We both woke up with a startle in what felt like the middle of the night.

It was a strange sound like a hollow door or window slamming.

I had a headache, presumably the drinks last night, so I got up and went downstairs to grab a glass of water.

I downed 2 pints of water and then woke up at 9am feeling a lot better and the headache had gone.

It’s been quite a good day today.

No major twinges on the AS to speak of.

Lunch was the same thing as yesterday, fried eggs and chestnut mushrooms and salad.

After that I went out for my walk.

I had a text message from the NHS saying they found something in my blood and that I need to book another appointment.

It was the same message as the last ones and it said not to be concerned so I think I might wait and see if I get my rheumatology appointment rather than booking yet another one.

The GP didn’t really seem to have any interesting information that I couldn’t find online last time.

I’m assuming this one is the test they did in rheumatology for the specific AS gene.

I feel relieved rather than nervous about this result.

I think it’s pretty much going to confirm everything I feel like I already know.

My sister called. She had just been speaking to her Naturopath and she had asked him about my condition.

Apparently after talking about the symptoms he immediately guessed it was ankylosing spondylitis. He said there’s a very simple test they can do to see if I’ve got it and he was surprised I haven’t had the results yet.

So I’m assuming that this was the message that I was getting from the NHS. It’s only there in 90% of cases but I think that’s probably enough.

Anyway he told her that I should avoid nightshade vegetables and also tomatoes and sour things and vinegar. Lemons as well.

So that’s good to know. She said he didn’t seem particularly fazed by it.

She also said that if I do have it then the whole family probably need to get tested. I felt guilty as if I had somehow passed on this gene but of course it’s coming from either mum or dad!

I had one flare twinge on my walk near the canal. It was like a one second thing and it nearly made me fall over because it was quite intense but then it seemed to pass.

So it’s a mixed bag on my back today but in general the main symptom today has just been stiffness with two random twinges.

I’ve been thinking about what Raj said and I’m wondering whether one of the sauces I’ve been eating could have caused the problem.

Apparently it can trigger really quickly, like within half an hour or so, so that would make sense as it wasn’t immediately as I ate it that it happened.

I really hope that is the case because everything else was going so well.

One thing I forgot to mention is that I noticed that about mid-morning that I seem to have what feels like a little bruise on my lower spine. It doesn’t hurt unless there’s pressure on it but it’s it’s slightly fatty and raised and when you push it it feels a bit like a bruise.

Obviously I got panicked this could be something horrific but I think it’s quite normal so I’m going to monitor it over the next few days and see if anything changes. Looking at it’s in the mirror you can kind of see where it is but there’s no this colouring like a bruise it really is almost like a little mound of fat on there.