Lisa Marie Basile

When we think about our lives with ankylosing spondylitis (AS), it can sometimes feel like we're battling eternity. An eternity of chronic pain, stiffness, fatigue, all of the comorbidities, doctors...

Flying is always a nightmare with ankylosing spondylitis (AS). Even when I've flown in best-case scenarios—like in an upgraded premium seat—the pain remains, and the days after a flight leave...

Many years ago, I walked into a sweaty, crammed group yoga class on Saint Marks Place here in New York City. It was open to the public for a nominal...

"I have ankylosing spondylitis or AS," I tell the busy-body woman who I know through friends and family. She's asking me how I'm doing — "and what is it you...

One of the most critical issues I think we've all been facing in the past few years is the regularity of disinformation. We have seen it during political elections and...

I've always been one of the "move it or lose it" types. Why? Because it's served me, and because movement is one of the main therapies experts recommend for this...

The thing about ankylosing spondylitis, like many immune-mediated diseases, is that no matter how much we've figured out how to manage/control/collaborate with/understand it, it is still a disease with a...

Content warning: Eating behaviors and nutrition. There are usually three camps when it comes to managing ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and other chronic inflammatory conditions. The first is the pharmaceutical camp...

I remember the good ol' days of flying to a new city or country and spending the entire flight in a mindset of enchantment and excitement. I’d order a glass...

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor, so you should not take health advice from me. I am a chronic illness advocate and a health journalist, which means I turn to...

Around the time I was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis (AS), I became heavily invested in the medicine of movement. It’s not that I didn’t want to take pharmacological drugs. I...

Ankylosing spondylitis has taught me something incredibly valuable — that one day will never be the same as the next. I used to think if I was on a streak...

It's storytime. Are you ready? I’m out to dinner with some people — friends of a friend — who are casually talking about a work colleague. The colleague clearly has...

This spring, I had the privilege of traveling (finally!) out of the country — to Sicily, where my grandmother was born in 1924. My friend and I had been planning...

A recent flare up started in early November 2021 (it was March when I wrote this!) during the weekend of my birthday celebration in New Orleans (yep, I'm a Scorpio!)...

I was freshly out of college and going into grad school when uveitis struck — and it struck hard. I was otherwise perfectly healthy, a privilege that is glaringly obvious...

During 2020 — when the pandemic began — I developed what I call extreme health anxiety. Living with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) just made it all the worse. I lived (and...