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Medical data is for informational purposes only. Always consult your family physician, or one of our referral physicians prior to treatment

.

This article to be read in conjunction with Arthritis: Osteoar-

thritis and Rheumatoid Disease Including Rheumatoid Arthritis

by Anthony di Fabio and Gus J. Prosch, Jr., M.D.

Ankylosing Spondilitis

By Anthony di Fabio

The Roger Wyburn-Mason and Jack M. Blount Foundation

for the Eradication of Rheumatoid Disease

AKA The Arthritis Trust of America

®

7376 Walker Road, Fairview, TN 37062

Copyright 1997

The Case of Thomas Benson

Through an endless progression of tests and treatments, phy-

sicians and clinics, Thomas Benson was delighted with his recov-

ery, saying, "After suffering for seven years with a debilitating, sup-

posedly incurable, auto-immune disease called Ankylosing

Spondylitis, I've found out how to defeat it. I'm cured at last!

"My illness began early in 1979, although I suspect that the

minor vasectomy operation I had in 1970 began the alteration of

my immune system, and also the beginning of my health's downslide.

"Early in 1979 I began getting severe arthritic-like pains in

various parts of my body. It might be behind a shoulder blade for

several days, then move to my neck, to a hip or to the small of my

back, or -- worst of all -- to my ribs.

"The nutritionist I sought help from could not alleviate the

problem, and after hundreds of dollars in tests, my traditional (allo-

pathic) physicians seemed to be baffled. This doctor told me I was

simply under stress, and it would take between 30 to 40 massages

to solve my problem. Between the excrutiatingly painful and ex-

pensive massages and vitamin B

12

shots, I soon lost patience.

"The next healer specialized in holistic medicine. His clinic

did not have fluorescent lights, considered harmful, no perfumes

were permitted because of possible patient allergies, and the bill

before I even started tests was humongous. This doctor went up

and down a lot of blind alleys, constantly coming back to the fact

that my hair analysis showed that I was suffering from excessive

aluminum. I couldn't believe this, as I was always careful to cook

in enamalware, and also I did not drink from canned soft drinks.

"Some years earlier I'd had some of my thyroid gland removed

with radioactive iodine at a time when I was told that I was secret-

ing too much thyroid. Of course, they got the dosage wrong, and

killed off too much tissue, which was the reason I was on thyroid

replacement therapy. The only thing I learned was that if I stopped

taking my thyroid supplements, arthritic-like pains began. (See "Thy-

roid Hormone Therapy: Cutting the Gordian Knot," http://

www.arthritistrust.org.)

"After much thrashing about with this new doctor, some of

my friends suggested I see an endocrinologist. The doctor proded

and poked, x-rayed and tested for more than an hour.

"I arrived at the next appointment one week later expecting to

find out what was wrong with me. Alas! It was not to be! All I got

from this endocrinologist, after thousands of dollars, was

gobbleygook: double-talk. He was so slippery it was impossible to

pin him down. I wouldn't have minded if he'd said, 'I really don't

know what's wrong with you,' but instead, he wanted me to talk to

his partner next week. His partner was a rheumatologist and prob-

ably could have given me an instant correct diagnosis, but the en-

docrinologist did not tell me this, and, as I was boiling mad by this

time, I didn't return for another appointment.

"I'd already read all the books about the famous Edgar Cayce,

and, being impressed, I went to a psychic. She also suggested that

my problems were a result of business stresses, and she referred me

to a psychiatrist, a man who worked with color wheels, and who

could, presumably, determine my emotional state from an analysis

of these wheels. (See "Stress," http://www.arthritistrust.org.)

"The psychiatrist made up music tapes for my meditation, and

I believe I blew another thousand dollars.

"In January somehow I blundered into a rheumatologist's of-

fice and received the diagnosis that I suffered from arthritis, and I

was pronounced as incurable. Two years of agony, and two years of

shifting from one 'expert' to another, and now I was incurable?

"One day I became acquainted with a lady whose husband

was (unknown to me) a rheumatologist. As I was impressed with

reports of his honesty, I visited his office, and he described for me

a number of my symptoms, including some I didn't know I had,

especially pain located at key points. He obviously knew my dis-

ease well. When I left his office I had mixed emotions: almost joy

that I finally knew I had Ankylosing Spondilitis, and extreme sor-

row, that I was 'incurable.'

"In my case the calcium deposits itself in the spine, and the

spine slowly fuses, and bends to the left and forward, a scoliosis. I

was originally 6'2" tall and was now about 5'7". That's not the worst

part. All the nerves of the body pass through the spine. Calcium

deposits press on nerves causing severe joint and muscle pains

throughout the body. The imbalance caused by bending forward

and sideways also causes special muscular strain and tension. Gradu-

ally you lose neck movement, which makes it difficult when you

come to a stop sign while driving. Soon you find yourself discover-

ing stray coins, as your gaze is constantly at floor level. (See "Ten-

dinitis and Tenosynovitis," and "Sclerotherapy, Proliferative

Therapy, Reconstructive Therapy: Treatment of First Choice for

Osteoarthritis and for Other Arthritic-like Pain," http://

www.arthritistrust.org.)

"Since the nature of my disease was 'migratory' I never knew

what part of my body would hurt and be very sensitive to touch.

One becomes 'untouchable.' You can imagine what this can do to a

relationship or even with just your friends!

"One day the wife of a friend wanted to give me a hug and a

kiss, saying goodbye. She pulled me down to her level. I screamed

loudly and half scared her to death

"The disease is also a debilitating one. It saps your energy so

that you barely get by at work, and in the evening you'll fall asleep

at the TV, and you find yourself staying at home nights more fre-

quently, because the disease affects you nocturnally, when you're

all achy and sore so that you hardly feel sociable.

"It was emotionally devastating to me to go from a tall, lean,

tennis-playing athelete to a bent, shriveled man looking many years

older than my actual age.

"I later learned that the tendency for this disease is genetic, as

my mother's brother, my uncle, had had it, although he was wrongly

diagnosed as having Osteoarthritis. It also seems to be more preva-

lent among women than among men, and it usually starts in the late

teens, with exceptions. I was 48 years-of-age when mine became

apparent.

"I was still angry with all the physicians who'd taken my money,

and couldn't put a finger on what was wrong with me, when I vis-

ited the rheumatologist who'd named my disease. He put me on a

non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, Clinoril

®

. I was also supposed

to take a muscle relaxant, but it gave me a "martini buzz," and so I

refused to take it very long. I couldn't function with two martinis in

me all day.

"After taking Clinoril for a solid year, I noticed I was barely

dragging around, and I was having stomach pains and indigestion.

Another physician discovered that I was anemic, and discovered

that the side effects of the drug I'd been taking were ulcers and

anemia, etc., and so I cut the dosage in half for several weeks, and

®