Checking in to say hello

[Bill]

Welcome, Kerry

Glad you have found this site with its totally awesome members. Regarding psa, a big indicator for me is pain in the soles of my feet. Typically it is when my feet hit the floor on waking and goes away after a bit. I will notice this if I go more than five days without a DMF dose. I have had psa manifest as swollen finger and toe joints, but with DMF this does not happen. Jim, Caroline and I can vouch for its efficacy.

[Fred]

Hello Kerry   to Psoriasis Club.

I'm pleased to here you have decided to stop lurking and join in, you will find a great bunch of people here and if the Cat does let go of your tongue you will find a lot going on in [forum=17]

Thank you for the kind words about Psoriasis Club, it's good to know we are helping.

Regards.

Fred.

[D Foster]

Hi Kerry , glad you have stopped lurking and joined us in what is a fantastic forum, the information on here is second to none on P and PsA in fact I doubt that you will find any better else where . The inmates are all friendly if a bit barmy and you can be sure that there are no adverts for expensive "magic" cures as Fred does not allow any adverts or con artists on here. We are all in the same boat so any question you ask will be answered truthfully by inmates who have the same problems, enjoy and just dive in.

Dave

[Maryam]

Also from me a warm welcome! I live in the Netherlands as well and take psorinovo.

Maybe you can refer your derm to the dutch guidelines regarding psoriasis, in there it is mentioned dat dmf might be considered as a first systemic treatment. If she still won't prescribe it I would look for another derm.

[Kezz]

Welcome, Kerry

Glad you have found this site with its totally awesome members. Regarding psa, a big indicator for me is pain in the soles of my feet. Typically it is when my feet hit the floor on waking and goes away after a bit. I will notice this if I go more than five days without a DMF dose. I have had psa manifest as swollen finger and toe joints, but with DMF this does not happen. Jim, Caroline and I can vouch for its efficacy.

Hi Bill,

Thanks for the description of your PSA.  One of the things the dermo did is look at my finger joints.  She just looked at them, had a bit of a feel, and declared that I don't yet have psa.  Isn't there some kind of blood test for the onset of psa?  I mean it just seems like chicken entrails and voodoo to look at finger joints and declare all is well!

The thing is, the reason I ended up in this dermo's office is that in about mid-June, I woke up one morning and my finger joints were really sore, and then I thought, hells bells... it's here.  So, just in case, I made an appointment with a GP (the one I usually see was off on maternity leave so I ended up with another female doc).  Anyhow, I explained that I was completely freaking out about this.  GP looked at me and declared that I have vitilligo despite me telling her that my father's side of the family has psorisis, and there is no-one in our family who has vitiligo.  GP sent me off to get a blood test (for RA & gout LOL) at the local hospital.  For 3 weeks the GP didn't call me, so I went down to the practice and asked if my results are in and if indeed I do have RA and gout.   The receptionist congratulated me because my RA test and gout test were negative.   I had to laugh.  What else can you do, right?  So yeah, as other people have suggested on this thread, I will be shopping around. Most definitely.

[Caroline]

Hi Kerry,

There is no test.
If it ain’t RA or gout and you have Psoriasis than joint pain is the little joints is likely to be PsA.

Sorry for that.
Caroline

[jiml]

Oooh Kezz  if it wasn't so ridiculous it would be funny, you couldn't make it up if you tried  

Yes I think it's time to find a doctor that recognises psoriasis and have a better idea of what to look for with PSA... my rheumatologist sent me for an ultrasound that showed swelling in some of my finger joints ... so perhaps that might be the way to go

[Bill]

Don't be too harsh, Kerry. Psa is not diagnosed with a specific test, so you must eliminate other causes. Also, the first line of therapy for psa is methotrexate, so offering you treatment is not like giving you a bag of jelly beans. There is a good reason why you wont be offered treatment unless you have signs of severe disease and/or you argue for treatment passionately.

[Kezz]

Hi Kerry,

There is no test.
If it ain’t RA or gout and you have Psoriasis than joint pain is the little joints is likely to be PsA.

Sorry for that.
Caroline

Hi Caroline,

Yeah I thought so.  The whole thing with feeling my finger joints was totally weird to me.