Debbie and everyone--
I actually haven't even had an HLA-B27 test. He says that it isn't useful unless you are comparing the data to someone else in the family. I don't know why he won't do it to just shut me up at least. Since my brother has AS (really mild--he only had some trouble when he was about 9 or 10) I'm sure I'm positive for it. I don't know why they'll do all those tests for lupus and RA that are only little parts of the puzzle but won't do this one little part of this puzzle. My sed rate, btw, was 70 when I started seeing him. Now it is down to 8 from Remicade, imuran and prednisone, but I hurt worse now than when it was 70.
If this were fms it wouldn't have gotten better when I was on lots of prednisone, right? I looked up fms and it doesn't sound at all like my pain. Mine seems to be focused in joints, rather than all over, and I don't have any brain fog. Just distractions from pain. I thought I'd read that steriods actually aggravate fms.
Thank you all for helping me out. I'll tell you all how it goes. I have to leave here at 6:30 am tomorrow to get there, ugh. It's an hour and a half drive, so I should be good and stiff and pained by the time I get there!
I got a packet today that I had ordered from SAA that has rheumys interested in AS. Mine isn't on there, of course, but there are three others I can try that are not in offices I have already been to. Maybe one of them would work out better.
--Heather
