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ROUGHLY 1.7 MILLION ADULTS IN THE US LIVE WITH AXIAL SPONDYLOARTHRITIS (AXSPA) AND OTHER RELATED CONDITIONS…
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…AN INFLAMMATORY CONDITION THAT AFFECTS THE BACK, SPINE, AND OTHER JOINTS.
JILL: I was pretty sick and not getting out of bed more than a few hours a day…
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JILL Diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) in 2013
JILL: …couldn't pick my kids up, I'd stopped working.
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AS is part of the spectrum of diseases called axSpA. All participants were compensated for their time.
JILL: And when you haven't felt well for years, maybe decades, uhh, it's really difficult to shift. The diagnosis timeline is so long. And by the time you get to the diagnosis, you feel a little bit like people have been telling you it's all in your head.
MATT: Growing up, I was playing baseball, hockey, sports all year round. When you're used to being so active and all of a sudden you're not…
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MATT Diagnosed with AS in 2020
MATT: …it really wears on you, absolutely. I was just hoping that given some time, it would go away on its own, but, you know, weeks turned to months and things weren't getting better.
SHARONDA: I was tired going through all the different type of doctors, all these different type of tests, the probing, the poking…
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SHARONDA Diagnosed with AS in 2014
SHARONDA: …and all the...I was fed up with it. Like, I was really just tired of it. I needed to know what was going on.
JILL: I was seeing an orthopedic, and after 2 years of really just kind of going downhill, it was at a point where someone recommended a rheumatologist. I don't even know if I knew what a rheumatologist did or how they would fit in at that point. Made an appointment and that first day she caught it.
MATT: I didn't care what it took at that point. Nothing was working, didn't matter who I was seeing, what medication I was taking. I needed to see a rheumatologist. And the rheumatologist took a look at my test, heard my symptoms, and concluded that I most likely had ankylosing spondylitis. I was finally down the right path of...of pain relief.
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If their stories sound similar to yours, you could have axSpA.Don’t wait to find out. Sign up to get more info on how to move forward.