ankylosing spondilitis

hi was wondering if any other as sufferers experience chest pain as a symptom, i was told for years that i was not a sufferer as i was complaining of chest pain and rib pain, 3 years later and still in pain but alot worse they now decide i am a sufferer......also is there any hope with this awful condition? i feel like there is nothing i can do at all apart from be in pain 24/7, any advice would be appreciated

Hi I started with as in my back and legs about 10 years ago. It was only when I started with chest pain last

year that I finally got a diagnosis. They told me that the chest pain is from ribs and that they can fuse together with as. I'm using enbrel injections every week. Started in November and called it a miracle drug the pain totally disappeared. Over the last few weeks pain has started returning but not in my chest yet. Has ur rheumatologist not put you on anything? Hope you get there jess

hi thankyou for your reply.....i am back at the rheumatologist on wednesday, he has said about me going into hospital for pain relie and he did mention injections but all i am on at the moment is naproxen and tramadol which doesnt help at all....does your shoulders and back lock into one place and feel stiff? i can hardly move at the moment and trying to sleep is like a military exercise....its good to hear that you had a little relief from the pain smile it woud make my day if only for a day lol

My shoulders don't lock but my lower back used to do before enbrel. Everyone gets as worse in diff places I've found. The injections side effects look terrible but I even got a dog in April and walk him each day. Before the injections I couldn't have done that. I also used to use tramadol and naproxen. Before I was diagnosed I sat in tears with my gp explaining that I could never sleep due to pain and he gave me morphine! Don't give up hope the anti tnf injections (there's more than just enbrel) have made a huge difference to my life x

In fact in the first week of injections I stayed in bed for half an hour to stretch round the bed as it was the first time in years been able to do it and it felt amazing!

Aww bless cheesygrin :[

Hello, I was diagnosed with AS last year and since then have had random spouts of chest pain, mainly when I breath in. It goes after about 5 minutes. I told my Consultant and she said it is due to having inflammation on the wall of my lungs and gave me some deep breathing exercises to do (which don't really help!)