Just a quick update on this topic, since much has been learned in the past few years on the causes and treatment. Here’s an excerpt that hints at the treatment of this inflammatory condition:
"...How inflammation occurs and persists in different organs and joints in ankylosing spondylitis is a subject of active research. Each individual tends to have their own unique pattern of presentation and activity of the illness. The initial inflammation may be a result of an activation of body's immune system by a bacterial infection or a combination of infectious microbes. Once activated, the body's immune system becomes unable to turn itself off, even though the initial bacterial infection may have long subsided. Chronic tissue inflammation resulting from the continued activation of the body's own immune system in the absence of active infection is the hallmark of an inflammatory autoimmune disease..."
http://www.medicinenet.com/ankylosin...is/article.htm
http://www.medicinenet.com/ankylosin...itis/page2.htm
So, if this is an inflammatory condition, can PT really help?! See these links for suggested reading/cures:
http://www.drmirkin.com/joints/J103.htm -- Questions doxycycline, but not other more "pentrating" antibiotics like minocycline et al; mino has been used for years, long term, for RA patients.
http://www.rheumatic.org/
And of course, these established organizations:
· National Library of Medicine (
www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/healthtopics.html)
· Spondylitis Association of America
(
www.spondylitis.org)
· National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases
Building 31, Room 4C05
Bethesda, MD 20892
(301) 496-8188
(
www.nih.gov/niams/)
· American College of Rheumatology/Association of Rheumatology
Health Professionals
1800 Century Place, Suite 250
Atlanta, GA 30345-4300
(404) 633-3777
(
www.rheumatology.org)
· The Arthritis Foundation
PO Box 19000
Atlanta, GA 30325
(800) 283-7800
(
www.arthritis.org)