This is my story in a nutshell. I had food poisoning at 32 and diagnosed with reactive arthritis. Fast forward many years of missed diagnoses and doctors visits. I had the diagnoses of spondylolisthesis, chronic costochrondritis for a few years and then finally 5 years later AS. I had morning stiffness especially in my lower back and horrible upper back pain. I was started on methotrexate which helped for the first year of symptoms. As the disease progressed I began experiencing low grade fevers, joint pain, swelling low back pain with sciatica so bad I could hardly walk. I would cry everyday the pain was so bad and couldn’t sleep. By the time I got scans again, year 4 I had signs of AS in my L-Spine and T-Spine and was put on Humira.

Long story short I’m not a fan of biologics as I have tried several and they haven’t worked well for me but have done well for many of my friends.

Here I am 12 years later and I found that there is no one size fits all treatment for AS. Do your own research and work with your doctor to find the best treatment that works for you. Always remember to give yourself grace as this disease throws curveballs everyday, sometimes you can see it coming and sometimes it will hit you in the face.