A.S. Face 1798: Mehrwash Faruqi

A.S. Face 1798: Mehrwash Faruqi

Got my diagnosis done in Edmonton, Canada after 6 months of severe pain back in 2010. HLAB27 positive and MRI led to the diagnosis.

A.S. Face 1617: Chris

A.S. Face 1617: Chris

I am a soon to be medically retired SSgt in the U.S. Air Force.  My condition really started affecting me in 2009.  Being only 25 I just assumed my job was taking a toll on my back, but it was pain like I’ve never felt before.  I went through a few Drs and chiropractors with no avail and began my daily regiment of Aleve.  It wasn’t until 2015 my newest Doc really started digging into the problem.  On 11 Sep 2015 my rheumatologist diagnosed me.  The Humira wasn’t providing the results they wanted and changed me to Enbrel.  I began taking Percocets to help with the pain and thanks to my amazing wife, I was able to kick those before they became another problem for me to face.  This condition is truly a nasty ordeal to deal with and I am thankful I found the support pages on Facebook.

Chris

Alaska, United States of America

A.S. Face 1266: Kimberly Conaway

A.S. Face 1266: Kimberly Conaway

My name is Kimberly Ann Conaway and I have AS. I’m 40 years old and live in Palmer, Alaska. I have 3 kids. Eric is 21, Jessica is 19 and my step son Bristin is 14 and I’m married to a wonderful man named Jason. My symptoms with AS started when I was about 30 years old. The back pain I was having was a nuisance. I would wake up with pain during the night and as time went on my pain got worse, especially in the morning. I thought it was my lack of exercise and my weight gain that had caused the pain, so I lived with it for years. When I was about 34 I started noticing pain in other joints and an extreme fatigue that was taking over my life. My daily chores and taking care of my kids seemed to be a challenge for me instead of the joy of motherhood and caring for my family as it should have been. I was starting to get a label by many as lazy and never wanting to do anything, part of me was giving up and not caring anymore. This also went on for a while. I started to pretend, as I do sometimes to this day that I was fine. I didn’t want the eye rolls and the 100 ideas everyone had for me, to eat this and do that. I didn’t know what was wrong with me, so many changes and pains happening to me. When I was just over 35 years old, I woke up one morning, I rolled out of bed, as normal and had a pain in my eye. It was like I had something in it. I didn’t think much of it, maybe I had scratched it or something. Well that’s when my body and AS decided to make its wonderful debut. Many days went by and my eye got worse, being stubborn me, just tried taking care of it myself. After a week and a half my eye was almost completely swelled shut and the pain was unbearable. My husband worked away from home sometimes,  so he didn’t know the severity of this. I ended up calling my mother in law to take me to the emergency room. I couldn’t open either eye at this point. Scared of what was happening and the pain, I begged to docs to do something. At the hospital the docs keep bringing people in questioning me on who did this to me and they wanted to help. They insisted I had been hit! I cried an pleaded with them that no one touched me. Well there was nothing they could do and gave me some drops an sent me home. Drops did nothing! That next morning we called an eye doctor who could get me in right away! Thank goodness! I got up my appt and the secretary tells me the doc called in sick. I was so angry and upset, I couldn’t take this pain anymore. The pain I was experiencing in my eye dulled all the pain I had everywhere else. She called another eye doc and said this woman needs to be seen ASAP! Thankfully it was a doc right down the road. We went on to her, she came right out when we got there and I could tell by the look on her face when she saw mine, it wasn’t good. She took me in the back and questioned me and put dilating drops in my eyes right away. Nothing happened. She then preceded to tell me she was afraid to touch me anymore because my pupil was almost closed in my left eye and called a specialist right away. So off to the next doc we went. We say there for 3 hours till he could squeeze me in and knew right away. He started drops and was very caring in his way of trying to look in my eyes. I had several drops and prednisone he had prescribed and I needed to come back the next day. Well for 3 weeks I was in his office every other day. He told me how lucky I was I didn’t go blind and asked me several questions. He looked at me and said, I’m sending you to a rheumatologist, you have Ankylosing Spondylitis! I was like what in the world is that? Many weeks went by till my appt. My rheumy did lots of X-rays and blood work, you know the fun stuff! Well he to confirmed I have AS, also Lupus, low platelets and on and on! You know all the little gifts AS brings along the way. Well almost 5 years DX and my life in ways have improved and gotten worse. Gotten worse because everything that can hurt, hurts! Every med I take has a different reaction! I’ve been a Humira, Simponi, every NSAID known to man, pain killers and steroids. Nothing helps. I tend to live with the pain most of the time. As everyone knows you have good and bad days. I tend to have more bad days but the improvement in my life is, I refuse to not enjoy life and say why me. We all have those days anyway, I know them all to well. I still get iritis every other month and really bad flares at least one a month or 2 that last about a week long. Sometimes I can’t even stand up. I have realized that as horrible as this disease is someone always has it worse and thank God everyday. Sometimes I waddle like I’m 9 months prego because I the pain in my SI. I could go on and on, you all know what I’m talking about. I’ve met such amazing people having this and weirdly enough I’m thankful. My life and attitude has changed so much because of AS. I try to keep myself busy with crafts and baking. My husband made a room for me just for my crafting and sewing, so I could have a happy place to go to. I don’t really do much outside the home, especially when Jason is away at work. I’m afraid of hurting myself and being here alone. So me and my dog chill out and relax. Unless it’s my step sons basketball games, I won’t miss those for nothing :) Thank you for letting me share a small portion of my AS story. I mean I could write a novel with everything that happened with it, LOL! Thank you Cookie and God Bless You!
Kimberly Conaway
Alaska, United States of America

