Your AS Journey

NICE ‘SPONDYLOARTHRITIS IN OVER 16s’ GUIDELINE

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MAKING DECISIONS TOGETHER

You should be a part of every decision made about your care so you can discuss and agree which treatments suit your needs. Your healthcare team, which may include healthcare professionals such as consultant rheumatologists and other specialists, GPs, specialist nurses, physiotherapists or other therapists and pharmacists, should involve you by:

  • Talking and listening to you so that they understand what matters to you
  • Giving you all the information you need to make informed decisions
  • Explaining if they think something won't work for you and why, and discussing other options you could try instead
  • Giving you details for someone in your healthcare team who you can contact if you have any questions
You can find more information about how you should
be involved in your care on the NICE website Please note that by clicking on external links you are leaving this tool and neither Novartis nor NASS are responsible for the content you find.
Information and advice

You should get explanations and information about AS. Information should be relevant to your needs and condition, verbal and written, and available whenever you need it. You might also have questions for your healthcare team.

Questions you might want to ask

  • How will I be diagnosed?
  • Will my condition get better or worse?
  • What symptoms might I get? How can I cope with them?
  • What can I do to help myself?
  • What treatments (medicines and other treatments) are available?
  • What are the long-term risks of taking my medicines? What are their side effects?
  • Is there ongoing research that might help me in the future?
  • Which healthcare professionals will I see, and where are they based? How do I get in touch with them?
  • Am I at a greater risk of getting other medical problems?
  • Where can I find more support in my area, online and nationally?

For further information and advice contact NASS at 020 8741 1515.

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RHE18-C002
April 2018
This tool has been developed by Novartis in collaboration with NASS

ABOUT THIS TOOL

How can this tool help me?

This interactive tool aims to bring the NICE ‘Spondyloarthritis in over 16s’ Guideline to life. It will help you understand the AS journey and the care you should receive.

It contains content from the NICE Guideline itself, plus additional interactive content and other downloadable information and resources.

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ABOUT AS

What is axial spondyloarthritis?

Spondyloarthritis is an umbrella term for inflammatory diseases that involve both the joints and the entheses (the sites where the ligaments and tendons attach to the bones). The most common form is axial spondyloarthritis (AS), which is also known as ankylosing spondylitis when the changes to the joints can be seen on an x-ray. Why this happens is not fully understood, but research shows that it can run in families — spondyloarthritis is more common in people who have a particular variant of the HLA-B gene, called HLA-B27.

Other conditions increase a person's risk of developing spondyloarthritis. These include:

  • An itchy, scaly skin condition called psoriasis
  • Inflammatory bowel disease (Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis)
  • Certain infections, such as some stomach bugs or sexually transmitted infections (STIs)
  • A painful eye condition called uveitis

This tool focuses on the likely treatment journey of AS patients, but the other main type of spondyloarthritis is peripheral spondyloarthritis, which causes pain, stiffness and swelling in the hands, feet, arms and legs - the most common form is psoriatic arthritis (PsA).

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ABOUT THE NICE GUIDELINES

Information on NICE

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) gives advice to staff working in health and social care. NICE guidelines help them give the best care to people with different conditions and needs.

Click here for information on NICE Please note that by clicking on external links you are leaving this tool and neither Novartis nor NASS are responsible for the content you find.

More information on the ‘Spondyloarthritis in over 16s’ Guideline

NICE wrote the ‘Spondyloarthritis in over 16s: diagnosis and management’ Guideline with people who have been affected by spondyloarthritis and staff who support them. The content included in this tool is taken from the Information for the Public section of the NICE Guideline. To read the full Guideline, please click the link below

Click here for more information on the ‘Spondyloarthritis in over 16s’ Guideline Please note that by clicking on external links you are leaving this tool and neither Novartis nor NASS are responsible for the content you find.

Your healthcare professional should be familiar with the NICE Guidelines, so talk to them if you have any queries or feel you are not getting the care you should be getting according to the Guideline.

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Please note that by clicking on external links you are leaving this tool and neither Novartis nor NASS are responsible for the content you find.

To consent and leave this tool, click here Return to website

Please note that by clicking on external links you are leaving this tool and neither Novartis nor NASS are responsible for the content you find.

To consent and leave this tool, click here Return to website

Please note that by clicking on external links you are leaving this tool and neither Novartis nor NASS are responsible for the content you find.

To consent and leave this tool, click here Return to website