Back in October I started this thread about my sister’s bruised spine, due to her arthritis. At the time I was quite worried, but I just didn’t know enough information for any of the Doper Doctors to be able to help. I thought I should provide an update.
My sister just had a new check-up, and they have diagnosed her as having “ankylosing spondilitis”, which formed as a result of her arthritis and her posture. This page has a description of what AS is, and is actually from a national association in the UK for sufferers of this disease. AS is a result of inflammation of the cartilage and tendons and ligaments between the vertebrate, which leads to damage of the bone. The body then tries to correct this, by growing more bone, and therefore destrying more of the soft tissue. In effect, this is a fusion of the vertebrae. My sister has a severe form of this condidtion, however her doctor said that it can be partially reversed, or at minimum arrested, with special exercises and physiotherapy. She started physio yesterday.
She has been told to swim a lot (we do have a pool at my parent’s house, where she lives too), but not to run, since she is so skinny that she barely has enough muscles/muscle tone and it will lead to more damage. She also has been officially told by her doctor (as opposed to just her family) that she shouldn’t overwork herself at school, since her body can’t really handle the same amount of activity of other people.
As I said in the other thread, she is 19 and has had arthritis since she was about 14. She takes Vioxx, but it really doesn’t seem to help all that much, though that may be because of the now additional disease of AS on top of her arthritis. In the other thread, Qadgop asked me to be specific about her arthritis type - I believe it may be a form of spondyloarthropathy, perhaps Reactive, which has now progressed to AS.
My sister has been living with this for 5 years, and reading up on it today just sort of reinforced the mental idea I have of the sheer pain she must be in every day. She doesn’t like talking about it, and has tried to ignore it sometimes, but I think she is beginning to understand that she needs to take charge of it, not hide from it or let it control her. I work in a pharmaceutical lab, and I am constantly checking up on the new drugs we are working on, just in case one looks promising in the next 10-15 years to treat her. I wish there was a cure, but right now it just seems like it’s going to get worse over time. I worry that in her old age she’ll be nearly paralysed, or so stiff as to make no difference. Hip replacement surgery is an uncommon, but possible, necessity for people with AS apparently, and since my grandmother has had both hips replaced, I think that will be something my sister will have to face later on in life.
On the other hand, she is a funny, dramatic (in the teathre sense -Drama is her minor, Biology is her major…and she’s getting her teaching certificate), pretty and smart person - she has a greater than 90% average in university despite this, and can be very caring and compassionate (although I have also seen her hysterical “dark side”, so forgive me if I’m not always this nice when talking about her!) She’ll succeed in life, simply because there is no possible way that she could ever fail anything.
Still, as the Big Sister, I have to worry about her a little!