Stories

Hello everyone! I'm from Volgograd, Russia. I'm 39 years old. I was diagnosed three months ago, but it was a very difficult journey. It started in January 2024. I felt...

Late in 2020, full into the pandemic was when I finally got the courage to look up ankylosing spondylitis (AS) online. This was a diagnosis I’d had for almost a...

I have a dual diagnosis plus a genetic diagnosis: ankylosing spondylitis (AS), Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS), and secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (MS). I do not let my diseases define me. Friends...

I finally found a spine pain management doctor who was actually interested in resolving my lumbar agony. He did a lot of testing with injections and imaging. He had a...

When I was younger, I was active and would rush to be around friends and family. We lived life like there were no worries. Then, I started hurting while I...

I'm a single mother of 2 boys. Before my diagnosis I worked as a full time carer for the elderly 8 days on to get 2 off. I loved everything...

I used to be an extremely busy, anxious, workaholic. I was a high school Drama teacher & head of my school’s Music and Drama departments. I would beam when people...

I will be saying farewell to this amazing group. I have been battling what my doctors and I thought was advanced AS. I am 65 years old and was diagnosed...

I think I’ve had AS forever. When I was 16 or so, my hips clicked all the time. I was told I have the gene HLA-B27 in my early 30s...

In a land shrouded by melancholy’s embrace, there dwelt a man whose spirit had succumbed to shadows. His once agile frame now burdened by an affliction, an unyielding pain that...

Before I had a clue of this awful illness my back was killing me. Out of options, Ithought I would try a chiropractor as my wife swears by them. So...

This is my condensed story on how I got AS, diagnosed and live with it on an hourly basis. I am now 63, retired and submitted for disability, refused, resubmitted...

I find myself envying those with a diagnosis. I am pretty sure that I tick all the boxes for non-radiographic axialspondyloarthritis. It stated 50 years ago with back pain and...

I was just recently diagnosed with AS this week. I'm 24 soon to be 25, I've had symptoms since I was 13 but it feels as long as I can...

In my world we use the words "a bit at a time" because we do not hurry and don’t need to. I just turned 72 and a lot of days...

The pain has brought a different flavor to my life. Much as seasonings bring out different flavors in foods. It's like not having the normal ingredients to make a certain...

I am 67 years old. I have been diagnosed with AS since 1982. I experienced great pain in my hips, SI joints, chest, wrists and other bones. I never believed...

I recently broke out with red bumps on my hands and arms. It started last summer. At first I thought maybe it was something in my garden, but by the...

I'm a 76-year-old woman diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis, uveitis, fibromyalgia, a white brain matter disease, asthma, etc. I am not sure if the brain fog is AS-related or if it...

I was diagnosed with AS about a year ago. Two months ago, I switched from injections to infusions and have been in a horrible flare waiting for the new medication...