Re: Any in depth studies on fasting?

I have had Rheumatoid Arthritis for 10 years and for the last year or so I've had rashes that flare with my Arthritis - it looks like it might be psoriasis.

My case is advanced, 4 years ago I had lost 90% of my joint spacing and I haven't had it checked since. I pursued modern medicine (Remicade, Methotrexate, etc) but my Arthritis never responded and I only got sicker (liver problems, digestive problems). At 5'10", I shrank down to about 97lbs and honestly thought I was going to die. They never could find a medicine that worked for me, so I discontinued treatment and began trying herbal medicine which worked in reversing the side effects but never really helped the Arthritis to a significant degree. Looking back, it was my poor diet standing in the way.

I eventually resorted to taking Prednisone (bad idea) and have been stuck on that drug for quite a while. I did begin to notice that certain foods were affecting how I felt so I was eventually led to water fasting.

Water fasting works in alleviating symptoms. I usually have a surge of energy and less pain within 2 or 3 days. My last fast was 21 days, I regained my ability to walk, but still had quite a bit of damage that was not repaired. I quit taking my Prednisone too soon, and I ended up in Addisonian Crisis and broke the fast. I'd like to see what happens when I give myself a chance to fast until completion, and this time I'll be a lot more careful about weaning my steroids, I'll possibly be on them throughout the fast, just at a lower dose. Optimally, I'd like to be off steroids before hand, but that's almost impossible since at this point almost every food (healthy or not) will cause me to flare.

I do know that after the 21 day fast, my arthritis was manageable for a couple of weeks until I made some bad dietary choices. The arthritis never completely subsided, but it was only about 25% of what it was before the fast.

This time I'm going to shoot for completion, be careful with the steroids, and have a plan to break the fast that I can stick to.