I know that AS is commonly associated with morning stiffness and improvement with movement. I actually find that I feel better in the mornings, and then after several hours sitting at my desk and moving around the office that I start to get some pains in the afternoon and evening.

Anyone else share this pattern?

With A.S. anything is possible. Sorry that is no help to you but with A.S. sometimes that's just the way of it.

Have similar experience. But in my case I had the morning stiffness, than improvement with movement and than some pain in the late afternoon and evening. I felt better in the morning than in the evening.

My stiffness goes away with movement. In the morning I get up and move around. Most of the day I'm moving periodically. When I sit down to dinner, though I linger for half an hour or more enjoying my family and when I get up I waddle for a few minutes. They think it's funny (I have a 10 year old boy - all bodily functions are funny). So, for me...the stiffness returns after a period of inactivity.

Sounds a bit like me

I changed my chair at work several times before things got better

I have found how I sit and what I sit on even if briefly can make my pain or stiffness increase quickly

I will alternate sitting and standing at my desk also to find the right balance

Stiffness always worse in the morning when my AS presented more issues.. if i slept wrong, it could make so much pain could not get out of bed easily, would take me several minutes to try and roll out of bed to my hands and knees.

After hot shower and movement got better.. then depending on what I did during day could improve or worsen.

Best to you,

Tim

There were times when laying to sleep hurt, sitting hurt, standing hurt, walking too much hurt....I was stiff and sore when I woke and I was sore and tired by the end of the day.

I wanted to follow up on this because at times it makes me question the diagnosis. I wake up every morning with zero pain. As the day goes on, pain creeps into my upper back and neck. Typically there is also tightness in my hips.

Any thoughts?

Exacta, have you ever had pain in the morning? Or has it always been later in the day? Is this every day or just when you flare? Also curious to know what is a flare like for you?

The moment I wake up in the morning I have no pain. I have also never had the characteristic AS issue of losing sleep due to stiffness during the night. I sleep just fine. Also never experienced uveitis.

When I flare, I typically develop pain in my back and neck throughout the day, as well as tightness in the hip joints. Also my left foot. It is usually accompanied by fatigue, depression, and general malaise.

My history is essentially that I had a bout of Reiter's in 2007, which made me aware of my HLA B27+ status and the autoimmune factor. I cruised along pretty nicely until 2016 when I started to develop back and neck pain. I essentially diagnosed myself with AS at that point, and my rheumatologist did not disagree.

I have responded pretty well to NSD. Alcohol makes me flare.

I know AS can vary widely between people. Curious whether anyone thinks that morning stiffness is so characteristic of AS that I should consider other diagnosis.