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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…

“I can barely remember these events happening. I was just so tired all the time,” my husband, Dave, sadly remarked as we scrolled through family photos from a few years ago. The fatigue caused by ankylosing spondylitis (AS) isn’t the same as feeling that you could use a…

When I was in my mid-to-late teens, I started noticing that pain was a regular part of my life. I have memories of a shoebox full of prescription medication beside my bed — some to treat the various pains I was experiencing and others to manage the side effects.

I start most days with a delicious berry smoothie for breakfast. Even after five years of eating a daily smoothie since being diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis (AS), I’m still not sick of it. One reason I choose a smoothie is because I can easily add collagen powder…

My social media feed is bloated with posts by friends and acquaintances bursting to share their big, audacious goals with the world — and it’s making me feel queasy. Every time I’ve picked up my phone lately to seek a little inspiration or entertainment during a few minutes of downtime,…

I recently had to get a full spine MRI to check the progression of my ankylosing spondylitis (AS). It didn’t hurt in the slightest, but I found it to be an intense sensory experience. Many AS patients get an MRI as part…

“I’m leaving a generous one-star review because I paid $48 only to be told by the doctor that I should drink more water. My headaches have been frequent. I expected more — at the very least, a prescription for pain relief. How humiliating. This visit was a waste of my…