I have noticed something very interesting. My bouts of extreme spondylitis always happen after a flare up of my ulcerative colitis. I will have an extreme UC flare, which will die down either with the help of steroids, or recently in my case lots of supplements, and then my spondylitis will flare up. After about two weeks the pain in my back will travel to one of my hips and the glute area and often get so painful I need to go to hospital. My knee area will often swell up to a large size as well requiring a steroid injection.

Now, this is interesting to me. How might all these be related? The pain is excrutiating. Could a virus be involved?