I'm very tired...I wake up in the mornings hurting to the point that it's hard to walk to the next room. My right hand is swollen, index finger and thumb is the worst. My MD sent me to a arthris dr. he told me I had all the signs for psortic arthris put because I did not have the skin lesions he named it OA. And put me on Dicfloniac for swelling. Well, that does not help. I hurt so bad starting from my head down. below my shoulders, not the joint feels more like muscle on both arms ache,on both elbows on the inside feels like a certain point aches, and sore to the touch, mostly my right hand wrist is painful, my thumb is swollen and my index finger with a node on the end joint close to the nail. Swollen, fever, my thumb feels like it is out of socket, I even went to a orthropedic dr and had my hand xray. He said it was arthris. My hips ache both knees hurt, I've had 3 sets of shots in my knees for the pain. my right foot hurts under the bottom close to the toes, I went to the foot dr and he said I had a torn tendon and put me in a wrap for about 6 weeks, My second toe from the big toe was swollen and sausage like (this was also during my first visit with the arthris specialist) so the pain did go away for maybe 1month or so. But, now it's the third toe doing the same thing.swollen,feverish, the bones just ache. The right foot looks deformed.
This whole thing has made me very depressed and tired. I go in the morning for a second or third opinion. I'm just very tired ...I've been taking pain pills for the pain, or else I could'nt survive this pain. Just wanted to get some feed back from someone else that might be going thru this same thing. My last days of very little pain was March the 17th. and last WED and THRU. I keep a journal so maybe the DR and help me. I'm 46 years old and feel uncertain or my future. Sorry so long.:confused:

Hello,

Don't be down, I know how frustrating it all is, but staying positive is the only way you can keep going. I have psoriatic arthritis, have had it for 5 years. When I get up in the morning I cannot move very quickly and walking out of the bedroom is awful - like a 90 year old woman (I am 50). I have arthritis in my neck, elbows, wrists, fingers, hip, knees, ankles and toes. I am registered disabled now. I gave up work last year, and although things are very tight, it was the best thing I could ever have done, I was so tired all the time, and very miserable trying to get to work every day feeling so rough. Now, I can take my time in the mornings and on good days do as much as I can, and on bad days I sit on the computer, or watch tv and let the world go by. It has taken me a year to settle into a new way of living, but I am getting there. As for medication - how long have you got? I have taken all the dmards available, been on diclofenac, strong painkillers, and anti inflammatories. Then came the steroids, been on them over a year, very good and make you feel better, but weight piled on. So now started a mixture of dmards and antiinflammatories - Leflunomide and Arcoxia and feel slightly better joint wise, just a littl giddy with the drugs. Some days some joints hurt, other days others. My fingers are bent and my toes hurt when walking. If you have any questions please ask. but please dont get down, think of something positive and each day set yourself a small task, not large ones. Your rheumatologist will eventually find drugs that help your situation.
Regards
Ronnie ;)

thanks Ronnie for posting. I just had to watch my husband pull out the drive with the boat. I love to fish and we use to do it together but right now I can't even go down the doorsteps, let alone climb in the boat.
Do you have skin problems with your psoriatic arthritis?
I have a very good job. But, I have such a hard time in the mornings getting ready for work, I show up with out make up on my hair not brush half the time. Thank god the new look is wind blown. After, I take something for pain after lunch I manage to get ready after being there already 5 hours. My supervisor is real good, she sees the difference in me over the past 8 months. She is the one that I talk to about my health problems. I think my husband (married 30 yrs) really don't believe that I hurt the way I do. Because the days or hours that I don't hurt I try to make the best of it and do the normal things as he says you were doing this and that just yetersday.
And now your hurting he says that just don't make sense. So, therefore I don't talk to him much about it.
Thanks again Ronnie for replying. I just hope the dr I see tomorrow when understand how I feel and offer some hope. It gets very depressing having to watch the world go by from inside.

Your symptoms seem to indicate that you might have psoriatic arthritis (PA). The swelling in finger and toe joints (esp. "sausage" fingers) are very classical PA symptoms. I have both PA and psoriasis and the sausage fingers were the key to my diagnosis. From what I have read it is quite possible to have PA w/o psoriasis so lack of skin lesions does not rule out PA.
I used to be very stiff in the mornings - getting out of bed was a chore. I take celebrex (Cox-2 inhibitor) and it really helps me. In fact, if I dont take it for 2-3 days my body stiffness returns with a vengeance.
I have taken methotrexate in bursts over the last many years. It helps with psoriasis but does not seem to make PA better. My rheumatologist has been after me for years to try the new biologic drugs (Enbrel, Remicade, Humira, etc).