Hi, Chris:
I'm not sure of the status of Remicade for use against AS; Enbrel was approved this past July. This may be the reason your doctor is slow to find the obvious; certainly you do have AS, but (possibly) RA is treated using Remicade more often than is AS.
You might have a very good doctor willing to give you a DMARD right away instead of following failure after many years of NSAIDs, which will accelerate the progression of AS.
As already mentioned, please check out the NSD forum. Diet has been an effective treatment for many of us, and should be employed as adjunctive therapy along with any other drugs; their effectiveness is much more likely to last longer, and the potential for reduced dosages could also assure that there are only limited drug side effects.
Good luck to You,
John
