Hi Everyone

Joannekav

This is new to me and thought I would try and connected with some people who may be experiencing some of the same for Psoriatic arthritis. I was diagnosed several years ago and have really struggled to get my head around accepting I have a life long condition at a young age and have recently got back in touch with my specialist after experiences some really low mood that has been attached to some serve flare ups. I have stupidly tired to manage my condition without meds as the thought of being on them for life has been difficult for me to accept, but reality has arrived and I know I cannot continue like this moving forward 🙂

Al

Hi and welcome @Joannekav ,you will find members here more than willing to share,take a look at

Psoriatic arthritis | Psoriatic arthritis | Causes, symptoms, treatments (versusarthritis.org)

I hope it helps ,your specialist has prescribed medicines for a reason and as you have discovered they do work,please let us know how you get on.

Al

Lilymary

Hi @Joannekav, I'm sorry to hear about your diagnosis. It does come as a shock to realise you're going to have to accept limitations and manage your body long term, specially at a young age. At least I had 60 years of ruining my body to look back on, but it hurts like crazy that I can't do some of it any more. I know that even after long-awaited surgery, I'll never be back to where I was.

After a while when trying to keep up with your old lifestyle is just too exhausting or painful, it's actually a relief to let it go. But instead of focussing on what you can't do, turn your attention to all the things you can still do, and find new activities you'll enjoy to replace those that are just too hard now.

Talk to friends and family and be honest about how your condition affects you, and seek their support. It makes a big difference. Speak to your employer too, if this is making work hard. For a while you may need to focus on your new needs and limitations to get a new lifestyle kick started that is more in tune with what your abilities.

But also speak with your GP, get referrals as appropriate, and start putting a treatment plan in place, including diet, exercise and pain relief. I'm on handfuls of painkillers, but I've got no qualms about taking them - if this is what it takes to get me back out there, bring it on! Thank heaven we have them - even 50-100 years ago this diagnosis would have been a very different story, so take advantage of everything that's on offer out there.