Columns

It’s been a while since my last column, and I apologize for that. I’ll try to unpack several of the challenges that have come up for me in recent months. While they’re not all directly linked to ankylosing spondylitis (AS), I believe that many of you will relate to…

Note: This column describes the author’s own experiences with ciprofloxacin and other antibiotics. Not everyone will have the same response to treatment. Consult your doctor before starting or stopping a therapy. Last month I traveled to Europe for vacation with my partner. We spent three days with our friends in…

In November 2022, after a tearful Minion-themed goodbye party, I did what I thought was the best model for my seventh graders: I told them I needed to put my health first. I resigned from my position as a full-time special education teacher in a middle school and switched to…

It’s summer, which means I want to spend more time outside, preferably near water with an ice cream in hand. Living with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) has required me to have a different form of “hot girl summer,” though, as I manage the ups and downs of…

Note: This column describes the author’s own experiences with an il-17 inhibitor. Not everyone will have the same response to treatment. Consult your doctor before starting or stopping a therapy. When my rheumatologist first told me we were going to try a biologic medication to treat my…

Ever since I was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) three years ago, I’ve had many nights when I convinced myself I was better off staying at home in front of the TV with a heating pad on my back, watching “Love Is Blind.” When you are…

For the first year after my diagnosis, I dreamed almost nightly of my healthier self. In the depths of rapid eye movement sleep, I was sprinting across the soccer field, jogging down the paved roads of Central Park in New York, even shuffling my seventh-grade students through the subway…

I’ve written about how receiving an ankylosing spondylitis (AS) diagnosis shook me to the core and became part of my identity for a long time. I felt doomed. The literature told me that pain and disease progression would increase with time. This expectation became a self-fulfilling prophecy in…

The pain started in my teen years, and unbeknownst to me at the time, it would become a close companion for many years to come. Yet despite this persistent chronic pain, it took well over a decade to receive a formal diagnosis of ankylosing spondylitis (AS). Living with…

When I was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) in December 2019, I frequently felt anxious, miserable, and utterly exhausted about my future. But if I could go back and tap myself (gently) on the shoulder at that difficult time, I’d have some encouraging thoughts to share. If anyone reading…