Spondylitis Association of America Forums General Discussion Young Adults - The 20-Something Club Finally diagnosed after 2yr. needs advice ect.

Hi my name is Alisha I am 29,
I was finally diagnosed after @ 2 years of constant chronic pain. My mother was diagnosed as well 4+ years ago with AS. I am a single mom to a 3 year old, work full time and was going to school full time till I had to finally take a medical leave this semester. I need advice, help and someone to talk to that is going through this as well. I was feeling like I was to young for AS until I found this website. Does anyone else have all the diagnoses I have, any advice, anything I can do to re-leave the pain? I am in excruciating pain constantly and can't find anything to re-leave the pain even a little or am I just a baby? Any medication or home/natural remedies you would recommend?

Recent diagnosed with: Ankylosing Spondylitis, Thoracic arthritis and inflammatory pholyarthopathy( unsure what the last two are,I have never heard of them need to do research)

Also been diagnosed with: fibromyalgia (3yrs), endometriosis(10+ years)

Currant meds: Lyrica 75mg 3x/day, Enbrel 50mg 1x/week, Norco 10/325 every 4 hours, Mobic 15 mg 1x/day

Hi Alisha. We have similar diagnoses and at one point or another, I have been on all of the same medications.

I imagine that last diagnosis you have listed is inflammatory polyarthropothy? It essentially just means that you have an inflammatory arthritis in multiple joints. Ankylosing Spondylitis can present in that manner in addition to the spine/sacroiliac joint inflammation, and that's likely what they're describing with that diagnosis, rather than any separate disease. You're definitely not too young for Ankylosing Spondylitis. I'm young (but not too young) for Psoriatic Arthritis, but you're right in the typical age group for onset of AS.

I have psoriatic arthritis, which can present in about 5 different ways. I've had different presentations over the years, but currently fall under a mix of "spondylitis" and "symmetric polyarthritis" meaning I have inflammatory arthritis in my spine, and I have arthritis in multiple joints symmetrically across my body (if one pinky hurts in the last joint, the same joint hurts on the other side of my body, for instance).

Do you feel that any of your medications are improving matters? How long have you been on them? That is, have you been on them long enough for them to take effect? How well is your fibromyalgia (FMS) controlled? Getting my FMS under control made a HUGE difference in my pain levels and fatigue.

If you would like to ask any questions of me in private, feel free to send me a private message. I'm happy to chat and I very much understand what you're going through.

I am constantly still being told I am too young for arthritis. It really is a lack of public knowledge about these types of arthritis. I was diagnosed with Reactive Arthritis when I was eighteen and two years ago got the AS diagnosis added.

I do a ton of stretching (even when flaring) and really low key yoga. I am on methotrexate and cimzia and typically work out a lot when I am not flaring, but I have found that if I can get some heat on the joints and do five to ten minutes of stretching a couple times of day it really helps the muscles around the joints to not get so tense (especially in my back) and keeping the muscles strong around those joints when I am not flaring I believe is essential to how well I have done over the years. I am not sure about the exact type of pain you have, but the muscles around my joint and the tendons tend to also get set off and I think that is why the stretching has at least helped with that portion of the pain I have felt.

I also did research about food and diets that promote natural methods of helping keep inflammation down such as foods high in anti-oxidants as well as trying to avoid foods that can cause active inflammation. I eat very clean and stay away from processed foods or foods with tons of preservatives.