my wife has ankylosing spondylitis a form of arthritis. She has been diagnosed with it for now over 15 yrs.

A good friend of mine has it also. He is overweight, has to use a cane, and is often in pain.

My wife runs races, works out every day and is....well a HCBW no joke she is very fit and is going to be 50 next year (don't tell her I revealed her age 🙂 )

What's the difference? Diet

My friend drinks energy drinks bc he feels worn out. He does not exercise.

My wife is the opposite, she exercises daily, she stays active and she is very particular about her diet. She eats practically ZERO sugar.

We found an article back when she was diagnosed with arthritis that one of the effects of sugar is joint inflammation (https://www.healthline.com/health/foods-to-avoid-with-arthritis )

Also she recently tore both hamstrings and is in PT right now and as she spoke with her therapist she mentioned the ankylosing spondilitis and he said the same thing that high sugar high carb intakes is very bad for arthritis.

So in the long term for your wife's arthritis, this is something that can help her. She'll feel better emotionally and mentally as well from the exercise.

One last note. We cannot attribute everything to just diet and exercise but again my friend is on medication and so is my wife.

My wife take a monthly injection of Simponi (https://www.simponi.com/)

I hope you and your wife figure out what is wrong. It took as several years to figure it all out and get the right medication and get the diet/eating habits changed but her life is much better. I'd say 90% normal and the last couple of years, you'd have no idea.

Be patient and keep looking for the answers till you feel comfortable about it. There were times when I almost thought my wife was a hypochondriac but I kept my mind open and she kept searching.