Dear Sir,
I am a 53 year old male who was in good health before the onset of my condition which began on june 6th, 2005 this year. I awoke on april 22 with exptreme pain in my hips and legs. There was no reason why I should have any pain there…my exercise was only walking, which I did everyday for about 30 minutes, so this was already unusual for me.
after a couple of weeks of suffering badly with pain I went to a clinic in may and was diagnosed with ” a lumbar neuropathy”. Since then the pain became worse and escalated by going into both shoulders and upper arms, my lower back, spine, neck, buttocks, and both feet. I went to an emergency hospital on june 6th….they took blood tests, back x-rays, ecg, and a physical exam by the physician…the physician told me he thought I had ankylosing spondylitis…..my test results were: HLA B27 negative (I did not have) RF-5 (normal) ESR-15 normal uric acid 4.6 NE (normal) and all the other blood tests came back in the normal range..also back x-rays were fine….when i called to get this information I was told by another physician that I don’t have the gene for ankylosing spondylitis, just all of the symptoms. The pain is most severe at nite when trying to sleep and especially in the morning when I try to get out of bed. I am so severely stiff, and painfully sore that I can hardly get up. Simple tasks are now difficult to do, such as getting dressed putting on socks and shoes.(almost imposssible to lift my legs up to do this now) Walking is very difficult because of the pain in hips, legs and feet.. When I sit down and get up the pain is acute and I have to stand & wait at least a minute before I can walk…..also sitting down the pain is severe, its painful to even sit for longer than a few minutes…..the back side of my legs starts to hurt within moments and my feet as well. I was prescribed hydrocodone for the pain which helps a little, but doesn’t adequately treat this kind of pain. It is a very deep kind of pain that feels like it goes thru muscles, nerves, tendons, ligaments, etc. and the pain can be very sharp, especially upon sudden movements etc.Since the onset of this condition it has worsened day by day to the point where I am worried that I will not be able to get out of bed or walk etc. It has disturbed my sleeping habits also. I only can sleep a few hours a nite because of the severe pain….every time I try to turn over in bed I am awakened by this. I can only sleep on my back. I also get chills, cold sweats after doing simple tasks, and feel a kind of weakness in my legs. I have become nervous and full of anxiety because of all this and overall I just don’t feel well….low energy level. I have been to another dr. since the ER visit, and he thought It could be some kind of arthritic condition, but he doesn’t know for sure and seems puzzled by my symptoms.
I would very much appreciate your opinion on this.
Thank you in advance for taking the time to answer.

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Dr. Joshua’s Answer:

Ankylosing Spondylitis usually affects young males. More than 90% of these are HLA-B27 positive. Some of your symptoms mimic ankylosing spondylitis, but most of them do not fit, especially the upper arm symptoms. My guess is this is something else. You have been examined and the lab works have been done. I’m just as puzzled as your own doctor. Here again, careful clinical examination by a physician is key. I recommend getting a second (yet another) opinion, for instance from a rheumatologist, complete with a thorough lab work, and/or a neurologist and possibly get an MRI of the whole spine done, just to rule out the possibility of any neurological illness affecting the spinal cord or nerve roots.?