Columns

Scrolling through the camera roll on my phone, I stumbled across a photo of myself with a wide smile. My makeup looked flawless and my body slender and strong, but I could see that the smile didn’t reach my eyes. Instantly, my mind flashed back to 2020, when the image…

Last in a series. Read part one. “Hope is important because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear. If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear hardship today.” — Thich Nhat Hanh Hope was hard to come by when I was…

Christmas feels different as an adult than it did as a child, doesn’t it? Especially when you’re coping with a chronic disease like ankylosing spondylitis (AS), the holiday joy is tempered with a daunting list of physically and mentally challenging “should-dos.” As I sit here typing on my…

“Sleep anxiety is a real thing,” my husband, Dave, announced as we were putting on our pajamas last night. We were both exhausted after back-to-back nights of troubled sleep, with lots of tossing and turning because of the discomfort that ankylosing spondylitis (AS) can cause at night.

I sat nervously in the doctor’s chair, desperate to know what could be causing my nighttime back pain. I hadn’t yet been diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis (AS), and all I knew then was that the maximum dose of over-the-counter anti-inflammatory medication couldn’t help me sleep past 2 a.m.

First in a series. I grew up in a Christian home. I attended church every Sunday and knew the answers to most of the questions in Sunday school. I felt like I rated pretty high as a faithful follower of Jesus Christ. I knew, in theory, that God is good.

Did you know that pets can be wonderfully helpful for people with a chronic disease like ankylosing spondylitis (AS)? One of the lovable and hilarious parts of owning a pet is their funny quirks and characteristics. We have two rescue cats, and the brother of the pair, Fudge,…

If you have ankylosing spondylitis (AS) like me, you might prefer to avoid real-life seminars, even though you’d love to know the latest findings about managing AS. Just picturing sitting for hours with a stiff and aching back on the uncomfortable chairs of a drafty hall to watch…

“Geez, my back’s getting worse,” I muttered to myself as I took a break midway on my walk around the park near my house in Perth, Australia. Pulling the protruding white earbuds from my ears, I paused the chattering voices on my podcast. Gently digging my thumbs into my lower…

You’d think that because ankylosing spondylitis (AS) affects joints internally, clothes wouldn’t make much difference. But I despise certain garments when I’m having an AS flare and my sacroiliac joints, spine, or rib cage are inflamed and painful. Picture for a minute that I’m standing at the…