@A MySpondylitisTeam Member. Hi Tabitha, love that name by the way, I do have a couple of suggestions. Regarding ptsd, dont dicount your experiences. With a job in a trauma field, the body can easily get stuck in a subconscious sympathetic nervous system loop. This creates an undercurrent of constant alertness that contributes to excess cytokine production at any time, from any kind of extra stress, including dinner time with young children. Regarding meals, they will eat what you provide. I raised two myself, now 28 and 30. When they were just 4 and 6 their dad made an offhand remark one night about my dinner choice i cooked up. I stated that for the next two weeks i refused so much as to spread peanut butter on a slice of toast or pour a bowl of cereal. I let them know how much work it was to decide what to have in the kitchen, shop, prep, clean, etc and i was taking a 2 week break from it. They were on their own and they better clean up too. And then i held my ground. If there was griping i went outside and did yardwork or ran an errand. Time for dad to be a dad regardless of his military duties. Period. Never had a problem again. After that, anytime anyone wanted something other than what i made, they had to make it themselves, clean it all up spotlessly, and wait until i was done in the kitchen so they wouldn't be in my way. Stick to your decisions and they'll tow the line. As for time and availability of inexpensive healthy choices, check out Hungryroot.com. All organic, all natural, home delivery. We cut our monthly grocery bill in half by ordering instead of going to the store. It cuts out impulse buying. Hope this helps. Dont let reasons become excuses not to act in your best interest. If your health falters and you cant take care of yourself, you wont be able to take care of anyone else. Yours in better health P 😌🙏

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A MySpond...

We did some basic digging and I came up mildly sensitive to eggs, wheat and dairy. However, I lost 50lbs and have pushed back diabetes and all my inflammatory tests are negative now. As for trauma… I’ve been an EMT for over 15yrs and worked in an ER before I moved to my current job in research, so there is lots of trauma, but I carry minimal ptsd compared to others in the field. I want to do the anti-inflammatory diet but I’m stuck in a loop of being to tired to stick with it and not wanting to make two different meals for myself and then small children and hubby. I work full time, hubby works in a hit factory all day and we have two small kids… we are both exhausted when the day is over. And we live in a rural area without much access to easy foods unless we want to drive a lot. Kind of stuck in a rut. Any suggestions?

@A MySpondylitisTeam Member. Aside from genetics (which is not a causal factor for disease, just indicates susceptibility based on a population) and inflammatory markers, has your Functional Medicine dr been able to identify an actual CAUSE for your inflammation? For example, i have whole body impact and several genes, not HLAB27, that indicate susceptibility to several extreme chronic diseases, including Spondylitis. However, it is the high cesium (a radioactive metal from food contamination), high klebsiella pneumonia hiding deep in my gut from contaminated surgical equipment years ago, and toxic mold from my home that are the actual CAUSES of my disease activity. Multiple childhood and young adult traumas also contribute by making my sympathetic nervous system hyper responsive setting off signals for my body to go into fight mode when stressed and setting off inflammatory cytokine molecules swarming through my body. Determine the actual causes and address those by clearing your body of them. Keep ultra clean high nutrition a dietary priority and avoid all ultraprocessed foods. This will help you more than any medication or supplements. Good for your kids too. Yours in better health P 😌🙏

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A MySpond...

I went to my family doctor with complaints of chronic, crippling fatigue and extreme skin sensitivity. They ran some tests but my ANA was negative and I had mildly low Vit D so that’s where they stopped. I ended up seeing a functional medicine doctor out of frustration. They did many tests including RF which came back really and a CRP which came back really high. I was started on a bunch of supplements (that do help some) and referred to rheumatology. After 6 months and pretty much just waiting to see how I feel… and with symptoms getting worse I brought up the possibility of AS (because he said neck and back pain aren’t generally caused by RA) and he did a double take and ordered the HLA-B27 test. Surprise! It came back positive and now we are discussing treatment options. All my inflammatory marker tests down with HLA-B27 were negative as well (CRP & ESR). It’s been a long journey yet I know I got a diagnosis earlier than some.