Ankylosing Spondylitis Will Not Win

Some days AS tries to get me down, but I always  remember this saying. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is Ankylosing Spondylitis Even Real Words

    Finally after years of joint aches, inflammation, fatigue, and chronic pain I had an answer. But what the heck did they say I have? I sit silently taking it all in, trying to focus on what I'm being told. To be honest, I don't think I heard a fourth of what the NP told me after that strange sounding name of the disease. Here I am with an answer, THE answer. Is it wrong to feel relief? Happiness? How can I be happy, I just learned I have some weird sounding disease. Yet the flood of relief is overwhelming.      I think I may be taking this news oddly compared to other sufferers. Sitting in that little exam room all by myself, I have learned the pain is legitimate. I have suffered this so long without answers at some point I began to wonder is it all in my head. Is what I'm feeling real? I certainly know I hurt but could my mind be controlling all of this pain. I have told the long list of doctors what I experience. Some of them seem to listen and have a ge...
Read more

My Fear of The Future

  As I sit here at 4:35 a.m., I'm thinking of what my future will look like.   My back was hurting so much I couldn't stay in the bed any longer. Sometimes it feels like my spine is about to burst. I don't know if other Ankylosing Spondylitis warriors feel this same sensation. As sleepy as I was, I had to get up and move.    I have noticed my symptoms have been steadily increasing. I attribute some of this to the lack of my biologic medication. My insurance company denied the prior authorization of my injections; until my rheumatologist submits lab work showing proof that the medication is helping. Although I know the medicine was helping to a degree, the lab work shows high inflammatory markers. My last sedimentation rate was in the 70s and my CRP was also elevated.    What do I do now? It's unclear at this point. I've tried and failed on other medications. Is this how the rest of my life will be? Trying medicine after medicine with only slight impro...
Read more

A Mother Feels Her Children's Pain

    How does a mother face the fact that she has unknowingly passed a chronic condition on to her child? I've been asking myself that for some time now. I have guilt because my children are my heart. I would do anything to protect my children. Yet I have no doubt that at least two of my children have spine problems just like me. It weighs on me daily. Let me share a bit about my sons.    My oldest son is 26 years old. He started complaining of back pain at a young age, approximately 7 or 8 years old. I wasn't diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondylitis at that time. I believed my spine issues were all scoliosis related. We went through years of taking him from one specialist to another. He would cry from the back pain. I remembered when I was young crying with my back pain also. It was heartbreaking. I feared he would need a back brace like I wore through my teenage years for scoliosis. However, he only had a slight curvature in his spine, not enough to need bracing. I did...
Read more