Andrew Kelly

Hello I would like to tell you about how a.s has effected my life over 25 years. It is a hard illness to find out about when you first get it as it does not show up in exrays all of the time in its early stages so for me it was very painful as the doctors only gave me painkilling tablets which did not work well.

I went back to work in the factory but the things you take for granted all your life I found was a lot more awkward to do without pain I started to take pains down the outside of both my legs at different periods over the years which I found out was sciatica which I found out happens when a disc in your spine lies against the nerve that goes down your leg so I had that many a time when I lifted anything that was to heavy or over stretched myself.

I used to sleep sitting up as it relieved the pain I had in my back and my weight was on my lower part of my body when I did get the sciatic pains depending on the severity of the pain I either sat on a chair with my leg stretched out when it was bad or walked about when I was able to depending the length of time I had it.

The surgeon after many years of painkillng tablets from my doctor gave me anti inflamatory tablets to take and they made a big differene in coping with a.s he gave me naprosyn to take one 500mg in the morning and one at night and gave me 150mg of ranitidine to take before the naprosyn in the morning and at night to protect my stumach as I was on other medicines for epilepsy.

I have learned over the years to change my life and live it at a slower pace and accept the facts that I will be able to do most of the things I did before but will take longer to get them done so mentally you can beat a.s good luck to you all out there and i hope you feel positive.