Getting diagnosed with one of the most painful diseases in the world

How did I get diagnosed with one of the most painful diseases in the world? Ankylosing spondylitis? So I've been getting a lot of requests to talk about my journey with this. I got, I've had it since I was 15 years old. So I've had it for over 15 years now. I did not get it diagnosed till I was 19. These type of diseases are notoriously hard to diagnose, cause it just presents as back pain, that's such a common thing that a lot of people have. But, um, it was unusual how young I was, uh, when it started. So when I first started having issues, it was when I was 15. I was cheerleading, and I was getting a lot of, like, I was a back spot, so I kept landing on the ground, catching my flyer, landing on my hips, and I started getting really intense hip pain. It kind of felt like sciatic nerve pain. Made it really hard to walk. I was limping a lot. And, like, sometimes it would get better with activity, sometimes not, but it would be, like, off and on a bit, but, like, it was just, it was really bad, but I was really limping and in a lot of pain. Um, but they thought it was a cheerleading industry injury. So they did some X-rays, they did blood work, and they kept just being like, yeah, cheerleading injury. And then I, I don't even remember if they gave me medicine or anything? Like, nothing really. I think they gave me like naproxen or something like. And this was kind of just going on for a long time, for like years. And I was just like, okay, like. But it would go away sometimes. I don't know, I couldn't really quite figure it out. I did figure out I couldn't lay on a flat hard surface, that would trigger it. Like if I was sedentary, that would trigger it. Like not moving around a lot. And then. So anytime I would get sick in college, it would flare up, um, because, like, I wasn't moving around a lot. And then. So anytime I would get sick in college, it would flare up, um, because, like, I wasn't moving around a lot. So before I went to study in Hong Kong, I had like the worst flare ever had, cause I was at home in the summer before I went on this trip and was being, you, really lazy. Like, I usually am someone who works out all the time, um, and I think that was helping the disease in general. But I'd been really lazy and then I was like, could not walk and I was like, oh my god, please help me. Um, so I finally went back to the same, like, sports medicine guy, and he did blood work again. And then this time they gave me a cortisone injection. Help for a little bit, wore off. In a week I was in insane pain all over Southeast Asia and Thailand, cause I wasn't also wasn't really working out that much. I was mostly partying and, like, running around, traveling and stuff. Um, but, like, in a ton of pain. Finally, the blood work showed inflammation, though. Like, it finally showed something. Um, and it's also, I got, like, a positive ANA, HLA, B, 20, seven, not A N A. Sorry. Um, and so once I was back, they took, I gotta go. Finally got in with a rheumatologist near me. Um, they can have really long wait list, so you kind of have to be a little bit aggressive. But I think since I was like, 19, um, they, like, rushed to get me in, kind of. And they put me straight away onto biologics. Usually you have to fail for insurance. You have to fail a few different levels of medication first. Um, but they got me straight on biologics, which. Or it was an injection once a week at the time. I started Embrel. Embrel worked amazing for me for years, years and years. Um, it worked really well, and then it eventually it stopped, and then I tried a bunch, and finally I'm back on another one that works well. It kind of takes a while. My brother actually has it as well, and his process was a lot shorter, because once it started, we were like, oh, runs in the family like, so he isn't as bad in general because he had a lower, like less time dealing with it. Um, I feel like this is really long, but let me know what other questions or how I can help in the comments cause I've been dealing with this for quite a long time. Uh, and follow for more like this.