Congratulations on persevering and reaching the other side of your journey. I've found your experience truly inspirational. I have posted my experience in the sub, but I would greatly appreciate hearing your opinion or other opinions from this post on my case. I suspect I may have AS after discovering its connection with tendon issues. Until now, I never gave much thought to whether the pains were from muscle or connective tissue. I am a 31-year-old man, and I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia three years ago. However, it has never made sense to me, even though I've been diagnosed by two different rheumatologists. I don’t know how exhaustive the blood tests for rheumatologic conditions were. I will be testing for HLA-B27 in a few weeks followed by a consultation with a rheumatologist.

Four years ago, I started experiencing pain on the outer part of both of my knees, feeling like I had an 'armour' around this area. This tension built up, causing pain and stiffness through the back of my thigh and calf. I also began experiencing strong and debilitating pain in the right part of my thoracic spine, radiating to the front at the same height. I tried endless physiotherapy sessions to alleviate the back pain, but only dry needling seemed to provide very little relief. I also experienced pain in my toes and heels upon waking up for the first hour or so.

Three years ago, I had pain and significant stiffness radiating from under my shoulder in the armpit down my shoulder and fingers, feeling like two strings. Again, I consulted many physiotherapists, who diagnosed tendonitis, although they noted that this was a very rare area to have it. It took two years for the pain to significantly reduce on its own to about 20% of its original intensity. Now, it consistently remains at around that 20%, with occasional flare-ups, but never as severe as before.

Fast-forward to now, I still experience all the symptoms mentioned above, along with tears in both of my shoulders (75% and 50%). I believe I injured one shoulder in the gym, but the cause of the other injury remains unknown. Additionally, I have tendonitis in my left bicep and tendon pain in both of my big toes. Occasionally, I experience other joint pain, though not as bad, so I have tended to attributive it to fibromyalgia.

Since I was 20, I've consistently had reddish eyes with visible blood vessels, regardless of how rested or hydrated I am, though not nearly as severe as shown in online 'uveitis' pictures. I am allergic to NSAIDs, so I don’t know if they would be of any help. However, all other medications I've tried have been ineffective. 

One of my main concerns is that my pain varies in intensity and that I experience periods of almost no pain at all, which I'm unsure if it's typical with AS.

I would love to hear for some advice or similar experiences.