Trishy you may want to look up Enteropathic arthritis and talk to your doc about it. It is a spondylitis and can mimic AS in many ways. The stomach and arthritis symptoms can flare together like it sounds like your sons is. For some treat the crohns and the arthritis goes away. Many drugs for crohns, like the 5ASA drugs are pretty mild compared to the AS drugs. Personally I think this spondylitis is more common than thought and help explains why when some of us calm our guts down the arthritis also gets better. By treating my IBD I have seen a big improvement in the arthritis in my feet and knees.

http://www.spondylitis.org/about/ibd.aspx

Sometimes the arthritis can precede the IBD diagnosis as well.

Last edited by drizzit; 07/19/09 12:26 AM.
No families take so little medicine as those of doctors, except those of apothecaries.

Oliver Wendell Holmes