New psa diagnosis

CerysBooth

Hi all, I was diagnosed with psa in Feb this year and have been on hydroxycholriquine since then but 4 weeks ago got my first ever patch of psoriasis behind my knee and am now having a massive flare. It was pain in fingers and toes originally and scans showed inflammation in several joints but this time I have pain in wrists, elbows, knees, sacroiliac joints, neck, fingers and toes. It's affecting everything, my walking has changed due to pain and stiffness and can't do much with my hands. All my joints are cracking that didn't before. Seen the rheumatologist today who has stopped the hydroxycholriquine and started me on sulfasalazine and I had my 3rd steroid injection in my bum muscle. I am worried about the future and also side effects of the medication. I am a nurse and am currently off sick due to depression and pain. I am worried it will permanently affect my ability yo do my job and care for my son who has muscular dystrophy.

[Deleted User]

Hi @CerysBooth

Welcome to our Online Community, thank you for taking the time to join us, we are a lovely group of people so we hope that your experience with us will be helpful.

We are so sorry to hear that you have been going through so much recently it must be really difficult for you. Having this condition in so many areas is bound to affect how you are feeling and affect your mental health, have you tried talking to anyone about how you feel, family friend or your GP could refer you for help with this, possibly Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) which is often used to help people with many forms of arthritis, CBT aims to help you deal with overwhelming problems in a more positive way by breaking them down into smaller parts.

It is understandable that you are concerned about the future at the moment, but just to reassure you it is feasible for people to carry on working with many forms of arthritis, it could be that at the moment you are going through a process of finding the right medication for you and once you do and the treatment start to work things will look brighter for the future. Research into treatments for an inflammatory condition have come on in leaps and bounds and will continue to do so.

If at all you feel that the Disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) isn't working for you there are other treatments available so do speak to your Healthcare practitioner. Also speak to a physiotherapist for help with stretching exercises than could help with the pain and stiffness.

Please take care.

https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/conditions/psoriatic-arthritis/

Best wishes

Chris (Moderator)