A.S. Face 1826: Ernie Barbarics
When I was 17 I fell from a tree on a job and never felt any symptoms of AS until I was 60. I could do anything I wanted in all those years.When I was 60 I started to get stiffer and stiffer and had more lower back pain. At that time they discovered I had spinal stenosis, which they still didn’t connect me with AS. That was in 2011. They did a laminectomy on the S1/L5 vertebrae.
In 2014 I had more back pain and they discovered spinal stenosis again. This time it was on L5/L4 vertebrae. They did another laminectomy on me and all of that went ok. Then a few months later I still had more back pain but also hip pain and upper leg pain. I went to a rheumatologist and he found that I was HLB-27 positive. I had spinal shots done but really didn’t improve the pain. Then I went on biologics. I tried three different ones, but they had little improvement. Also during all this back pain, I was going for physical therapy which did help, but nothing really permanent.
This past May I went for stem cell therapy in La Jolla California. The procedure was three days and they told me it would take from 3-6 months to see any improvement in the spine.
It’s now August and still the same amount of pain in lower back. I’m starting PT again and maybe that will help some. All I do in the meantime is take NSAIDS and opioids to relieve the pain.
When I was 17 I fell from a tree on a job and never felt any symptoms of AS until I was 60. I could do anything I wanted in all those years.When I was 60 I started to get stiffer and stiffer and had more lower back pain. At that time they discovered I had spinal stenosis, which they still didn’t connect me with AS. That was in 2011. They did a laminectomy on the S1/L5 vertebrae.
In 2014 I had more back pain and they discovered spinal stenosis again. This time it was on L5/L4 vertebrae. They did another laminectomy on me and all of that went ok. Then a few months later I still had more back pain but also hip pain and upper leg pain. I went to a rheumatologist and he found that I was HLB-27 positive. I had spinal shots done but really didn’t improve the pain. Then I went on biologics. I tried three different ones, but they had little improvement. Also during all this back pain, I was going for physical therapy which did help, but nothing really permanent.
This past May I went for stem cell therapy in La Jolla California. The procedure was three days and they told me it would take from 3-6 months to see any improvement in the spine.
It’s now August and still the same amount of pain in lower back. I’m starting PT again and maybe that will help some. All I do in the meantime is take NSAIDS and opioids to relieve the pain.
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