Hi, Little_Katy:
I have no experience with Celebrex, and believe it can be used for small periods of time for breakthrough pain management.
NSAIDs as a class, however have been shown to increase intestinal permeability and this fact does increase AS activity. Also, in the studies ATTEMPTING to suggest that NSAIDs have some disease modification capability, the results actually demonstrate the exact opposite: Whether the drugs are used on-schedule or sporadically, they not only do not prevent, but potentially promote damage.
My experience is with the older, non-selective NSAIDs. They control pain very well, but greatly accelerated my AS but in my situation, it was other factors that gave me the worst case possible (vegetarian). And these added myriad digestive tract issues, including gastritis and severe proctitis; it was very obvious they were damaging me. I found at that time that NSAIDs were responsible for 44,000 deaths yearly from spontaneous ulceration.
Many years later, upon learning the cause of AS, the pieces fell into place: The intestinal damage caused by NSAIDs had caused my AS to advance. I will not here go into the details of just how deformed I am due to this acceleration, but it is something that nobody should experience (well, except child molesters and terrorists).
NSAIDs are NOT treatment, but palliative pain management. They are perhaps suitable for mild cases of AS, but the question looms large: Will "mild" turn to "moderate" then severe because of this drug? People get on NSAIDs and just as I experienced, needed stronger dosages and then different NSAIDs just to keep at the same level of discomfort; a downward spiral that will result in eventual disease acceleration.
In fact Dr. Mercola has some very good suggestions to try instead of NSAIDs and these are very effective in my own experience. But if You really want to control the inflammation, it is best to attack AS at the root--diet. I understand just how difficult that is for a young person, especially when all the convenient foods are right off the list; it is very frustrating. But the fact that You are young can be in Your favor: Overcome AS right now and it will be a minor nuisance instead of a career!
HEALTH,
John
