Ankylosing Spondylitis Q & A

What are the symptoms of ankylosing spondylitis?

My biopsy reads as “small vessel leukocytoclastic vasculitis with osinophiles”. I have taken Prednisone for three months with different doses (pills per day in a week: 4/w1, 3/w2, 2/w3, 1/w4, 1.5/w5, 1.5/w6, 3/w7, 3/w8, 3/w9, 3/w10, 2.5-2/w11, 1.5~1/w12, 0.5/w13). In the three months my symptoms have never come to a level of full control, though the situation changed up and down. When I increased the doses, the severity level (size and scope of the rashes on my skin) was decreased in the first two weeks; When I kept a constant dose, it started to get worse after about 2 weeks; When I reduced the dose, it quickly became much worse. Why and what should I do?

Could you tell me of anyone specializing in psoriatic arthritis in Michigan? Thank you

I am seriously concerned that i trigerred the onset of RA by doing serious injury to my wrists 3 years ago, suffering blows to both wrists , inside and outside, for no other reason than pure frustration and blunt force trauma. It was totally unecessary and i feel shattered by this. I feel i have left myself and my family down in a moment of madness. My life is ruined over this! I am devastated ! ger

As I have AS since I was 16 years old and I am 61 now I have the most problem with my knee.I was diagnosed to have osteoarthritis. I can’t hardly walk anymore and I am thinking of getting a knee replacement I am anxious that if I would get a knee replacement, if that would fix my problem or would the tissue and bones around the artificial knee still be affected with inflammations and is such an operation useless for me because I have AS. My knee now gets stiff and makes saw like noises. The quality of my life is diminished and I am depressed about it. Can you help me with an answer?

greetings, im a physician and newly diagnosed spondyloarthropic. ive seen several researchers point toward phopshpocitrate as a potent inhibitor of tgf-beta in murine models of AS (j cliford, h krug). infact, its use appears to inhibit or stop ankylosis altogether. i believe bisphosphonates failed to have a similar effect in mice. despite clinical improvement in humans, i know its unclear what effect bisphosphonates have with regard to ankylosis. my question is: are there plans to test phopshpcitrate, or prehaps closer cousins to it, in humans? enjoy, josh