In my case this works *much* better than prednisolone eye drops.
** No Starch Diet

--= Safe =--
* yoghurt
* rice
* corn ? (I think this is safe)

--= Detrimental =--
---- sugar mixed with butter / dairy fat / coconut. eg: Hot chocolate, flan, creme brûlée, chocolate, caramel, ice cream, etc. A bigger problem when it is hot or liquid. So the worst reactions are things like hot chocolate, hot caramel, hot chocolate syrup. Give it a test one day and see if you react to one of these.
--- wheat. Perhaps other grains are a problem too?. Wheat is really bad when deep fried or fluffy eg: donuts, tempura, battered fish, sponge cake, etc.
--- echinacea
- banana. This suggests that Inulin or FOS are a problem for iritis.
- oats. Only a mild problem, have to eat quite a lot of oats for a reaction.
- milk.


== Key: ==
* = safe
** = helpful
*** = very helpful
- = detrimental
--- = very detrimental

Sunday 16 March 2014

Reflux gone

Reflux runs in my family, both in my most immediate family and also I know at least one uncle has had issues too. Recently after taking Rutin (500mg twice a day) I had some small and brief sharp pain in my stomach, ever since then the reflux has been gone. This is something I have had for years! It is very nice to finally be rid of it!

I was taking Lufenuron (as a chitin inhibitor to destroy fungus) at the same time so there is a small chance that maybe that could have done it, but I'm about 80-90% sure that it was the Rutin that fixed me up due to the timing, and also the tummy pains that coincided with using Rutin and the end of the daily reflux symptoms.

Note that I don't need to keep taking Rutin (or Lufenuron) regularly as the pathogen living in my stomach, and causing reflux, is now gone. In other words it was a proper cure. I expect my reflux to eventually return, but I will now know how to get rid of it next time :-)


-- helpful --
***** Rutin (or possibly Lufenuron). Rutin must not be taken when pregnant.
**** Licorice root tea with meals. Worked quite nicely.
*** ACV. Apple Cider Vinegar, 1 x tbsp 2x daily with juice.
??? Spinach seems to help

-- bad --
*** Chocolate
*** Animal fats, including butter and dairy (except yoghurt)



Itchy bum :: Pruritis / Proctitis


Too much sugar or carbs can give me proctitis (itchy anus) :-/ Its been a real pain in the bum for a long long time. I'm very interested in the report on kickas that the drug sulfasalazine may help prevent this!!

Tried going to a specialist - good to know I don't have any overtly obvious serious disease causing the symptoms such as Ulcerative Colitis or IBD, especially given that these are associated with AS and could cause similar symptoms. Was otherwise useless in terms of finding root causes or decent effective treatments.

==== my observations ====

-- helpful --
????? ACV - I suspect ACV (Apple Cider Vinegar) helps with proctitis. Use 2tbsp mixed with water. I need to rinse my mouth with mouthwash before hand though as the acidity hurts my teeth even when diluted. Aldi brand mouth wash works fine.
***** Prescript Assist (oral). I need to take at least 3 of these to prevent proctitis. This is a brand of probiotic.
***** Turmeric (oral). I have been making my own turmeric pills with the raw spice, I need to take about 5 or so of them but it works nicely.
***** Alkaline drink. This works best. Mix half a teaspoon per cup of water and drink on an empty tummy, when not hungry (acid in stomach would react to bicarb and render it ineffective). First thing in the morning is ideal.
***** Polygodial (Mountain Pepper, Horopito, etc). Clears in 30-60min. One possible problem is fungus might become resistant. Gives me a bit of a headache. 
***** Clean thoroughly - cleanse area thoroughly with water and soap free wash. Do this in shower after going to toilet. Effective and rapid relief. Symptom management only, and doesn't address root cause. 
**** Water flush. drink 2 cups of plain water on an empty tummy. First thing in the morning is an ideal time.
*** Castor oil topical. Not preventative unfortunately
**** Hot bath
*** Fruit fast works. Not a long term solution, but could be a good clue.
** Avoiding fat seems to help
** Curash topical
** Eating sweet foods first or on an empty tummy is helpful
???? Strong curry - Garlic / onion / turmeric / ginger paste
???? Spinach seems to help
???? Miso seems to help
????? bicarb water on empty tummy
????? Lufenuron (chitin inhibitor) seemed to help markedly, which pointed to fungal infection as probably cause. I'm trying Lufenuron again and will get a clearer idea this time I hope.

-- Harmful --
**** Chocolate - sugar & fat
**** Sucrose
**** Alcohol
**** Rice (including glutinous rice unfortunately). I found that glutinous rice was safe when combined with egg to make pancakes - strange eh.
*** Banana
*** Fatty/oily foods followed by / or mixed with sweet foods within 3 hours. Mammal fat seems to be an issue here.
* MMS seems to have temporarily worsened this by destroying flora / reducing competition and thus encouraging weed organisms / pathogens

I will try to keep this updated, originally this was posted by me here on kickas :
http://www.kickas.org/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=501480


-- Key --
***** Very helpful / harmful
** moderately helpful / harmful
?? Something to look into. I may have seen some evidence that this helps.