Hello, Albatros:
You will SUDDENLY KNOW ABSOLUTELY when You have AAU (iritis); it is like a hot icepick through the eye and photophobia--that is one cannot even look at any light without overwhelming tears. That is the most common description, however, there is a "smoldering" type of iritis that is not so severe and more insidious because it will rob your sight without making its presence so painful.
PAIN is the signal that something is wrong, and being able to ignore the pain is good to some degree, but it does not help the underlying problem. If our check engine light stays on and all we do is put tape over it, eventually we will have a much bigger repair job than if we had addressed the situation early.
Yes, NSAIDs require ever stronger agents in higher and higher dosages because they are busy making the AS worse (that's MY explanation; some claim that the drugs "just lose efficacy"--I'm not buying that one). I would go for the biologics immediately as I believe they actually do slow down the AS and are great inflammation controllers; they, however, do not address the underlying cause of AS. Diet (variously modified from NSD/LSD) plus Enbrel certainly has extended the useful life of this drug in several people.
Don't worry about too much for now as our collective experiences will get You through,
HEALTH,
John
