Cheryl/psoriatic arthritis

[Guest guest]

Hi Cheryl - I was wondering about the PA. I have psoriasis, and in wierd

places, but no large patches on main skin. I have it on my scalp, in my

ears, on my fingernails, and on one elbow. From what I've read, PA is

similar to RA in that your body is attacking itself, so there should be some

sort of blood test for it. Is that right? I don't have a local RH here, so

I also see a NP for my care. I often wonder if I should see if I really

have the PA. I do have osteoarthritis in my back and possibly my hands.

Thanks in advance for any info.

Jeanne in WI

> You also mentioned how much of your pain is in your hands and feet. That

> is also psoriatic arthritis' favorite attack sites as well.

>

> When I started looking for support groups online a short while back, I

> signed up for both this one and p/pa -- members of this FM list might be

> interested to know that there are quite a number of folks on the p/pa list

> who (like myself), have psoraisis/psoriatic arthritis, along

with FM & IBS.

>

> Cheryl M.

[Guest guest]

I think I posted sometime in the past week about my first experience

with psoriassis on my hands and at that time I was given a cream that

J & J makes, but there have been many advances since the 1970's. My

siste-in-law had a very nasty episode with psorriss last summer on

her scalp. The doctor finally wrote a script for something that

apparently was pretty toxic because her husband had to put it on her

head wearing gloves --- if he couldn't touch it, I don't know how

safe it was for her scalp! But before they did that they shaved her

head. When we saw them the end of September, her hair had grown so

fast you would never known she had had her scalp shaved and it grew

back in darker than it had ever been before. For the area on my

foot, I don't even doing anything about it anymore because it is does

not get the pustules that I used to get in the same area in the late

1990's. I do, however, try to avoid stockings or knee highs because

they seem to make my feet sweat and that can trigger a big growth

(the only way to describe this --- it will become layer upon layer in

the are --- I've read that the skin grows so fast that one can have

layer upon layer). But if you have it in a variety of places, I

would see a dermatologist rather than any other doctor, because it is

a disorder of the skin, although other things can be involved. Oh,

and my husband also had it and the dermatologist he saw here in the

Pittsburgh area gave him a script that cleared it up pretty quickly.

I think the area on his calf is ezema rather than psorris.

>

>

> Hi Cheryl - I was wondering about the PA. I have psoriasis, and in

wierd

> places, but no large patches on main skin. I have it on my scalp,

in my

> ears, on my fingernails, and on one elbow. From what I've read, PA

is

> similar to RA in that your body is attacking itself, so there

should be some

> sort of blood test for it. Is that right? I don't have a local RH

here, so

> I also see a NP for my care. I often wonder if I should see if I

really

> have the PA. I do have osteoarthritis in my back and possibly my

hands.

> Thanks in advance for any info.

> Jeanne in WI

>

>

> > You also mentioned how much of your pain is in your hands and

feet. That

> > is also psoriatic arthritis' favorite attack sites as well.

> >

> > When I started looking for support groups online a short while

back, I

> > signed up for both this one and p/pa -- members of this FM list

might be

> > interested to know that there are quite a number of folks on the

p/pa list

> > who (like myself), have psoraisis/psoriatic arthritis, along

> with FM & IBS.

> >

> > Cheryl M.

>