Articles

When you live with a chronic autoimmune condition like ankylosing spondylitis, finding a community that understands is powerful. And, science backs this up. What is community? It is a group...

One of the strangest lessons I have learned as a patient is that finding the right doctor is a lot like finding the right partner. Besides the obvious medical expertise...

When I think about myself a few years ago, I think of long nights and parties. Struggling to find the energy, but with relative painlessness. When I think of my...

In 2020, 787 people living with radiographic axial spondyloarthritis or ankylosing spondylitis (AS), 285 people living with undifferentiated spondyloarthritis (uSpA), and 105 people living with non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis (AxSpA) took...

If you've been online recently you may have noticed that there’s currently some kind of pandemic going on. As most of us with ankylosing spondylitis are taking immunosuppressant medication to...

As we learn more and more about axial spondyloarthritis (AxSpA) and ankylosing spondylitis (AS), we also learn that many people live with AxSpA symptoms, yet have no evidence on their...

Social media plays so many roles in people's lives. It can be a way to connect with others, it can be a way to find information, and sometimes we may...

My 25th birthday just passed this month. Due to the pandemic and the state of my health, there wasn’t much to celebrate, but it also dawned on me that I...

If there has been one thing I’ve learned along the way of my AxSpA journey, it's is that there generally are no easy ways out. Hardly any quick fixes, and...

Did you know that foot pain may be associated with having ankylosing spondylitis (AS)? Yeah, no kidding.  Most of us know that AS is far more than a back condition. It often...

I often feel like I am going to wake up some morning and this was all a bad dream, a nightmare. Although I find it hard to remember my life...

I’ve recently hit the five year anniversary of my axial spondyloarthritis diagnosis. For some reason, this otherwise random milestone has me reflecting on that winter five years ago, all the...

If you haven’t heard of the concept of toxic positivity or chronic positivity, maybe you’ve picked up on what it is without knowing it even has a name. When people...

This is part 2 to my Axial Spondyloarthritis Myths, Part 1 post. If you can think of other myths and misunderstandings, I'd love to hear in the comments! There are...

My journey with AS has taken me from an all-time low to an all-time high. From receiving two hip replacements and not being able to run for 20 years to...

When it comes to finding community, the ankylosing spondylitis warriors online have it on lock. From Instagram hashtags to Facebook support groups – and even our websites, AnkylosingSpondylitis.net and AxialSpondyloarthritis.net...

As a community moderator for Health Union (and as an AxSpA patient myself), I read dozens of posts from people living with axial spondyloarthritis (AxSpA) or ankylosing spondylitis (AS) every...

I never considered myself a caregiver to my husband, Keegan, until a couple of years ago. After all, the picture of caregiving is usually someone younger helping an older family...

Everyone likes a “low-maintenance” girl — the girl who can tag along with friends at a moment’s notice, without worrying about the details, the girl who goes with the flow...

I’ve had quite a few people come and go from my life ever since I got sick. I try my best to only see the people that get my illness...