Spondylitis Association of America Forums General Discussion General Message Board for Ankylosing Spondylitis and Related Diseases HLA-B27 negative

Maybe it would be worth seeing a dermatologist?

Here is an excellent link discussing nail problems:

http://www.acponline.org/about_acp/chapters/mt/hit_the_nail.pdf

I have never been diagnosed with lichen planus, but my nails look similar to those photos. Lichen planus is an autoimmune inflammatory disorder. Well, that certainly sounds like it's in the same ballpark, right?

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Re: nails, I don't have any ridges but just lines under the nails. By horizontal I mean that they go across the nails. Since my rheumy took a good look at them and wasn't that interested or worried about them, I'm not either. I did talk to a friend who's psoriatic and she said her nails have similar lines, so that's why I thought they might be an early sign of that. Or not, hopefully... sometimes I joke that the health is gone but at least I've still got my looks

LOL, love it!!!

LOL! Yep, and we are unique too!

Hi John,

Sorry that I missed this post! It is very informative. I was not aware of the flaws in the serological test. Sometimes I think about pursuing the best possible rheumatologist again to see if they will re-examine all of my symptoms, and maybe do more genetic testing, but then I realize that they wouldn't be able to treat my disorder anymore effectively regardless of what they found. I doubt that I am a good candidate for the new biologics because I can be prone to infection. However, the underlying mystery of this disorder does make one wonder about the specifics. I sure do wish they would put more money into research.

Thanks again John. Have a great day!

~ Cathy

My daughter was the first diagnosed in her early 20s thanks to a sharp eye doc (multiple bouts of iritis since childhood) who sent her to the best rheumy at our teaching hospital. She was HLA-B27 negative. When this rheumy started seeing the rest of us, he said there was really no need to test the rest of us as she was negative; he felt we fell into the pool of folks who were negative on this test, but a quick look at our x-rays and MRIs told the real story. We've even had our blood work indicate no inflammation, even while LOOKING at a measurably swollen joint. My son's rheumy used to "love" to pull blood from him whenever he was healing from something broken...she claimed the boy had alien blood since he never (nor any of us) shows numbers outside the normal range.

"Here is another odd feature of my systemic disorder. I had a tremendous amount of extra bone growth throughout my body during my most severe flare period at age 30. I used to have a cute gap between my top two front teeth, which closed due to all of the bone growth just above and to each side of them. "
NorthCentralFl -

I have a strange collarbone, where the right half is visibly much bigger than the left side. This came on slowly, but I know it wasn't this way in my teens, as I have photos showing the sides completely matching back then. My rheumy actually noticed it before I did. Since it doesn't seem to cause me any problems ( other than my necklaces don't hang evenly ) I pretty much ignore it. Last year, I noticed that a bony bump had developed on the end of the left collarbone. When the dr. X-rayed it, he asked me when I had I broken that left side? I said "never", and then he showed me the healed crack on the X-ray. So I too have some strange bone growth going on that has no explanation. As long as it doesn't hurt, I can just accept that it's another weird and wonderful symptom of our dear disease.

Yes, my anomalous first rib bone growth is on the left too. Very interesting.