I am a 72 year old female and was diagnosed with AS probably 20 years ago. I had symptoms for much longer than that. Excrutiating hip pain and lower back pain. I was first diagnosed with RA. My Rhuematologist wanted to put me on one of the more expensive DMARDS but I never thought my insurance would pay for them so we started at the very bottom, old tried and true Sulfasalazine, aka Asulfadine. The purpose was to slow any progression of either RA or AS. Over time, the dosage was increased to 1500 mg 2x daily which was the limit. . I then was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease, for which they prescribe sulfasalazine as well but for 2000mg 2x daily. And so it remains to this day. I don't believe it is any longer doing anything for me, but the Dr. is afraid to take me off for fear it will create a worse problem. A few years back they did start me on Humira. All of these drugs lower your immune system and leave you more open to infection. With Humira, if you get any type of infection, you must stop taking it. I ended up with Cellulitis on both legs on 3 occasions over about 6 to 7 months. I was forced to stop Humira for good because it caused too many infections and I was off it more than I was on it. I don't believe Hunira is one you can take on call when the pain is bad. Additionally, I have COPD which was the reason they didn't want to give Humira earlier because it does affect one's breathing and they thought it would kill me! So it remains, each autoimmune disease affecting the other making life miserable. I would strongly suggest that your son be on one of the disease modifying arthritic drugs to stop the disease from progressing. I never had that opportunity when I was younger because they couldn't diagnose what I had. I wish you good luck, and suggest he keep moving which was something I didn't do well.