Undiagnosed psoriatic arthritis is high in patients with psoriasis

[Fred]

Thats not a very good test - I only score two and I’ve been told I have psa by my derm and my rheumy.

I've never bothered doing one, my dermatologist knew straight away I had psoriatic arthritis. It's a stupid way of scoring in my opinion.

[jiml]

Thats not a very good test - I only score two and I’ve been told I have psa by my derm and my rheumy.

I've never bothered doing one, my dermatologist knew straight away I had psoriatic arthritis. It's a stupid way of scoring in my opinion.

I've never done one or been offered one to do .....

[Fred]

Thats not a very good test - I only score two and I’ve been told I have psa by my derm and my rheumy.

I've never bothered doing one, my dermatologist knew straight away I had psoriatic arthritis. It's a stupid way of scoring in my opinion.

I've never done one or been offered one to do .....

I don't think it's used that much Jim.

[Fred]

If you are looking for new posts in this thread I have moved them to a new thread as it was going off topic.

Members can find the new thread here: [Group Specific]

[Kat]

Hmm, I like my rheumatologist and I think he's been quite informative.

Just saying......

[Caroline]

Hmm, I like my rheumatologist and I think he's been quite informative.  

Just saying......

Interesting. In what sense is he informative? Something on the diagnostics of Psoriatic Arthritis?

[Kat]

Hmm, I like my rheumatologist and I think he's been quite informative.  

Just saying......

Interesting. In what sense is he informative? Something on the diagnostics of Psoriatic Arthritis?

He was very informative on treatments for psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis (and thanks to this forum, I already had heard of the treatments)

He explained the differences in arthritis (osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and psoriatic arthritis mostly) in terms simple enough for me to understand.  

Also, when I first went to him I thought I was being tested for psoriatic arthritis (a few years back now) but the test were xrays and blood test.  It was explained to me that there is no test for psoriatic arthritis, that the diagnosis comes from the patient's symptoms and it not always easy to diagnose, especially in the early stages.  

I can't remember every word from each visit.  I guess there is always concern that people with psoriasis can develop psoriatic arthritis so I see him at least once per year.  This last visit he recommended cosentyx over tremfya for me (my dermatologist recommended those two for me to switch to over stelara).  He admitted that he had more knowledge (and results) from cosentyx as they recommend it for psoriatic arthritis, he felt that tremfya more dealt with the psoriasis only and due to me having arthritis (osteo) and also starting to show some arthritis beginning in hands and ankles, that it would be best in his opinion to start on something that works for psoriatic arthritis just in case. (The stiffness in my ankles is a bit of a concern)

We also had an open (and honest I think) discussion last year on why insurance requires you to go through certain medicines first.  We were mostly discussing MTX at the time.  Basically insurance companies are cheap and usually want all the older and cheaper drugs tried out first, no brainer really but our insurance is different than what most of you deal with, even though similar in how they want doctors to prescribe meds.  That's the short version anyway.    

In my case my dermatologist deals ONLY with the skin.  I've been to two and neither of them mentioned psoriatic arthritis to me at all.

Plus, I like him

[Fred]

Must be a first Kat. But good for you finding a good one you can work with.

Also liking him goes a long way, the ones I have met are always grumpy. But I like my dermatologist and although she did send me to see a rheumatologist once, she knows I'm not interested so now I just see her.

[Kat]

Must be a first Kat. But good for you finding a good one you can work with.  

Also liking him goes a long way, the ones I have met are always grumpy. But I like my dermatologist and although she did send me to see a rheumatologist once, she knows I'm not interested so now I just see her.

I agree, it took me a few visits to warm up to him, but liking your doctor makes a big difference. In my case, I'm not crazy about my current dermatologist. She's good, but she is a bit on the grumpy side and we DEFINITELY got off on the wrong foot, but it's been better this last visit or two. I preferred my other dermatologist but ended up with this one as he was on vacation during the time my psoriasis flared so I ended up seeing this current one. I can go back, but then again I liked that she got me right on biologics.

And as I'm getting a bit off topic:

Hopefully the future brings better information on diagnosing psoriatic arthritis so that it doesn't continue to go undiagnosed. At the very least, doctors of patients with psoriasis should be on the lookout and should help inform psoriasis patients of symptoms to be aware of.

[Caroline]

Good story on your rheumatologist Kat. Over here we don’t see them like that.
Thanks for the explanation, it’s a good read.