Hi Beverley!

First off welcome to KickAS! Sounds like you've had a rough time of it, sorry to hear that.

Next , I've got warning bells about your Chiro. I've had both good and bad experiences of them, but until you know what is really going on i'd not see one for now. Mine went very pale when my diagnosis was confirmed. He'd been manipulating the neck alot.......whilst you may get some releif it can make things worse, and there's risk of damage to nerves, blood vessels discs joints etc.....and in SpA's there's a higher risk of things going wrong.

A lot of Dr's and Chiro's have very limited experience of SpA/AS, it's not rare but not that common either. My ex-chiro has only had 3 prior in 14 years with the spinal variety. So unless they are a good rheummy specialist they probably have little experience and no one has it the same way twice!

Med Abbrieviation for Spondy is SpA. AS is a type of spondy with the fusing, not everyone with SpA fuses. So the aim is manage it exercise and stop the fusion....if only it was that simple.

Hooks on your spine, maybe early spurring. Chiro's are good at finding those. The SpA disease is inflammation of soft tissue on the insertion points to the bone. You can get that anywhere not just the spine. You can get it in the disc and even through the bone. Bone is deposited on the inflammation, and over time this builds up.

It's not uncommon for us to get eye troubles, as a result of the inflammation. Now when my eye's blur/double it's a warning of a flare......after a while it's a toss up anti-biotics or steroids which way?

SpA is linked to other conditions including Psoriasis and Inflammatory Bowel Disease eg Chron's and Colitis. It can run in famalies.

David











IBD=It's Been Dreadful