Spondylitis Association of America Forums General Discussion Young Adults - The 20-Something Club OKay, I guess I have to face it...

Thank you everybody for the information. I see my doctor this afternoon regarding the bruising as well as a painkiller of sorts, to just use on those bad days. The past two days I actually have been doing fairly well. Only back pain. I think a lot of that is due to it being the weekend, and not sitting at a desk all day. Also, I have been cutting sugar out of my diet. Not sure if that helps or not, but I just decided to give it a try. Anybody else try that??

yep, i did that last fall in connection with acupuncture. my acupuncturist told me to cut sugar completely out of my diet. since i am retired, i was able to do that easily, for about three months as a test. whether it was the acupuncture (which has worked for me in the past) or the diet, 1500 calories - i lost a lot of weight, more than 20 lbs, and most of my inflammation.

i should have separated those things out...just gone on the no sugar first to see if that is what lost the weight. or just the diet alone, or just the acupuncture alone. so, i don't really know. i suspect the acupuncture and the sugar more than the diet which equated to a cut in quantity, which is always the easiest way for me to lose weight in the past.

BTW, both my pain and inflammation reduced greatly with the acupuncture and weight loss. i believe it to be a combo of those factors, tho i think just plain sugar is no good for anybody. just my opinion.

we have a natural forum, the alternative forum here, NOT, just read around.

s.

my doctor told me it is the medication that is causing such severe bruising, and to just watch it. I definitely think there is a correlation to how I feel, and the amount of sugar I consume. It is hard, though, because I make fruit smoothies almost every morning, and we all know fruit is loaded with natural sugars. I have never been one to eat a lot of sweets. Just the occasional dark chocolate square.

I also was prescribed tramadol. My doc says he thinks I just need to have it on hand for those bad days. I will say, it does help, A LOT. It is nice to have it on hand, just in case. My plan is to not take it daily, but only when I need to be super active, or long days at work when I cannot walk around.

On another note, next week I am getting a treadmill workstation, per my doctor's suggestion. I am really excited!

getting a workstation treadmill is incredible! i wish employers had understood these situations when i was still working. i have mentioned my other medical problems, but one of them is MS and another is myasthenia gravis. both cause me to either stand or sit down often, in sometimes quick succession. the AS keeps me upright too, so i am not sitting on painful si joints.

you will really enjoy cutting the sugar, if only for a little while just to test. i really say i felt better from a dietary standpoint. i also think it worked with the acupuncture to help get rid of the inflammation. i know everyone doesn't believe in the other methods i have described here, but what works for us, is what we should do.

chart your own path with the AS. and be sure to take the tramadol. i take a stand alone opioid, because i don't like aceteminophen. and i am very conscious of not taking more than i need. i have been having the same prescription for over 2 years. still works for me.

good luck, and just stay with the forum for awhile. it is really important to get multiple viewpoints. then everyone can see part of themselves, and a possible solution in others.

s.

Yeah, the bruising and excess bleeding with NSAIDs can be irritating or even upsetting! For me anyway, it has never risen to "problem" levels, hopefully the same will be true for you.

Treadmill workstation, cool. I have read a lot about them lately. You are lucky to have an employer who will pay for it! I have a good job, good employer but had to jump thru a lot of hoops just to get a floor pad to stand on for when I want to change positions (I rigged up a "standing workstation" putting my laptop on a stack paper reams on a filing cabinet )

I'm glad you have the tramadol in the arsenal. Your approach to it is sound.

Don't beat yourself up about the diet - sounds like you are doing great there - it's the added sugars in the Western diet that are the huge problem, not the natural ones in fruits (unless you have a specific problem like diabetes of course.) Also dark chocolate has very little sugar, and a lot of antioxidants - consider it a health food!!! Seriously ...

Treadmill desks are a great idea. I make myself watch my trash TV from the treadmill. :P I really want an adjustable desk in my home office that I can use standing or sitting depending on my fluctuating needs. If I used a laptop that'd make it easier, but the type of work I do demands a lot more screen real estate and hardware than is realistic in a laptop. Thankfully most days in my office job, I can just get up to photograph product or do standing production table work for a while when I need a break from sitting. I'm bad about being similarly nice to myself when I'm working from home!

No, I do not have an employer who paid for my treadmill workstation... I just have an employer who allowed me to get one. I paid for it. But, I am very fortunate to have the employer I do, who is very flexible with me.

I have not had sugar for about a week now, and do feel quite a bit better. I am going to keep this up and see how it goes.

I would agree with Iviary about the TNF blockers- they are not sulfa based and I am not sure why your Dr. thinks you would be allergic to them unless he has some other reason to think so. If he continues to resist them, I would get another opinion. My son was on Enbrel and now Humira and they have been miracle drugs for him.

I talked to my doctor a little more - I would not be allergic to the TNF Blockers, but he said with how sensitive my body is to everything, that is an absolute last resort, because he does not think I would respond very well.

Some good news...... I decided to cut sugar out, start taking probiotics, and increase my garlic, oregano, and coconut oil and have GREAT results. After just one day my pain decreased dramatically. It has been 4 days now, and I have been doing heavy-duty yard work (rock walls, 4 tons of gravel, building a greenhouse, etc...) Before doing the natural therapy, I could barely pull a single weed in the yard, let alone lift and build things!! This may be a fluke, but I feel like I am putting my AS into remission after 3 painfully grueling years of daily agonizing pain. FINGERS CROSSED. My pain is down to a 3 on a scale of 1-10, and it almost always was a 7+