Viral News
Alicia Graf Mack was about 10 years old the first time doctors had to drain fluid from her knee. It would be more than a decade of pain, surgeries, and time stolen from her career as a professional dancer before she finally learned the cause: ankylosing spondylitis (AS), an immune system condition that’s a form …
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Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) came for Lovaine Cohen with speed and force. Lovaine Cohen was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis in her 30s and needed to have hip replacement surgery. Cohen was in her 20s when she gave birth to her first child, a daughter. After she became a mother, Cohen’s lower back began to hurt. Soon, …
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Carlos Julio Aponte, MD, still remembers his ankylosing spondylitis (AS) patient No. 1. The man, a former traffic controller, was referred to Aponte more than 4 decades ago, racked by such agonizing back pain since age 20 that he couldn’t hold a job. No one could pinpoint the source of the man’s “mysterious” ailment. …
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By Kathryn Dao, MD as told to Kara Mayer Robinson In recent decades, major advancements have been made in our understanding of ankylosing spondylitis (AS). We now know how to diagnose it and how to manage it better. Better Diagnosis We can now diagnose AS earlier because of improved technologies. Sixty years ago, we …
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By Chassity Stewart, as told to Hallie Levine I’m no stranger to autoimmune disease: I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, a type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), in 2003. Yet I unknowingly suffered symptoms of ankylosing spondylitis (AS) for years, mistaking some of them as related to my ulcerative colitis. Thankfully, I was diagnosed with …
Continue reading “Finally Turning to a Biologic to Treat My Ankylosing Spondylitis”
By Anca Askanase, MD, as told to Hallie Levine Ankylosing spondylitis can be a devastating disease. But the good news is that the future is brighter than ever before. Here’s why I’m so optimistic. We Have Better Diagnosis Tools Doctors — including primary care physicians — are now more educated about ankylosing spondylitis. So patients …
By Abhijeet Danve, MD, as told to Hallie Levine I have studied and treated ankylosing spondylitis (AS) for almost 10 years. It’s a form of axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA). That’s a type of inflammatory arthritis that primarily affects the spine and the sacroiliac (SI) joints that connect the lower spine to the pelvis. In its early …
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Living with ankylosing spondylitis as a person of color: One woman shares her experiences. Source: https://www.webmd.com/arthritis/features/bipoc-as?src=RSS_PUBLIC
Living with ankylosing spondylitis as a young adult: One woman shares her story. Source: https://www.webmd.com/arthritis/features/young-adult-with-as?src=RSS_PUBLIC
Assistive devices, tools, gadgets, and aids to help you manage ankylosing spondylitis. Source: https://www.webmd.com/arthritis/features/devices-gadgets-help-as?src=RSS_PUBLIC
When you think of ankylosing spondylitis (AS), back pain is probably the first thing that comes to mind. But heart disease — an umbrella term for several types of heart conditions — should be on your radar, too. Research suggests AS raises your risk for heart disease and stroke by as much as 60%. The …
Your doctor may prescribe certain treatments, like nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and physical therapy, to help your ankylosing spondylitis. But everyone is different: What works for someone else might not work for you. If this happens, your doctor will most likely recommend that you try a new class of drugs known as biologics. “These are amazing …
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