Ankylosing Spondylitis

I was diagnosed with arthritis called Ankylosing Spondylitis.
Any info. on this,whats the best relief for it?
I'm a 29 year old man that wants some relief so i can go back to work after being off for 3 months.

[siouxzee]

What kinds of medicines did your doctor prescribe for you and are they working? What did she/he tell you about the future with this disease?

She has prescribed Indothemyacin I think I've just mailed prescription in haven't tried it yet.I have tried several different types of muscle relaxers,I've been in physical therapy that is not helping. I've recently started in a fibromyalgia class. I've had problems with tight muscles for several years,the last year it has got worse ,TMJ, Pinched nerve in shoulder,severe back pain, pinky goes numb,headaches,numbness in legs,heels hurt can't stand to walk in store.She recommends to sleep on hard bed with no pillow keeping spine straight as possible because this will in time cause joints to glue together.I've been out of work for 12 weeks now and unable to return because of medications and too much pain.I'm a construction worker ,no work for me to do,I'm not skilled for office job and don't think I could handle sitting all day.

[siouxzee]

The drug Indomethacin is used to treat moderate to severe ankylosing spondylitis, usually in the beginning stages. So that is good news. This should calm alot of your symptoms. It does take some time for this drug to start working tho and may not work at all. If not there are many other drugs to try.

NSAIDS (Indocin, Voltaren, Naprosyn, etc.) Note: Cox-2 inhibitors such as Celebrex and Vioxx are considered a sub category of NSAIDS. All of these are non-steroidal ani-inflammatory medications.

DMARDS (Methotrexate, Sulfasalazine, Arava, Cyclosporin, etc) These are disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs.

TNF Medications (Enbrel, Remicade)
These medications help control the amount of TNF (tumor necrosing factor) in the joints.

Muscle relaxers will generally not have much effect on your condition since it isn't muscle related. Altho the other symptoms you may have reflect fibromyalgia, it is truly not fibromyalgia. The symptoms you describe are all in line with ankylosing spondylitis. AS is a painful, progressive, rheumatic disease. It mainly affects the spine but it can also affect other joints, tendons and ligaments. Other areas, such as the eyes, lungs, bowel and heart can also be involved.
If a parent has AS there is a 50% chance that the B27 gene will be passed on to a child. However, not everyone with the B27 gene will go on to develop AS. Overall, the likelihood of your child developing AS will be less than 1 in 10 (or 1 in 5 if B27 positive).

AS seems to affect everybody slightly differently. In general, though, you will probably find that the symptoms come and go over many years. In the classic case, the lumbar spine can become stiff, caused by the growth of additional bone, as can the upper spine and neck. If you pay attention to your posture, exercise regularly and avoid the stoop associated with the condition, you can prevent this from becoming too serious.

So as time passes, different treatments will be needed.

The most promising new treatment is Remicade. It was originally used for chrohns disease but is showing substantial results for people with AS not only to relieve symptoms but to stop the progression of the disease. Most insurance carriers will pay for this if it's shown that nothing else will help(that is also changing). It is quite expensive.

Even though ankylosing spondylitis is incurable, 85 per cent of people have nothing more than a mildly stiff back after the initial painful start of the disease. Unless the hips and knees are affected, almost no disability results. Only five per cent of people who have the disease become severely disabled.

Most importantly remember to excercise everyday and take your medications. Your doctor is your partner in this. Try and find one you feel comfortable with.

Good luck with this. I have much hope that his drug you're getting will work for some time and you can return to your normal life.

Thanks for info., I'm hoping to return to work soon because career change is almost impossible.It's been hard trying to deal with the pain from this with the med. not working.All med. does is make me sleep so I quit taking pills for narcolepsy, I'm not sure if this has anything to do with this. I've tried Celebrex, Naprosyn they didn't help.