sorry to say I am still not doing good. I was for about 2 weeks and now have
this stupid virus back again.

This job might not hold up either for Jim, so not much is looking up right
now.

Sue,
I have had my diagnosis for about 6 months now, but this has been going
on for nearly three years. I was at the spondylitis site and read some
of the horror stories regarding years to diagnosis. Some folks have
gone over 20 years before finally having an answer.
I work in the service department of a large GM dealership. I'm the one
you would yell at when your new $50,000 vehicle breaks down, lol! It is
stressful work, but it has provided me with good medical insurance, a
paycheck (albeit not a great one), and a some really good friends. I'm
not sure how long I will be able to keep working, but I want to for as
long as possible. I've worked since I was 16 years old, and I have no
idea what I would do round the house all day long-other than going
completely batty.
I know that with AS keeping moving is so important, which is rather
twisted, since usually, you don't want to move at all.
What kind of work do you do?  I hope that you're feeling ok.
Squirrely, thanks for your kind words. I sure do wish that things were
going a bit better for you and your family. What the heck is that nasty
virus that has been plaguing you for so long?? You, obviously, are a
fighter as well.
Charlene

oooh!
Try this:

http://www.spondylitis.org/about/complications.aspx

Charlene,

Thanks for this info. I appreciate it. Moreso now than ever. I am in so much
pain tonight. It is raining which of course brought the ants back in the
house. So Jim and I had to empty the kitchen once again. We had so much
boxed, canned, and bag stuff out there it took us 2 hours to get it all
moved out of the kitchen. Along of course with the dishes. I hate ants. So I
am flaring majorily. I don't think there is a spot that doesn't hurt. It is
really bad in the back, chest, knees, and feet. So I might not even be able
to get out of bed in the morning. ;-(

I will go look at that thread when I can. I hope tomorrow but I won't
promise anything right now.

That is horrible about that guy. Oh I had pain just reading about it. That
would be like a broken back I would think.

Yeah I know. I did enjoy reading on the message board about how others have
AS and it didn't show up in blood or xrays. Because I seriously believe that
I do have AS. I think at one point it did show either in my cervical or my
thoracic that I was starting to fuse. I will have to look it up again when I
can. Because now I am curious.

The only problem would be I dont know if I could take one of the tnf drugs.
For one with me being allergic to so many meds and then me having chronic
infections.

Charlene. You do enough just offering me support and posting informative
info like you did. That is a big help. There are lots of people going thru
hard times. So I want to be there for them if I can. It keeps me going if I
think I might be helping at least one person.

Thanks again for all the help you have given me with this info.
I am finding out with many of my illnesses that I have to be my own dr. and
get the info for myself. Then I will be prepared if I have to go to the drs
and I can give her this info. She is pretty good about this stuff. I am
going to hit her up with the addisons stuff when I have to go in again. I
haven't been seeing a dr since July. I did have to go to urgent care and to
the hospital one time. But not to my regular dr. I can't afford to go at all
really. But you do what you have to do. So I figure there will be another
time I will have to go in, so I will hit her up with some of this info then.

I feel for all that are suffering thru any chronic problem right now.
It is bad at this time of year because of the weather making things worse.