People need to learn about dangers of AS

[Guest guest]

People need to learn about dangers of AS

Marilyn Linton, Special to the Free Press 2005-08-08 01:34:03

For years Atkins not only suffered a disease that doctors

misdiagnosed, it was also an illness hardly anybody could pronounce.

The Guelph father of three is one of about 150,000 Canadians who lives

with Ankylosing Spondylitis or AS.

Pronounced ankle-low-zing-spon-dill-eye-tis, AS also affected

television show host Ed Sullivan, baseball player Rico Brogna, and

Motley Crue guitarist Mick Mars. Sullivan's classic stiff neck turn is

the hallmark of AS.

" Because of tenderness, pain and stiffness, people move like The Tin

Man in the Wizard of Oz, " says St. Catharines rheumatologist Saeed

Shaikh.

AS is under the arthritis umbrella and is characterized by inflammation

of the axial joints, the backbone and the sacroiliac.

Atkins, 38, had his first symptom at the age of 16: His doctor thought

the swelling on his knee was a sign of rheumatoid arthritis. Once the

knee was drained, Atkins's discomfort eased off for a while. By the

time he was 19, however, he was in so much pain, his roommate would

have to help him in and out of bed. The next six years were spent in

search of a proper diagnosis.

Finally, in his 20s, a rheumatologist considered Atkins's symptoms --

stiffness and pain in the hips and neck in the mornings that would

subside over the day -- and confirmed AS through a simple blood test.

Early diagnosis is apparently key and AS begins most often between the

ages of 20 and 40. Atkins was treated with anti-inflammatory drugs.

One reason raising awareness is so important is that AS is a men's

health issue that has been largely ignored and gone unnoticed.

Three times as many men as women get AS and because men do not go to

their family doctors as often as women, it goes undetected.

Back pain, one of the early symptoms, is something most of us complain

about at some time -- so AS easily gets missed, Shaikh says.

" AS starts with stiffness and pain in the lower back and buttocks, " he

explains. " But a lot of people with back pain don't even see their

doctors. Instead, they go to a chiropractor, a massage therapist, or a

physiotherapist.

" Family doctors and chiropractors can pick it up when it's very

advanced, when there are deformities. But you want to diagnose it early

and treat it earlier rather than later. "

Shaikh adds that in its progressive stage, AS is disfiguring.

" If the spine sets in a bent-over position, it looks something like a

question mark. You're bent over, you have almost like a dowager's hump

on your back. The lower back flattens out and the upper back rounds

over. "

Lying down flat then becomes virtually impossible, he says. " You can't

straighten out your back. "

Treatment includes exercise, particularly in the early stages of AS.

" Stretching, biking, and swimming -- it improves with movement, " Shaikh

says.

" I think of AS as rust, " Atkins adds.

" The good thing about being a teacher, as opposed to an office worker,

is that I can sit or stand and remain active. With my condition, where

my spine is inflamed all the time, my vertebrae would fuse. If I were a

bus driver, I would be in real trouble. "

While the cause of AS is not totally known, experts say it's related to

a gene HLA-B27, which is present in only eight per cent of the Canadian

population, but 90 per cent of people with AS.

Typically, patients with the disease are treated by prescription drugs.

There's also a new category of drugs called alpha blockers, which bind

to something called the tumour necrosis factor, which signals

inflammation in the body.

Atkins takes one of the newer drugs and though he has to take it

intravenously every two months, he can see why doctors call it a

quantum leap in treatment.

Previously plagued by pain, always having to take pills, he was

exhausted at the end of the day.

" All my energy was spent dealing with the pain. Not having to pop pills

on that roller coaster ride of pain is wonderful, " he says.

The new medication made him feel so great, he and his wife decided to

have another child.

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