psoriatic arthritis affecting my lungs?

kbsr02
kbsr02 Member Posts: 11
edited 16. Oct 2015, 05:20 in Living with Arthritis archive
The Rheumatology consultant says that psoriatic arthritis doesn't attack your lungs unlike rheumatoid arthritis. Does anyone have a different opinion to this?

Comments

  • stickywicket
    stickywicket Member Posts: 27,697
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    All the trustworthy sites say that PsA doesn't affect the lungs.

    I know you said, in another thread, that you have / had a landscape gardening business. I wonder if any dust / soil / fungus from compost or dead leaves / bone meal / fertilizer particles etc got into your lungs and were then made worse by the golimumab. These are all notorious causers of lung diseases. Just a thought.
    If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for you.
    Steven Wright
  • Starburst
    Starburst Member Posts: 2,546
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    kbsr No, I don't believe that PsA can affect the lungs but some of the medications prescribed can cause lung symptoms. Are you on or have you been on Methotrexate and/or any of the biological DMARDs?
  • daffy2
    daffy2 Member Posts: 1,636
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    I was also wondering about exposure to fungal spores etc, eg aspergillus.
    Have you been checked out for that? Have the medics who treated you in the past( and perhaps those you see now) been aware of what your job entails and what you might as a result come into contact with?
  • dreamdaisy
    dreamdaisy Member Posts: 31,520
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    I already have dodgy lungs thanks to asthma but that is not a factor until low-pressure weather rocks up, my chest tightens thanks to spores which are hanging around in the air. The meds can affect the lungs but have you noticed that things worsen in low-pressure weather? DD

    PS I've just read your update on your simponi thread - the meds don't destroy our immune systems, they suppress them in an effort to reduce disease activity. As you are now not on anything to do this my best guess is that your immune system is firing up in protest about something in the air but I am not a doc, just a practising arthritic and asthmatic. I remember my days of severe asthma when I was a child, inhalers hadn't been invented, nobody knew what caused it. Life was hell - it nearly finished me off on three occasions - I remember blacking out thanks to lack of air and waking up in an oxygen tent in hospital with no idea how I'd got there! I still panic a little if I get stuck in a jumper or the wind blows hard into my face.
    Have you got the despatches? No, I always walk like this. Eddie Braben
  • kbsr02
    kbsr02 Member Posts: 11
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    I was a water garden specialist never had any contact with fertilisers or chemicals of any kind.

    My lungs have been like this all year, whether the weather is good or bad and the problem really started on the third day after my one & only monthly Simponi injection. I've talked to other people who've had the same symptoms.

    The serious leg cramps, cracking of the knees, feeling like Charles Manson on a bad day, headaches, stomach pains alongside the serious breathing problems were nothing to do with my landscaping business. It was purely because I was poisoned by Simponi.

    I find it hard to believe that anyone could defend these anti-tnf medications - Simponi isn't the only one I've tried.

    Yes, sure there are people who had one anti tnf injection and then could cycle around the Himalayas for six months, I couldn't even get to the top of the stairs.

    I have also tried Methotrexate and Leflunomide. They both made me sick as a dog & gave me serious stomach pains. So anybody telling me just to persevere for another month - it will get better - in the real world - IT DOESN'T!

    Yes I do want to get well, however this seems but there is nobody that can help me.
  • stickywicket
    stickywicket Member Posts: 27,697
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    I'm sorry. You've had a really tough time of it with meds and that must be very hard. In the 'world of the well' people get sick, take meds, get better. Simple.

    It's not like that for us. We get arthritis and take the meds to help slow down the 'getting worse' not to cure us. Medically speaking they are all relatively 'new' meds in terms of arthritis usage. Even DMARDS such as methotrexate weren't around when I first got RA which is why I now have artificial knees and hips and extremely wonky joints everywhere else.

    This is why we encourage people to persevere with their DMARDS if possible. The side effects often prove temporary whereas the usefulness of the medication, though rarely permanent, is long lasting.

    I'm really sorry you've had a bad time with all your meds but surely you can't really believe that you “find it hard to believe that anyone could defend these anti-tnf medications “ when they work well for millions of people? There are many on these forums alone who would be in a bad way without them. None of us can take our own stories and make a universal rule out of them.

    I hope you will find you can manage with just paracetamol and things don't progress quickly for you. There may be other meds that the rheumatologist can try – I'm thinking of older ones such as gold injections. They aren't used much now but I believe they still bring them out occasionally for patients who find newer DMARDS difficult to cope with. I used them for a while in the '70s until my kidneys objected.

    By the way, it's not just fertilisers than can cause lung problems. As I mentioned, fungi and spores from dead leaves can also.
    If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for you.
    Steven Wright