Newbie waiting to see Dr. needs help!

[Guest guest]

Hello, everyone. I haven't been diagnosed with PA but I fear that

is what I have. I don't see the Dr. until Tuesday. Does this sound

like PA to you all? (Please forgive the length of this post and

just pass it by if long posts irritate you.)

I've had mild arthritis in my finger joints - at the tips - for

maybe 5 or 6 years. Pinkies on both hands and index finger on both

hands. Not much pain in any of them up to now, but nodules on both

sides of both pinkies. Never really mentioned it to any doctors

since it didn't bother me much and my mother had similar arthritis

that also developed in middle age. I didn't even take aspirin or

anything, 'cause they didn't hurt often and it wasn't unbearable.

About 2 years ago, I started having the skin on my fingertips split

and peel. Very painful. It would start on one index finger or

thumb, then after a week or so, the same finger of the other hand,

then spread gradually to all the fingers on both hands. It finally

got so bad after about a year that I ended up at a dermatologist.

Patch testing revealed severe reactions to nickel and thiurams (used

in production of rubber), plus neomycin (dumb GP had been telling me

to put Neosporin on my fingertips!). Diagnosis: allergic contact

dermatitis. That made sense to me and I've been trying to avoid

touching any metal alloys containing nickel and any rubber. Which

is almost impossible without wearing gloves constantly. Fingers

continued to flare badly. It made sense though cause I could tell

that when I touched those substances it felt like I had touched acid.

A few months ago, my feet began to get thickened skin and break open

in the creases. I finally went to the GP again who immediately

decided (without taking any scrapings) that it was athlete's foot

and prescribed med for that. My feet continued to get worse. I

figured maybe it was the same contact allergy as my hands, since

some elastic in socks contains thiurams, plus the glues used in

shoes often is a rubber cement. By now, though, my feet were a mess

and walking started to get difficult. The rash on my feet had

spread to the whole foot and was creeping up the sides, with an

inflamed border all around.

Last Wednesday, the pain was so bad that I could barely walk.

Several of my fingers were swollen, as were both big toes. Skin on

hands and feet was a mess. My fingers joints and toe joints were

throbbing. By Friday, my feet were so badly inflamed they were hot

to the touch. That night I awoke about midnight with excruciating

pain in both heels (back and sides) that my husband said sounded

like plantar fasciitis, which he had once before. I started to take

OTC Advil and to do some stretching exercises for the fasciitis.

Saturday and Sunday and Monday were a little better - at least the

inflammation subsided some and the fasciitis pain was bearable. No

improvement to skin of hands or feet, though.

Tuesday morning, though, I woke up about 3 a.m. with excruciating

pain at the base of my spine. I could barely turn over to get out

of bed. The spot that hurt was hot to the touch. I upped the dose

of Advil to get that under control. And called the Dr. to beg for a

sooner appointment!

Tonight, there is terrible swelling at the base of all my toes on

both feet and excruciating pain there. Can you have fasciitis

there??? It hurts just like the heel pain did. I can't sleep and I

just finished having a good cry.

What the heck is happening to me??? I'm hardly ever sick. I have

nasal allergies that haven't bothered me much for about 6-7 years

since I started using Nasalcrom spray faithfully. And a little high

blood pressure that's controlled well by Benicar. Otherwise very

healthy.

Everything I'm finding online that sounds similar to what I'm

experiencing sounds like psoriatic arthritis. Does my story sound

familiar to anyone out there? If so, is it common for things to

deteriorate so quickly?

Thanks for any help you can give me.

SZ