Spondylitis Association of America Forums General Discussion General Message Board for Ankylosing Spondylitis and Related Diseases Help get our message on TV

I think the TV show, ’The Doctors’ is great at educating America about health and illness. What if we all wrote them asking to have an autoimmune week featuring the illnesses that affect us and so many other Americans like Lupus,Rheumatoid arthritis, Ankylosing Spondylitis, Sarcoidosis, Multiple Sclerosis,etc...

If they decided to do a few episodes devoted to these devastating illnesses maybe we would get more research and more education to help our diseases.



Too often when we tell people what we are going through the think it is just aches and pains or somehow that we would be worse off if it were Cancer.



I for one am sick of people underestimating what these illnesses can do to our joints,organs,skin and more! Not to mention how detrimental they are to our lives and the lives of those around us.



Please visit ’The Doctors’ website and submit ideas for an autoimmune week. The more of us that do it,the better our chances of getting them to air episodes regarding autoimmune illnesses. Who knows,maybe they will us some of our personal stories in the show.



http://www.
thedoctorstv.
com/


Awareness brings hope and a little hope is what we all need!

~Stacey Rudisill (RA/Spondylitis sufferer)

I used the "Ask the Doctor" form to request this.... I used your post above and edited it bit to fit the request.

thanks!

Ladybug, welcome back! How have you been?

This is a great idea... about a month ago i wrote them trying to get the word about AS out there..... Maybe they will really think about it if more people are writing them!

~Ashley

Awesome idea! Since I am new here and I'm not familiar with their website, can someone tell me how to do this please? Do I just click on Request Procedure under Procedure CAM?

Thank you
Chryssa

Hi Ladybug,
What a great idea!!

Here is a link to the "Ask Our Doctors" form:

Ask Our Doctors form:

I just submitted this to the "Ask the Doctors" section:

"Hi! You have a great, interesting and informative show!
I am a 34 year old woman with severe Ankylosing Spondylitis, a type of inflammatory arthritis of the spine. It can also affect other joints - in me it affects cervical & lumbar spine, SI joints, hands, feet, knees, elbows & shoulders. It can cause inflammation of muscles and connective tissue near the affected joints. It also can cause vertebrae to fuse together. (My C6&C7 vertebrae are totally fused together and my SI joints are well on their way to being fused to the pelvis.)

This is not an uncommon disease (.5%-1% of the population) yet KNOW ONE seems to have ever heard of it. Most women with this disease are misdiagnosed for years & even decades.

I think it would be really informative if you had a show that featured the spondyloarthropathies and especially how this affects women and their treatment.

Please see the Spondylitis Association of America website (www. spondylitis.org) and particularly the "forum" area for information and personal stories. (I am in no way affiliated with this organization, except that I participate on the forum.)"