Hey all, newbie here from the U.K.
I think I’ve got AS. For the past ten years, I’ve had sporadic issues with my back, but it was never really enough to worry about. I did get checked out with a blood test and X-ray ten years ago after lots of stiffness in my back and fatigue, all the usual AS signs (my brother was diagnosed at 19, so I knew a bit about it). All came back fine at that time. The most worrying symptom for me was that sometimes, out of the blue, I would just get this astonishing pain in my tailbone, which would start as a dull ache, then radiate out into my backside until it got to a level 10 pain and I almost always passed out. It happens after sex a lot. If I orgasm strongly, it can set it off. Anybody else had that? It usually only lasts about half an hour/until I faint.
But over the years, it didn’t happen often, so I just kinda forgot about it.
In the past month, I’ve been in a flare of some kind. My back, hips, neck have all been screaming at me in some way 24/7. For three weeks the pain was never less than a 7 (Mankoski Scale) and mostly higher. The morning stiffness, which has never really gone away in ten years, has been horrendous. The fatigue is something else!
I’ve been to the docs, blood test does show some inflammation. X-ray booked for this Friday.
The last couple of days it has eased off a lot, but it seems to have left me with digestive trouble too.
Anyway, nice to meet you all. Let me know if anyone else has the tailbone thing. It’s weird, and I’ve never heard of anyone having that kind of thing.
