A.S. Face 0611: Zulai Suarez

My name is Zulai Suarez 24yr old mother of 1. I live in Dallas, TX
Officially diagnosed with AS 2mo ago but have had all the signs and symptoms since I was about 15 yrs old I was happy to know what the pain and back slouching finally was but unfortunate to also know that there is no cure and that it is progressive. This year my body seem to hurt more and I have Been seeing a Rheumatologist we tried anti inflammatory and had no relief from them. So we decide to start Enbrel well 3 weeks into it I started getting worse while in the shot my doctor told me to stop the shot as I was having a bad reaction to it had lupus like syndrome one of the rare side effects from Enbrel. Am now back on anti inflammatory and my doctor has decided to stick with that to help inflammation and when am in bad pain take steroids. Am trying to live as normal as a life I can for as long as I can and hope that progression will slow down with the help of exercise and eating right

Texas United States of America

2 Responses to “A.S. Face 0611: Zulai Suarez”

Dear Zula,
Thank you so much for sharing your story with us.
Sincerely Cookie

Cookie Has A.S. said this on September 15, 2012 at 9:12 pm | Reply
Welcome to Faces Zulai. A lot of AS symptoms mimic aging or other diseases. It takes time to sort out the issues and find best way to go. Steroids are sometime necessary, but have some bad side effects and are not good for long term care. I hope you will be persistent in searching for treatments that work for you. Not all rheumatologists are equal. If this one hits a dead end you might look for one that participates in research or teaches at a med school. Those generally have the more current options and insight. I started with Dr. Bernard Ruben @TCOM in Fort Worth before moving to Houston. He is very good. Be strong!

Brian said this on September 16, 2012 at 9:17 am | Reply

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