Wednesday, August 21, 2013

An Invisible Illness: Psoriatic Arthritis


These pics are both of my hands, taken one year ago.  My hands are notably worse now but I don't have a good pic.


This week is a week set aside to focus on a group of sufferers who mostly go unseen.  Please watch the video posted above.  I wish I had a dollar for every person who told me, "Well it's good to see you out and about.  That must mean you are feeling better."  No.  It just means I was clawing my hair out with loneliness and decided to face the pain and exhaustion that come alongside "being out and about."  I understand that every person (ok  most people who) say the things that are listed in this video...are harmless, ignorant, and just trying to help but do not know how to help.

Psoriatic Arthritis ( sore-ee-aa-tic)  http://www.humira.com/psa/what-is-psa.aspx  I have two kinds of this disease.  I have symmetrical PsA and also Psoriatic Spondylitis which means that my spine is under attack as well and it is fusing itself together.  This is a very painful process and right now both my neck and lower back are fused which make movement difficult to impossible.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psoriatic_arthritis

Typically this type of arthritis is destructive and painful but the prognosis is usually somewhat better than it is for people with RA (Rheumatoid Arthritis)...How ever the type I have is rare and is worse than most cases of RA because it has affected most of my joints..  I did not receive care early enough in  my disease to have a good outcome.

This arthritis has nothing to do with age.  Children can get it...and it can sometimes be fatal as it can attack the heart and lungs as well as the skin and joints.

 http://www.medicinenet.com/psoriatic_arthritis/page5.htm#what_is_the_outlook_prognosis_for_patients_with_psoriatic_arthritis

http://www.psoriasis.org/psoriatic-arthritis


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