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Some women who think they have CFS actually have ankylosing spondylitis

keepontruckin

Senior Member
Messages
210
Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is an autoimmune disease that does not appear the same in women as it does it men. It is easier to diagnose in men because they usually show the joint and skeletal changes more clearly on imaging while women may have more peripheral damage. I think there is a certain number of women who think they have cfs that actually have AS. The symptoms vary a lot from person to person. If you are a woman who has experienced back pain off and on since your teens or twenties, read up on the symptoms and make sure you could not have it. The pains can show up at times in the tendons that connect with bone or pain abdomen, feet, neck knees etc. These pains vary and come and go. It also has the cfs symptoms of fatigue, cognitive issues, irritable bowel (perhaps 40% of patients), etc. The problem is that the disease progresses if it is not found early enough and the medical profession has not done a good job of identifying women with it. It is interesting that there is a connection between adhd and AS.
 

Gingergrrl

Senior Member
Messages
16,171
There is also now a sub-forum for Autoimmunity & Autoimmune Diseases and I can move it there if you want me to? We haven’t made a formal announcement about that sub-forum yet but it now has 15 pages of threads re: autoimmune related topics.