[MUSIC PLAYING] DR. POTTER: Sonya, how are you doing? Good to see you again.

SONYA: Hi, Dr. Potter. How's it been?

DR. POTTER: Everything's good. Everything has been good. So tell me about your treatments. How are the infusion therapies going?

SONYA: So currently, I'm getting my infusions every eight weeks. And I do find that last week has been a little bit challenging where stuff is wearing off. Is that common?

DR. POTTER: So the medicines that we're taking, they do have different levels of effectiveness in different patients. And some folks do great from one treatment period to another, and then some folks need a little bit of help in between for symptoms that come up during that time. Are you doing anything outside of your regular infusion therapies that helps with the discomfort you're having before?

SONYA: I've been trying to stretch in the mornings, stretch in the evening, taking some ibuprofen.

DR. POTTER: And those are both great. Those are absolutely great. So the stretching and the regular physical activity is very, very important in terms of management of AS. Ibuprofen helps too. A lot of patients get by with just that, but then some folks like yourself need other treatments. You and I used injectable medicines at one time, and they weren't quite as effective. And then the infusion therapies have helped a little bit more. But definitely, ibuprofen and stretching be part of everything you're doing.

SONYA: OK.

DR. POTTER: Anything else going on with you? Fevers or skin issues? Stomach problems? Eye issues? Have you noticed anything new?

SONYA: Actually, I've had a little bit of stomach issues recently. Sometimes I feel like I'm getting more bloated than I was before, but I wasn't really sure if that had anything to do with my AS.

DR. POTTER: It can. It can. And we always ask just to make sure there are several different symptoms that can arise outside of your muscles and out of your joints that can be associated with AS. Eye disease is one of those things. So folks will have eye pain or decreased vision, redness of their eyes. Stomach issues too can be pretty common. You can see folks that have bloating, nausea vomiting, changes in their bowel habits. And so it's important to keep track of those things to make sure we're not missing anything.

SONYA: So my son's been having some issues with his lower back. Is it something that runs in the family?

DR. POTTER: Definitely, yes. And remind me, how old is he now?

SONYA: He's 14.

DR. POTTER: OK. OK, so that's about the time that we start to be interested in those kind of symptoms, especially in young men. Ankylosing spondylitis is a disorder that's characterized by inflammation, and that can be inflammation of your back, inflammation in your eyes and your joints or in your stomach. Typically it's younger men, so about 70% of patients with AS or men or males, but it can affect women as well, obviously. And there is a genetic risk for it as well. There's some blood testing you can do to actually look for those types of findings. First things first, we should probably have the pediatrician weigh in, take a history, see how things are going. And if anything of concern pops up, you can obviously get him evaluated and get him looked at the same as we did for you.

The important thing to remember is as recently as 20, 25 years ago, we had almost no treatment options. And over the course of that 20-year period, we've got a host of different agents that now can help with the patients' symptoms and allow people to function and then go to work and interact with their families. It makes it a more manageable disorder. So we're hopeful that things continue to go in that fashion, and we'll get to a point where treatments are much, much better.

All right. Well, it's been good seeing you again. I'll see you soon. Take care, all right? SONYA: Thank you. Thanks for today. DR. POTTER: Absolutely, anytime.