Small update. I had my shot today. I was ecstatic to feel almost total relief from the anesthesia. Unfortunately, it made me notice my knee and hip pain more. The anesthesia has already worn off, and I'm feeling about the same amount of pain I always have. I'll monitor the situation closely over the next week and see what happens.

I talked to my primary care doctor today for the first time since I got my MRI results. She was unsurprisingly much more open to giving me pain medication; she even apologized for it taking so long for me to get some. I understand that she didn't want to give a 22 year old narcotics without proof of pain. I could have been any other drug junkie. After telling her all of my symptoms, she seemed to agree that ankylosing spondylitis could be a very real diagnosis. She ordered blood tests to test for the blood marker that is found in 90%+ of AS patients. I know this is a back forum, but I've been having pretty bad knee pain and hip/groin pain for at least a year, so I'm getting X-Rays and MRI's done on those areas soon. Also, I'm getting my cervical spine imaged, too. I'm not expecting more than some basic DDD being there, but it does hurt quite a bit, and problems with the spinal cord up there scares me.

I finally feel like I'm getting somewhere with all of this. I don't want to make this my personal blog, so I'll try not to clog up the board with unnecessary posts. I'll still be checking daily for any advice you guys may have, though (I still really, really need it!). You guys are awesome!