Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group Neck Problems

Hello to everyone! I haven't posted on here for a couple of years but I do come to this site periodically to read the message board.

I've had a really rough time the past 5 months or so. From August through December, I was in a lot of pain and stiffness which had me walking sort of bent forward. In November, I had a colonoscopy and was diagnosed with Crohns disease. My Rheumy has put me on Humira since it has been shown to be effective for crohns as well as AS (try to kill 2 birds with one stone so to speak). I've been feeling better lately and started to work out again. When I decided to start doing my back stretching exercises again, I noticed that I could no longer lay flat on my back and put my head back, it just doesn't work. I can lie on my back with my head up or lift my butt off the floor and lie my head back but not both at the same time. Could my neck have fused in a matter of a couple of months? Will it get any better?

I'm curious to know if anyone has experienced anything like this.

Thanks,
Steve

Hi, Steve:

Sorry to hear that you are in the beginning stages of kyphosis. I believe that the right combination of diet (including supplementation) in conjunction with DMARDs can halt the progress of AS and CD. It is Ebringer's opinion that you may be able to turn back the clock up to 2 years by pursuing a very strict dietary regimen, such as that proposed by Carol Sinclair. As a minimum, certainly, Ebringer's 'London AS Diet' can help prolong the useful life of the newer biologics.

Maybe we will be fortunate to have you post your own success story in the NSD Forum.

I wish You every luck, whatever your choices,
John

Hi Steve

I fused completly in about 4 years so you losing the neck motion in a couple of months to me could happen. AS has no speed on how it hits people it hits us all at a different rate some faster than others.

John

Hi,

think we are different I tried heaps but a physio therapist may be able to help I 've been having some release work done on my neck for the past couple of months my range of motion has improved and so has some of the nerve pain.I've found I've added a couple of new exercises to the neck stretches and those have undone a few things that were stuck.


We are all different in how quickly things occur but my guess is that physio and a few other changes may well help.
Good Luck

David

hi. yes it is possible to fuse in such a short time. I started out with just a "catch" in my neck, but it never went away. I tried therepy, medication muscle relaxers, everything but nothing helped. So after about 5 or 6 months my neck was fusing. I am on Humira, it helps greatly with the pain and the other complications that are associated with this dreadful diesese. Hope your's turns out better.

love-tina

Dear Steve:

I suppose anything is possible, but with the recent addition of Humira, which has been helpful, I'd be surprised if you've fused in these particular 'few months'.

It definitely is worrisome, and it has likely lit a 'need to know and deal with it' fire under your seat. Luciky, there's an easy enough way to find out. Tell your doctor your fears and ask for an xray of your cervical spine.

What I'm hoping for is instead of fusion, you have some C-spine inflammation and your muscles have responded by seizing around the inflammed bits. This has happened to me before during a particularly bad flare. I went from near normal range of motion to nearly nothing. So scary! What eventually helped me was using a TENS machine on my neck, and sufficient pain meds that I could do my neck exercises. I hope some relatively simple solution awaits you.

Good luck, and please drop in to let us know how it goes.

Jeanna

Thanks to everyone for their input.

Jeanna, I hope you're right that it is my muscles reacting to the flare; it seems to make sense in that I've also been getting occasional headaches that seem like they are originating from my neck.

I've got an appointment with my rheumy next week so I'll request an x-ray and try to get to the root of the problem.

Thanks again,
Steve

Quote:

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I 've been having some release work done on my neck for the past couple of months

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David, can you elaborate on this? What do you mean by "release work"?