Ankylosing Spondylitis

I think for me, some of the hardest aspects of having ankylosing spondylitis is that I feel like I can't do the things I used to love to do. I was an athlete, I used to snowboard, I used to surf, I used to play volleyball, and that's been really rough psychologically. Obviously, I'm getting older as well, but I feel like I can't just go play without getting hurt. It helps a lot if I'm gradually exercising and I can build up to it, but then even then, I'm just scared that I could hurt myself, and me falling would hurt a lot more than an average person falling because I have calcification on some of my joints, and that could break my joints. It's like having a bone. So it's really hard that way, and it's hard to describe to somebody, and it's hard not knowing what's going to happen and how much pain you have to suffer before you know what to do about it, and sometimes medications don't help. You also don't want pity, but it's really frustrating when you can't do the things that you should be able to do.