Bobbi,

I actually just had the test for the genetic marker HLA-B27 a few days ago. I just received the results, and it was negative. Trigeminal Neuralgia is what the neurologist thought was the problem with my face since I had so much facial pain (stabbing pain.) However, my arm/leg have both been going numb, and I have back pain and a terrible pain at the base of my head. Thank goodness, that the medicine has helped with all this, but it seems as though it is just masking the pain not solving the problem. Just curious, how common would it be for someone to have AS without the genetic marker. I know that this would strongly suspected to be the problem at one point due to the lower back pain (hip area) and the iritis, but maybe the back pain is simply from the bulging discs/spinal stenosis.