Hello Possi:

Can you please describe to me in what way your earlobes hurt and if it is related to AS?

My left-side facial pain is almost constant. I have burning in my left temple, cheek, around my ear and eye socket almost constantly; and on occasion even the left ear burns. One rheumatologist told me that some patients have "allergy-like" symptoms in their head.

For me, I wonder if this is AS or actually due to a chronic and growing infection I believe that was triggered in a scuba accident four years ago. It could be just a serious allergy triggered by the scuba accident.

I believe that the location of AS symptoms are driven by its closeness to lymph vessels that are active with microbe containment/destruction.

If there is a lot of immune system activity in the:
1) lungs then the thorax will mainly be effected.
2) colon then the sacrum and lumbar will be effected.
3) head (sinuses,ears,etc) then the base of the skull and neck will be effected.

Maybe there is an arthritis that has symptoms of AS but is more like reactive arthritis. And hence, perhaps there is a type of AS that is not driven by gut bacteria.

In my case I can connect environmental exposures or illness to effects in particular spine locations for almost the past thirty years.

Just my 14 cents of observations.

Perhaps this should be under the threads of "Alternative AS theories" or "AS symptoms in a nutshell"

HLA-B27 neg, vague AS symptoms in 20s and early 30s
1993:fibromyalgia (age 25)
2013.07:Reverse blockage in a SCUBA accident
2013.08:Scratched by a sick cat
2013.09:Strange sore throat then meningitis
2014:Chronic inflammation at the base of the skull
2014 to early 2015:excess NSAID use developed complete axial inflammation, included psoriasis
NSD helped well and but was not perfect
2018.07: weak +'ve tests for borrelia, babesia, bartonella and mycoplasma pneumonia using Armin Lab, ANA=equivocal