Psoriatic Arthritis

Well readers as you may have noticed my posts have been few and far between lately and it's all because of my poriasis playing up. You see not only do I have to contend with looking like a scaly dragon when it's bad but a few years ago I was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis and I've been in a heck of a lot of pain lately as it mainly affects my elbows, hands and fingers, hence it's very painful to type anything. In fact its very painful to do a lot of things I've taken for granted, like holding a pen and using cutlery.

My fingers are swollen at the moment which means I've had to take off my rings as I don't want to cut the circulation off, my elbows hurt so I struggled getting out of bed this morning, getting myself dressed was painful enough but then I also had to help Squiggle. Thank goodness there's not too many buttons on his school uniform, I don't know how I'd have fastened them up this morning.

I've never had it this bad before, even in the depths of a cold dark winter I've been able to cope but for some reason this year I'm suffering.

So what's the difference between Psoriatic Arthritis and Rheumatoid Arthritis?

Not much really so it can be quite hard to diagnose especially if there is no outbreak of psoriasis on the skin.
The main difference is that rheumatoid arthritis follows a symmetrical pattern meaning that both sides of the body are affected at the same time, whereas psoriatic arthritis is asymmetrical so joints on one side of the body can be affected and not the other side, but like arthritis it can affect any joint.

As usual my skin has flared up over the winter so I'm currently having to cover up - which is good because it's so blooming cold so I'm still rocking jumpers and jeans although I have worn a dress once in last few months because the sun did come out and I didn't want to miss my chance! Unfortunately my dermatology appointment has been put back another month so I won't be seeing the consultant till July now and I need to see him to get referred to the pain clinic. Might have to make a few phone calls and see if I can get in sooner.

Well I've probably done enough typing as my fingers are hurting again, so I'm off to find some Ibuprofen, take care everyone.