A.S. Face 0913: Michele Tower

A.S. Face 0913: Michele Tower

This is my story of escape from bondage and to finding joy: 18 years ago, I was diagnosed with A.S.  I was working as a phlebotomist/ medical assistant in a Rheumatologists office when I found out that I had the same condition for which I was treating many of my patients. My battle with A.S. has been much the same as others who carry the burden of A.S; as a physical, mental, emotional, social and spiritual roller coaster that we deal with on a daily basis. Today, however, I live virtually pain free and have for the past 2 years now. Every day feels like a miracle and a blessing and I feel an abundance of gratitute. As a result of this drastic change in my daily walk through a life of A.S., I want to encourage others and share the lifestyle changes that have improved all aspects of my person. The following is a list of the choices that I consider to have contributed the most to my current great health (It is by no means complete): 1.Water – adequate hydration 2. Walking – daily 3. Breathing – diaphragmatic 4. Food intake – close to nature 5. Laughter 6. Love 7. God and most of all 8. Overcoming a 13-year prescription opiate addiction over 2 years ago.
I would like to encourage everyone with A.S. to drink more water, as well as learn the truth about how opiates work against a body in chronic pain.
Joy and Love to All,
Michele Tower Thorne Bay, Alaska
p.s. Don’t quit five minutes before the miracle!
Alaska, United States of America

A.S. Face 0653: Megan Ancheta

A.S. Face 0653: Megan Ancheta

My name is Megan Ancheta. I’m from Alaska and am the author of the gluten free and allergy friendly blog, Allergy Free Alaska (www.allergyfreealaska.com). I’m 32 years young, and have been married to my best friend, AJ, for nearly 9 years. We have two beautiful girls together, Kylie (7) and Abbi (4).
I’m a stay at home mom. I homeschool, I love to cook (I’m working on publishing a cookbook) and am a lover of dark chocolate, coffee, and fine red wine.
I developed psoriasis in 1994, psoriatic arthritis (PsA) in 2005, and most recently, spondylitis in May 2012 (and somewhere along the lines secondary Raynaud’s decided it wanted to join the party also).   Prior to being diagnosed with spondylitis, I treated my PsA with diet and holistic medicine. It did help, although I still suffered from intense pain. When the spondylitis finally set in, I lost nearly 10 lbs in 5 weeks. The pain was so intense my appetite was completely gone. I couldn’t function… it was affecting my family and my ability to take care of our children. My husband and I agreed it was time I tried one of the biologic medicines I had been so adamantly against taking. I was on Humira for nearly 3 months. I appreciated the energy it gave me, but my body rejected it, causing terrible IBS issues. I quit taking it and refused other biologic medications, simply because the Humira had ripped my stomach apart so badly that my body needed time to heal.
My husband and children are my saving grace. I am so blessed to have an incredibly supportive husband who works hard so I can stay at home with our children. He understands I have days I can’t function and never criticizes me for being in pajamas, the house being a wreck, or for serving eggs for dinner (sometimes that’s the most I can handle on nights I’m in extreme pain, and really, he doesn’t mind cooking the eggs either).
These days I’m back to using holistic medicine to treat my diseases and am looking forward to trying massage therapy in the future. There may be no known cure for PsA or AS, but I have HOPE; I have faith, and I believe in miracles and pray for one every day.
Thank you, Cookie, for allowing me to share my story.
Hugs, Megan
Alaska United States of America

A.S. Face 0241: Rob

A.S. Face 0241: Rob

So many beautiful people with such an “UGLY” disease. The more I read each story behind the faces, the more I feel the fight each one of us shares, and though sad, it’s comforting to know the support gets stronger as the numbers grow. My story, like so many others, has been a life long battle of pain and fatigue and not knowing why. In 1999 at the age of 35, blood tests came back with the A.S. gene HLA-B27. Wow, then came the fun of trying to explain that one to friends and relatives, it was hard enough just pronouncing the word ! But my goal from there was to learn how to live with “it”,now at the age of 48, and after too many years of medications, I try not taking anything if I can help it. Physical therapy (stretching exercises), and laughter have been the best medicine for me, I’ve even done thia chi and found that to be helpful. I’m leaving so much of my story out, mainly because it would  take too much typing to include all the complications A.S. has caused throughout my life, but I want to thankyou Cookie for all your efforts in starting this support group bringing together so many faces for a disease too many have yet to learn about .
Southeast Alaska United States of America

A.S. Face 0168: Charlieann

A.S. Face 0168: Charlieann

I was diagnosed with A.S. about 5 years ago and every day truly has been a battle. I’ve taken my share of meds but in the end the only pain management that really worked was no meds at all. I have suffered from Siatica also which resulted in my 3 year old daughter having to help me and get the phone. But we only live once Right so  I’ve recently made a promise to myself and to my daughter. Live each and every day and do not look back. Dwelling on what you can not do only makes it worse and drives many into depression. Just because we have A.S. does not mean it is the end. Honestly, its the end of one chapter and the beginning of a new one. So take hold and ride with the wind. We will all get through this! Together we all can spread awareness and hope for the cure, but don’t ever forget to Live each and every moment!
Thorne Bay, Alaska United States of America