Back, shoulder, chest, neck are very common AS pains, and I heard of other people with knee involvement as well, but WOW that sounds like an awful flare!!!

I know my inflammation is bad when I can't sleep, but you might have as much inflammation going as my friend who has a serious case of lupus.

In the long run the NSAIDs do cause additional illnesses that contribute to your inflammation, but you could use something strong to get inflammation down before worrying about that. Maybe a blast of prednisone or something, which also causes lots of damage in long-term use but can help for a short term. Hopefully your doctor will help you get out of this flare -- at least he got you a diagnosis which is a huge start.

I'm starting to forget how bad the pain used to be, now that mine is less flared up, which has happened gradually after getting diagnosed a couple years ago. At first I did NSAID but stopped several months ago when I noticed heartburn starting up; now I'm on another type of anti-inflammatory ("5-loxin" boswellia) and switched to the low-starch diet. Recently the only time I flare badly enough to have problems sleeping is after I goof on my diet. Hope that's inspiring, things can start getting better now that you've been diagnosed...