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SYMPTOMS
Many of us have had similar experiences -- we have pain and suffer a "cognitive fog," but our doctors are not able to figure out what is wrong with us. One PA sufferer reports having the symptoms for up to five years before being diagnosed. In that time he saw several family practitioners, was referred to an orthopedist, a physiatrist, and a physical therapist, and was subjected to any number of x-rays and MRIs. In the end it took a podiatrist to make the diagnosis.
Another PA patient says: "Perhaps PA is the aristocrat of autoimmune diseases--god knows the docs can't see it under their noses!"
So do you have psoriatic arthritis? Only your rheumatologist knows for sure, and no one at this list or webpage can make the diagnosis. But here are some of the things that we have experienced -- please feel free to write the Webpage Manager with additions, suggestions, etc.
- Pain
and swelling in the joints, especially the extremities.
- Stiffness
in the joints, especially in the morning.
- Sausage
Digit: Fingers or toes that are swollen, red, and sauasage shaped.
- Nerve
pain - numbness and tingling (due to nerve root compression from the
discs degenerating in the spine from the continued attacks of PA).
- Severe
Fatigue and/or Narcoleptic like episodes while driving on highway more
than 30 minutes.
- Sleep
disturbance
- Clinical
Depression/Anxiety
- Severe manifestations of psoriasis. Psoriasis may take several forms, but the most common form is called "plaque psoriasis" which "most commonly appears as inflamed swollen skin lesions covered with silvery white scale."
Another type of psoriasis commonly associated with arthritis is "nail psoriasis." "Commonly it appears as pits in the nails of various size, shape, and depth. Sometimes the nails develop a yellowish color and become thick. The nails may crumble easily and be surrounded by inflammation. Another possible symptom is detachment of the nail from the nail bed."
The
quotes used here are borrowed from the National Psoriasis Foundation webpage,
http://www.psoriasis.org/, to which we recommend you for more information.
Both the PsoriaticArthritis e-mail list and the webpage are run by and
for PA sufferers, their families and friends. There is no medical authority
associated with either the list or the homepage, and none is either claimed
or implied.
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The Psoriatic Arthritis Support webpage is generously hosted by
The William Paterson University of New Jersey, 300 Pompton Rd., Wayne
NJ, 07470