Living

It’s been an anxious wait, since seeing my rheumatologist mid-July. I felt so confident leaving his office. Finally, felt listened to, that my pains needed some help. My pains had...

It has been more than a year since I started treating my ankylosing spondylitis with Humira. This treatment has been life-changing. Even though I still might get some rigidity or...

When I’m really down, I tend to turn toward writing. There’s something about putting pen to page, or fingers to keyboard, that alchemizes the experience of emotion. It gives it...

I started biologics in July of 2020, a nerve-wracking experience for me. I was on Cimzia for 3 months, I did not have a pleasant experience with Cimzia. I wrote articles about this that you can read. I...

Last Thursday I was lucky enough to get my third Pfizer vaccination to protect me from this pesky coronavirus that doesn’t seem to be leaving us anytime soon. This COVID...

With AxSpa we can experience brain fog, difficulty to stay focused, lack of attention, and short attention span. That is the kind of thing that strikes me the most with...

Do you ever struggle with remembering where you put things, forming complete thoughts, or even remembering what you were thinking about doing 2 minutes ago and now you’re standing in...

It’s raining again, I think to myself. I peek out the window and sure enough, there’s a downpour. I don’t need to see rain in the forecast, I can feel...

Shopping is not my favorite thing. It was kind of fun before arthritis, but these days it’s just something that I have to get done. It’s the classic trickster’s trap...

Right before Covid hit I had made the hard decision to apply for Ontario Disability (ODSP) and quit my job. I had been considering it for months as my symptoms...

One of the most frustrating things that happens when living with AS is the tendency to judge ourselves against our pre-diagnosis selves or others who live without AS. I have certainly...

I have always wanted to be a writer. Secretly. Secretly, because the world I grew up in didn’t have writers in it. Or writers didn’t come from or inhabit our...

I was supposed to get my third Covid vaccine on the 9th of October. I postponed it as I was feeling so unwell from an awful flare. This flare has been going...

It has been 2 and a half years of being on sick leave. I got lucky in a way, as my diagnosis happened right before the pandemic. As Covid came...

As a London boy, my knowledge of Thanksgiving is very limited and mostly stolen from episodes of Friends which I used to watch as a teen. However, from what I...

Getting my diagnosis was the easy part. On the other hand, getting through flares, that was a different story. My doctors never explained to me anything about what flares were...

Building connections with others is one of the most special components of the human experience. Our connection, bonds, and memories with those who understand us is what makes life sparkle...

Light up some candles. Get the aromatherapy going. Put on some soothing music. It's time for an at-home massage. At least, that's what it's like when I set up an...

The night I found out I had AS is permanently imprinted on my mind. I was working late supervising a new team member and saw the doctor’s number come up...

If you and I were to sit down and compare notes about our health we would probably have much in common. I’m guessing we both have either a confirmed or...