psoriatic arthritis

[katmell]

Hi I am new to this board and have Psoriatic athritis. I live in New Zealand & my son who lives in Australia also has this condition. He is 36. My son was diagnosed before me and it is genetic even though I had been suffering with this for at least 10 yrs prior to my son. Now been aprox 12yrs. It seemed aprox every 3yrs I got a major attack. The last one attacked my knee so bad which has taken over 2 yrs before I could bend my knee again. It is still very painful most times though. Where as my son had a major attack 1st time, to his knee and spine. I was told this is the only athritis that doesn't show up in blood test, only in xrays. Meds: other than predisone I was 1st on Salazopyrin which attacked my liver (boy did that make me sick) putting me in hospital. Then was on methotrexate which I also had to stop as that attacked my liver also. So at the moment taking nothing to slow the condition down, only pain relief medication and injections. Interesting to see other meds out there,though not sure if available here in NZ. Info I have is that it does go dormant for a while but flares up every 2 to 3 yrs. And usually attacks 1 major joint at a time. I have found I have broken sleep at nights, get over heated and have to get up sometimes to cool down. Or when at my worse get up as need to move around due to the discomfort. Does anyone else get over heated? Well to all of you out there all the best and I will cont to read this page.

[mcjonval]

Hello. How are you today? You sound like I did when I first got on this blog. I am the wife of mcjonval, and YES he struggles with heat also. We do not know about other meds yet because he was only recently diagnosed(though he had it many years pryor)we only know about a couple. He has the MTX, but has not started it yet. All the stuff he hears and reads has actually kept him from starting it. I would like him to try it and see what it does but can't force him to do it. so...ill wait. I had looked up a few sites on PA and found one called EMBREL....understanding psoriatic Arthritis. It was a very good site as far as I could tell with knowing little. Is that the med you take by injection? His PA started pryor with psorisis. He has it pretty bado n head,kness,elbows, and leg. Some toes deformity. later one finger swelled up...then two... etc.... Later he was sick with so many different symptoms. Pain...naussousness...pain in morning, and stiffness. Some dizziness, and dyaria for a short time. Fatigue...sweating heat..intense pain in hands, fingers, wrist, elbows. mental fogginess...confusion...irrability....ur inating alot....(we do not know about this one yet)and so much more too. It has been a VERY hard thing to deal with for both him and myself. I hope sharing these things helps you to know that you are not alone in all this. Not to long ago he wanted to know if it was only him or did others have this, to know he was not crazy. This health board is where we found some help. Keep well. mcjonval ps. If you or anyone has trouble with urination alot let us know ok?

[katmell]

Hi thanks for your reply and yes as I was reading your hubbys complaints I kept saying oh yes, oh yes to nearly them all including going potties all the time. Days vary now how I feel. The injection I have are hydra corticosteroids for the pain, usually every 3mths. When they were taking fluid off my knee they would also inject antiseptic. Yes was told unless you have had Psorasis you can't have Psoriatic athritis. But this doesn't mean everyone that has had or have Psorasis will also get P A. I don't get too much Psorasis. Only had it on my scalp and side of my right foot which is good and clear for the moment. Dreading when it comes back. My friend's husband has it so bad that it covers most of his body. The doctors told him he is the worse case they have seen with Psorasis. He is on MXT and is handling it ok. As so is my 36yr old son. Great I guess for the ones who can tolerate these drugs.but not me and am too scared now to try any other drug. These drugs slow the progress of the athritis but are not a cure. P A gives me enough to deal with with out other organs being attacked. Hope if your husband takes them, he will find they work for him. Just keep a eye out for any side afects and stop them if he gets any. Great talking with you and find this so helpful knowing I am not going mad and not alone. Keep strong and stay well. Kathy.

[mcjonval]

Hi Katmell. I hope you are doing well today. It was good to hear from you again. I had not checked your post to see if you wrote. I was checking the one that we had put on....GO FIGURE! Sorry. Yes I will watch him once he does start the MTX. He said he will try on Monday. I think it is because the Doctors are in their offices Mon-Fri and so he would be able to easily call them in case he needed to. He has actually not been doing too bad as far as the pain goes, but I guess thats kind of how it can happen. You are the first person that said they pottie ALOT with PA. That is not easy. I am diabetic and know a little about that. It can be very irritating sometimes. Anyways, the Rummie said that he may have more then one thing wrong but that she wanted to get the PA under control first and then deal with whatever else could be wrong. Ok. let us know how you and your son are doing today with all that you both are going through. Thanks for writing again. mcjonval

[Survivor!]

I am from Northern Ireland and have suffered from psoriatic arthritis in one form or another for the past 13 years. I have just started on MTX (again) and also take a lot of other meds - NSAID, anti-sickness tabs, folinic acid, Kapake (co-codamol 30/500) and have been on every other drug under the sun in the past years to help control this thing! One thing I want to let you all know is that it can go into remission. I was on MTX for three years with varying results prior to 2001. I was at the point where they were ready to do some liver tests to make sure I wasn't developing liver disease from the MTX (first I knew about it being so toxic!!) and I went nuts and came off everything, adjusted my diet and increased exercise and guess what? It completely disappeared! So for four fantastic years I was free! During this time I was able to have my children (now 4 and 2) before the birth of my son (11LB birthweight!!) triggered the PA again. Now have just started MTX again, after 12 months of trying every alternative remedy under the sun, which helped but did not stop progression. So am back on the MTX trail again (I too was scared to go back on this stuff but the side effects of the other alternatives are even worse) and am determined to stay on it until the PA goes away again (it happened before, it WILL happen again!!) Mine is in toes, wrists, fingers, back and hips, P is on scalp (anyone know any miracle cures??!!!), elbows and knees. Worst thing for me is managing the pain and trying to live as normal a life as possible. Keeping positive is so crucial, as I know when I am down the pain is worse. Positive energies and blessings to everyone dealing with the nightmare of PA. Love to hear from you all as communication is key -the more information we have the stronger we all are.