Just Keep Swimming — Janneke Phung

“Would you mind doing a survey?” the doctor asked me. “We are doing some research into how and at what speed ankylosing spondylitis progresses in the average patient.” As someone diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis (AS), I understand…

If you asked me which complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies I’ve found most helpful for managing my ankylosing spondylitis (AS), I’d tell you diet and chiropractic care, hands down. Desperate for relief before receiving an AS…

My three boys down the hallway and my husband next to me were off in dreamland. The occasional rumble of a passing car and the shadows on the walls from the streetlights were hardly noticeable. My thoughts centered on…

As I lay in bed, I heard the wind howling. With every gust, I felt the house shaking just a little bit. The cold, almost icy drops of rain pounded hard against the window. The previously crisp and colorful…

“Hey, did you know that redheads feel pain differently?” I asked my husband after stumbling upon some research earlier in the day. As a redhead who’s often experienced all sorts of pain, I wondered if my redheadedness was to…

The statements “I have ankylosing spondylitis” and “I feel great!” hardly seem to go together. But for me, they do. That wasn’t always the case. In a previous column, I described my nightly struggle with this invisible illness.

“I love you, dud!” I hollered after my 3-year-old son as he blissfully skipped back to play with his brothers. (It’s unfortunate that while I had meant to say, “I love you, bud!” or “I love you, darling!” it…

Have you ever felt like you drew the short end of the stick in life? Do other people seem to have more reasons to be joyful than you do? When we are diagnosed with an incurable and progressive disease…

“What did you say you can’t eat?” my friend asked me in shock as we casually strolled along a river path. I recently had decided to tackle my ankylosing spondylitis (AS) diagnosis with radical changes to my lifestyle.

When I recently was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis, I was confronted with complicated terminology that initially overwhelmed me. Klebsiella pneumoniae, molecular mimicry, cytokines, tumor necrosis factor-alpha — the list of complicated terms seemed endless. “Good grief,” I thought,…

On Saturday, Nov. 2, 2019, I was informally diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis. I had already unknowingly suffered the symptoms of AS for years. Realizing I was suffering from an incurable disease stopped me dead in my tracks. I…