Steve,
I am so sorry to hear the frustrating times you are going through. I've been there and I know how hard it can be on you emotionally. Please keep searching until you find someone you can trust, no matter how long it takes. The problem I'm finding with doctors is that with all the information they have to digest in the profession, they can't know EVERYTHING, yet they don't want us to know that , so they compensate for it by coming up with 'THE ANSWERS'. If you know what I mean. Fortunately, those of us dealing with this have the time and interest to really seek out the answers and we end up knowing more about it than most of the docs. I printed out 10 pages of info from spondylitis.org to highlight and show my doc some stuff I know he doesn't know (including how my pleurisy and enthesopathy - pain and inflammation from where the ligaments and tendons attach to the bone-as well as IBS can all be symptoms of AS or Spondyloarthropathies (SpA). They learn in medical school about the SI joints and that's as far as they go unless of course they have patients or family members with the disease and have an interest in investigating it further. Thank God my internist takes me seriously and actually likes the fact that I have researched this so much. Let's hope my Rheumy (who I see for the first time October 10th) is the same. Hang in there and know that we are here for you.
Love and peace!
Deb
