Symptoms.
1, back or lumbosacral pain
2.Waking up in the morning is a stiffness of the lumbar spine and unfavorable movement, called morning stiffness
3, ascending pain, that is, pain spreading upward from the sacral area
4, wandering chest pain
5.Heel pain
6.Asymmetric peripheral (limb) arthritis
7. Restriction of spinal movement, or even partial stiffness
8.General fatigue, shortness of breath, weakness
9.Loss of vision or iritis
Treatment: There is no cure for the disease.
I. Physical therapy and sports exercise
Physical therapy is the application of electricity, light, sound, magnetism, heat and other physical factors to treat the disease. The most commonly used methods are magnetic therapy, audio therapy, short wave and heat therapy. Physical therapy should be performed under the guidance of an experienced physical therapist. Exercise is very important for AS patients because it can not only slow down the progress of the disease, but also improve respiratory function, prevent muscle atrophy, maintain bone density and strength, and prevent osteoporosis. Therefore, AS patients should persistently exercise, and should not be afraid of pain and take the method of less movement or even not moving.
Second, drug treatment
Drug treatment can control the patient’s symptoms faster, eliminate inflammation, relieve the disease, and enable the patient to better exercise, but drug treatment may bring various adverse reactions to the patient. Therefore, patients should understand the role of the drugs they take and the possible side effects, currently commonly used drugs for the treatment of AS are non-steroidal anti-inflammatory and analgesic drugs, chronic-acting drugs and glucocorticoids.
(a) Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory and analgesic drugs These drugs have fast onset of action and can control pain in a short time, so they are the most widely used drugs. Commonly used varieties are diclofenac sodium, euthyroxine, ibuprofen, etc. Their common side effects are gastrointestinal adverse reactions. Patients with a history of peptic ulcers and bleeding should use these drugs with caution and combine them with gastric mucosal protectors when necessary. The recently marketed selective cyclooxygenase II inhibitors Mopiko and Emmerich have a higher safety profile in the digestive tract.
(B) Chronic-acting drugs Commonly used are salazosulfapyridine, methotrexate and so on. These drugs have a slow onset of action and take about 3 months to take effect, so they are called slow-acting drugs. In addition to gastrointestinal reactions, these drugs can also cause leukopenia and skin rash, etc. These drugs should be used under the guidance of a doctor.
(iii) Glucocorticoids Glucocorticoids as a class of drugs for AS have strong anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects, but because they cannot control the development of AS and have more side effects, they should not be used as the first choice for the treatment of AS. It can be appropriately applied to AS patients with the following conditions
(l) For those who cannot tolerate or have poor efficacy of NSAIDs, small dose prednisone treatment can be used instead. The dose is usually not more than 10mg/day.
(2) If there is peripheral single joint inflammation such as knee osteoarthritis, glucocorticoids can be used for local injection.
(3) Those with severe extra-articular manifestations such as acute iridocyclitis, cardiopulmonary involvement, etc.