Originally Posted by Mere

Pain in the lower back with buttock pain and pain going into the thigh and side of the leg can be inflammation of the sacroiliac joints. I have been diagnosed with (female) ankylosing spondylitis. It is an autoimmune disease usually affecting males but can also occur 1:4 in females. I have bone pain in my SI joints - not in the joint space but in the bone. It is imflammatory and also causes pain in my tendons (tenosynovitis), arthritis in my hands, neck, ribs and other joints. I also have peripheral and autonomic neuropathy and fibromyalgia. I don't know if the neurological problem is connected to the rheumatic problem. I tend to think they are related somehow...

AS in women is very hard to diagnose. It does not usually show in an x-ray and does not show in blood (seronegative) except for perhaps a sed rate... an MRI with contrast does show destroyed bone though. I do have a very good rheumy whom I have been seeing for about 8 years. It did take time to get a diagnosis.

Hope you feel better and that perhaps this may help.

Mere

P.S. I forgot to mention... if it is the SI joint involved, a rheumy will know based on palpation. There is very specific pain in a very precise location in the joint that makes you jump off the table that can be distinguished from spinal and hip pain. I thought only my left side was affected but with palpation, both sides are now known to be painful and damaged.