Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group Ok second Rjeumy visit

So this was my follow up appointment to my orginal a month ago. At the original he took blood and that is what we reviewed at my appointment yesterday. My ESR is 9 which he said is very good he also said my CRP was very good but I forgot to ask the number. He basically said all in all this is a mild case. That is good but leaves me at kind of at a standstill of what to do next. The first NSAID he prescribed made me sick and now he wants me to try a second one before we go to TNF. I guess I still have my same issue/concern. How do I have any damage if all my numbers came back good and I don't really have any pain. Do I really need to even bother with the NSAID's if I am not in pain? My only goal is to prevent damage and I don't think the NSAID's can do that. I am glad that my case is so mild but it is just very confusing to figure out what is going to help and then if it is actually helping. Oh well I go back to him in two months and I guess we can discuss the TNF's then

Chris

i get the impression from everything i've read, from what people here have said, and from my own experiences, that CRP and ESR values that are low don't often mean much for the spondys.....on the other hand, for me, its all about the pain...so i'm not really sure what to say if you don't have much pain....don't really know how bad the disease can progress painfree...others might know this more.....

sue

chris, aloha

by it's very nature this thingee is episodic...you can have more pain and infammation
from one day to the next...it's like a carousel ride...

and esr and crp are at best imperfect measurements of disease activity.

all the best...good luck