Living

Ever since I was a teenager, I had one goal, which was to learn how to drive and get my license as soon as possible. I’m sure you can relate...

Editor's note: this article has a mention of gun violence. As I write this, in Indianapolis, about 15 miles south of me, a mass shooting has occurred at a FedEx...

Dear past Ali, You will never believe how much you have grown. You are so strong. You’ve been through a lot. This past year has been a tough one for you. You were bed...

"I'd recommend starting a biologic," Keegan's rheumatologist suggested at our first appointment. Keegan, my husband, and I were still wrapping our heads around the diagnosis he received only 6 months...

During my thirty years so far of living with ankylosing spondylitis I had to make use of multiple aids. Glad that I could make use of them, though at the...

It wasn’t very often, if I even did at all, that I thought about what it would be like if I came out of remission. Transitioning into this new way...

There's no other way to say it: axial spondyloarthritis flare-ups are the worst. You might be having a good few days, and then seemingly out of nowhere, your muscles and...

Many hours in the library later, the day is finally here — I have completed my undergraduate degree, a Bachelor of Arts, Honours Specialization in Psychology. If there is any...

Have you noticed how much content is devoted to what seems like normal things people should already know how to do? I'm not talking about the trumped up lists with...

I’m sure many of us in the chronic illness community can relate to what I’m about to say. It’s gotten to a point in the pandemic where everything is divided...

As a 35-year-old, fairly active woman with ankylosing spondylitis (AS), I've come up against some pretty inaccurate and aggravatingly annoying ideas and questions about this disease over the years. I...

As a medical student, you spend most of your time reading about all these rare diseases and learning how to recognize them on test days, and later on in future...

There's a lot of evidence for how helpful writing can be for people who experience the trauma and grief of illness — and chronic pain in particular. And, as a...

Wow! Just writing this title feels strange. Strange to think that it has now been 10 years since the onset of my AS symptoms and the beginning of a wild...

The journey to a diagnosis of ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is riddled with challenges that prevent patients from receiving the diagnoses and treatment they need. In particular, misconceptions about AS can...

Axial spondyloarthritis (AxSpa) and degenerative disc disease are both illnesses of the spine that share many of the same painful symptoms. Sometimes it is even hard for doctors to tell...

As time goes by, I'm getting less and less nervous injecting! I never, ever thought that I would be saying this. But now, I look forward to my injection. I...

I’ve been using mobility aids for about 4 years now. The thing is, it wasn’t until more recently that I started to use them in public as needed. I think...

Ableism: Discrimination [whether purposeful or not] in favor of able-bodied people. This article is for people who love someone with a chronic illness, for people who are just learning about...

I did not react well to Cimzia. It did not help me. I ended up in the ER after three months of feeling unwell, a month-long headache, and a weeklong...