ankylosing what? (part 1)

ankylosing spondylitis is a long-term disease that involves inflammation of the joints between the spinal bones, and the joints between the spine and pelvis.

these joints become swollen and inflamed. Over time, the affected spinal bones join together.

the cause of ankylosing spondylitis is unknown, but genes seem to play a role.

the disease most often begins between ages 20 and 40, but it may begin before age 10. it affects more males than females.


you may lose motion or movement in the lower spine. you may not be able to fully expand your chest because the joints between the ribs are involved.

Fatigue is also a common symptom.

Other, less common symptoms include:

Eye swelling or uveitis

Heel pain

Hip pain and stiffness

Joint pain and joint swelling in the shoulders, knees, and ankles

Loss of appetite

Slight fever

Weight loss

(all of the above courtesy of pubmed health)

sounds like an awful disease, doesn't it? our son, john, was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) this last june at the age of 16.

it all started on february 21st (my birthday!) when john called from their fishing trip saying his eye was all red and hurt. thinking he had an infection, we visited our eye doctor the next day and received the diagnosis of iritis/uveitis. drops were dispensed with the precaution that if he didn't improve to come back. and also a word of caution that iritis/uveitis is extremely uncommon in teens and it is very rare to also have both eyes affected.

iritis is nothing new to the reisner household. my husband, tom, was diagnosed with AS in 1991 while we were (thankfully) living in rochester, mn. having the mayo clinic in our town was the biggest blessing we could have asked for during those first few pain filled weeks and months. tom would get the iritis right before he would have a flare up of the arthritis-about 1-2 times a year. he would start the eye drop therapy and it would settle down fairly quickly.

I wish we could say the same for john. between february 22nd and june 11th, he endured COUNTLESS eye doctor and ophthalmologist appointments, 4 varieties of steroid eye drops, a steroid eye ointment, a dilating eye drop and oral prednisone. finally the decision was made to head to the mayo clinic.

bloodwork confirmed that john was a positive carrier of the HLA-B27 gene. a physical examination confirmed that indeed john had AS and already had limited mobility in the spinal area.