Ankylosing spondylitis is a rare type of arthritis that causes pain and stiffness in your spine. This lifelong condition typically starts in your lower back. It can also spread up to your neck or damage joints in other parts of your body. Severe cases can leave your spine hunched. Read further to learn more about it.
What are the early symptoms of ankylosing spondylitis?
The ankylosing spondylitis symptoms most commonly appear before age 45. Your pain might be worse in the morning or after sitting for a long time. You might notice:
- Bony fusion
Ankylosis means fused bones or other hard tissue. Spondylitis means inflammation in your backbones. Ankylosing spondylitis can cause an overgrowth of the bones which might lead to abnormal joining of bones known as bony fusion. This leads to stiffness and restriction of movements.
- Mild aches in your low back or buttocks that come and go
Ankylosing spondylitis is a chronic, progressive disease. Although exercise and pain medications might help temporarily, the disease might gradually worsen. Symptoms might come and go, but they will not stop completely. Quite often, the pain spreads from the lower back up along the spine.
- Pain and stiffness
Constant pain and stiffness in your shoulders, lower back and hips are experienced for more than three months.
- Swelling in your joints
Spondylitis might also affect some of the ligaments and tendons that attach to the bones. This could lead to swelling, pain and stiffness of the joints.
- Unexplained pain in your thigh, foot, or heel
Instead of back pain, some might first experience pain in the heel or pain and stiffness in the joints of the wrists, ankles or other joints.
- Chest pain
When your rib bones are affected at the point where they meet the spine, it can cause tightness in the chest that makes it hard to breathe.
- Tiredness
Ankylosing spondylitis symptoms might not be limited to the joints. You might also experience fever, tiredness and loss of appetite.
Ankylosing spondylitis symptoms can differ from person to person. Your condition might also change quicker or slower than someone else’s.
How to treat ankylosing spondylitis?
The conventional ankylosing spondylitis treatment is helpful to give you control in pain but does not control the disease itself. With the progress of time, one might experience more pain and more stiffness. In some people, other joints and body parts like eyes, lung and heart might get affected. The medicines might also cause several side effects.
Starting with homeopathic ankylosing spondylitis treatment simultaneously definitely helps in better control and long-term benefits. The classical homeopathic approach of individualization is found to be the best approach in remedy selection for ankylosing spondylitis. This approach includes the study of your individualizing ankylosing spondylitis symptoms and how they are different from others suffering from the same disease. The ankylosing spondylitis treatment duration might be long. But positive changes can be witnessed within four to six weeks of commencing the homeopathic ankylosing spondylitis treatment. The outcome of the treatment depends upon the stage at which the patient has approached for homeopathic treatment. Homeopathic medicines are safe as these are natural medicines, without any side-effects and can be taken safely for a long duration.
Conclusion
By knowing the early symptoms of ankylosing spondylitis, you can be aware of when to consult a homeopath. With homeopathic ankylosing spondylitis treatment, there will be control in pain, improvement in stiffness of joints, improvement in general symptoms like fatigue, weakness, anemia, improvement in strength, and reduction in the use of allopathic medications like steroids over a period of time if you have become dependent on them.
