Re: Mixed Connective Tissue Disease ?

[Guest guest]

I have psoriasi,lupus and it is a crossover . You need skin biopsies to know

because with psoriasis you need to go out in the sun . With lupus you need to

stay out of the sun . They treat it with different meds . I was mistakenly

doagnosed with just psoriasis and as such told to repeatedly go out in the sun .

My skin got worse and worse . Finally after 20 years it was realized after skin

biopsies that I had both lupus and psoriasis. I don't go out in the sun and my

skin is clear and my diseases are in control .What a nightmare for years. The

skin biopsies are important.

cathy from ma

[Guest guest]

All I can help you with is the last question: technically, is PsA a form of

rheumatoid arthritis? I've never been entirely clear. Rheumatoid is an

autoimmune disease but I know psoriasis (and therefore PsA) can be hereditary.

The Spondylitis Association: 

http://www.spondylitis.org/about/ 

explains the spondyloarthropathies as a family of related diseases which is why

you see people with a variety of spondylitis diagnoses on this site, not just

PsA.  Spondyloparthropies are autoimmune and inherited.  This site:

http://www.aarda.org/patient_information.php 

introduced me to the amazing number of autoimmune diseases.  My daughter is

working on a PhD in Immunology: it is a medical field which has just come into

existence in my lifetime. Rheumatoid arthritis is also autoimmune and inherited.

Since there are more people diagnosed with it, it is more profitable for the

drug companies to develop drugs for them so we PsA people always get the

rheumatoid drugs. Hope this helps.

Janette

[Guest guest]

Jessie

They are red, smooth, thickened, and containing possible fluid

beneath. Also, they don't have the appearance of typical psoriasis spots.

I also have these, appear on fingers for no apparent reason. I haven't worn

rings in years because of this. Since P has many different forms, I've tried to

ignore them. I would be very interested to see what you find out.

-Eileen

[Guest guest]

Jessie,

I was given the diagnosis undifferentiated spondyloarthropathy, which sounds

symptom wise very similar to your daughters diagnosis.  I also take

hydroxychloroquine (Plaquenil) and have found some relief with the redness and

the swelling.  I also received a diagnosis of PsA but have no PS symptoms.  I

don't believe that PsA is a form of RA, just something that can be treated the

same way.

Hope this helps

Crystal

[Guest guest]

My psoriasis on my scalp was not diagnosed as such for almost 20 years.

It comes and goes, and does not look like typical psoriasis.

They are kind of red, raised areas that are very tender and sometimes itch

like crazy.

Sometimes they start as just a little break in the skin, looking kind of

like a very small cut.

Then they start to raise, and get larger.

I had no ideas there were so many forms of psoriasis, so I am glad they are

doing a biopsy

For you.

kristina adams <mac@...>

[Guest guest]

Jessie - I think that PsA is a form of rheumatoid arthritis. My son has

juvenile PsA and that is definately a form of JRA. It is also treated very

similiarily. Especially upon initial diagnosis. I know there are certain

biologics that work better with psa than RA and vice versa.

Hope this helps!

[Guest guest]

Hi Jessie

I also have a diagnosis os psoriatic arthritis and mixed connective tissue

disease. In my case I have a mixture of lupus, scleroderma and dermatomyositis

as I show features of each of these conditions. I am currently being treated

with hydroxychloroquine and prednisalone and it seems to be working. I hope that

this helps.

[Guest guest]

That's a real mix of things. Do you have a positive ANA? How do they diagnose

mixed connective tissue disease?

D

[Guest guest]

In my case I do not have a positive ANA and my bloods are mostly seronegative.

My actual diagnosis because of this is undifferentiated connective tissue

disease, but it is basically the same as mixed connective tissue disease, but

without any positive bloods. It took a long time to get this diagnosis because

of my negative bloods and my rheumatologist has diagnosed me symptomatically,

sending me to relevant other specialists such as dermatologist,

gastroenterologist and cardiologist as new issues spring up. I am happy with the

diagnosis that I have because it has explained why I have felt so unwell for so

long. Now that I am on the correct treatment I feel so much better, although I

still have to take life easy, but I am able to do so much more now. The

hydroxychloroquine has been especially helpful.

" hthrhick " <heather.hick@...>

[Guest guest]

Back in March, I brought up the diagnosis my daughter received from the

Pediatric Rheumy of Mixed Connective Tissue disease in addition to her PsA. I

said that I would let people know more of what I learned after getting another

opinion from a dermatologist. Hopefully, this may be helpful to some on this

forum.

To treat this, my daughter was put on hydroxchloroquine in addition to MTX. The

dermatologist wanted to do a biopsy of the pustuals on her fingers that lead to

the diagnosis of Mixed Connective Tissue Disease. The results of the biopsy

came back that what she had was Pernio in addition to PsA. For a review of

Pernio see emedicine.medscape.com/article/1087946-overview.

While this diagnosis does make more sense given my daughter's symptoms, I also

learned (again!) that you always have to push for answers to your health

concerns. Most doctors do their best to make diagnosis, but they also rely on

the patients to dig, demand and push for answers too. In her case, crossing over

to another specialty helped find the answer. Had I not taken her for this new

opinion, she would still be taking the hydroxchloroquine and we would be

considering the challenges that lie ahead for her with Mixed Connective Tissue

Disease. Pernio has it's own challenges, but at least we know what we are

actually dealing with now.

Jessie