AS now seems to affect a lot of women. (Check out www.spondylitis.org,
the message boards). I have it as well. Thelongest, Amy is right.
Are you on any DMARDS or biologics to control
your AS? Vioxx is only an NSAID and does nothing to stop the
progression of the disease. I am on Enbrel, methotrexate,
sulfasalazine, prednisone and a few others for fibro and sleep. Even
with all of that I have pain every day. But, I have so far avoided any
fusions. Since you only mentioned Vioxx, it leads us to believe that
your rheumatologist may be severely neglecting you. Maybe we are
reading this incorrectly? If not, you should seriously think about
seeing another RD. As for the surgery, I don't know enough about it to
say. IF you check
out the spondylitis site, you may find some helpful information there,
or on their message boards.
Good luck to you,
Charlene

I've been on the following meds since Vioxx has been
removed....Celebrex and Mobic offered no help to me and now i'm on
naprosyn and it doesn't seem to help either.  What has helped is my PT
puts me in traction periodically to stretch me.  My GP gave me Cymbalta
a new chronic pain med and it helped in the beginning but now I don't
see any help.  I also have Vicoprofuen which gets me thru the day.  I
tried Sulfasalazine to no advantage.  I know my ribs are fusing.  If
you touch my rib the pain is severe.  All you have to do is simply
press lightly and it hurts.  Other parts as well.  I just think when
bone rubs bone or fuses like my rib cages there is nothing you can do.
I once went to a major hospital pain clinic and they saw me for an hour
and came in and looked at me and said we can't do anything for you.  A
prominent Ortho world renowned said I'll need double hip replacement
surgery sometime soon and showed me from the xrays and mri's I had.
When I was approved for Soc Sec Disability it took them 6 weeks the
first time out to approve me.  They even waived the five month wait
period when I was working and started me immediately.  So you know I'm
bad off if SSD approves you in six weeks.  It probably was four weeks
but they had to send it to Phila for approval and that took two weeks.
Anyhow I wake up everyday stiff and sore everywhere.  Not much of a
life is it.  Thanks Charlene.

I didn't mean that I was rare in being a woman with AS - the statistics
on it being more common in men are VERY wrong -- it's just
underdiagnosed in women due to us getting "blown off" at the doctor's as
well as the misconception that "women don't get AS." (how many doctors
have told you that one? I can count at least 5 AFTER I was diagnosed!)

What I meant was that I was rare in that I have the severe form as a
woman (I am young, and it already has affected my organs, eyes, and
begun to attempt to fuse me). That is uncommon. It's also part of the
reason we're under-diagnosed, because we as a group do tend to get a
different form than men - beginning in thoracic spine more commonly than
lumbar, and often "less severe" by the classic medical standards.
However, when all the facts are in, we are often diagnosed with an
additional disease on top of AS when in fact it's more likely that all
or most of our symptoms are truly AS. So who is to say if we don't get
it, and just as severely, just as commonly as men?

My doc's research is basically coming up (and has been for years) that
it's proportional to population, so we truly get it just as much. We're
just blown off way more. 'It's just your period honey, take some advil
and go home." UGH!

I am VERY concerned that the original poster is on nothing to actually
stop the disease progression, and that it's continuing unchecked. A good
rheumatologist isn't one who "does what you want" but rather one who
knows what needs to be done to stop or slow the progression of your
disease. Any RD who doesn't have an AS patient on a DMARD when they are
actively fusing, isn't a good one, IMO. But then, I'm an opinionated
beotch :)

Aim

Aim,
I am sorry that I misunderstood your original post.
You are SO RIGHT about how women with AS are treated. It's sad, and
it's very, very wrong.
I just went to my GP for the first time in 2-3 years, and he asked me
what my wrist pain had turned out to be. When I said AS, he literally
gasped and said, I've never met a woman with AS.
I just wanted to smack him....yes, you did...you met me!
How many times was I told that it was all in my head?
GRRRRRRR!
Anyway, AIM, I definitely do recognize your symptoms as being
severe....and I am sorry about what you're going through.
I would love to talk with you any time via email, if you would be
interested, please go ahead an email me. We could commiserate with each
other  : )
Char