If your back is stiff and hurts when you move, if it hurts to touch two points at the side of the top of your pelvis where it joins your spine (the sacroiliac joint), and if your back x ray shows signs of this disease, you probably suffer from ankylosing spondylitis. You may also have pain and swelling in your eyes, lungs, and heart valves. Most doctors think that ankylosing spondylitis is an autoimmune disease in which a person’s immunity is so stupid that it attacks and destroys the joints in his back, rather than just doing its job of protecting a person from infection. They treat you with immune suppressants that may make you feel better, but increase your risk for infections and cancers and shorten your life. Nobody really knows why you have this condition, but the overwhelming evidence is that you inherited your susceptibility from your parents and you got this condition from an infection.

Source: DrMirkin