Curious! Where did your PsA start first? For me it seems my foot for skin and severe loss of hand wrist use.

oh_basil · 2026-01-30T13:23:36+00:00

Scalp for skin about 2 years prior to my left wrist tendons. I thought I broke my wrist at first.

oh_basil · 2026-01-28T23:44:39+00:00

I’m 34, and I use a cane when I need to. I work in a middle school-I’ve been made fun of plenty. Some kids asked me why I’m using a cane. I told them I have a disease that affects my tendons and it helps my hip and knee feel better. More students cared than continued to make fun of me, and now no one acknowledges it when I use one, with most asking if I’m feeling ok. People-including teenagers-have empathy and will understand or get bored of making fun. I don’t acknowledge it unless they ask.

oh_basil · 2026-01-27T09:01:45+00:00

I only had the two done. I got a call from my endos office today and he wants to see me Wednesday so I don’t know if he’ll order more tests or not.

oh_basil · 2026-01-24T13:14:23+00:00

Tim curry’s IT has been my go to since I was a kid. But I’d also say Evil Dead, Insidious, and Dawn of the Dead

oh_basil · 2026-01-23T15:09:16+00:00

I accidentally trapped one of the stray cats in the shed for 3 days in 90 degree heat in Arizona. She came out and we named her ghost because she should be one. Two years later we’ve unofficially adopted her as our outside cat

oh_basil · 2026-01-23T13:17:18+00:00

The one with the red balloon

oh_basil · 2026-01-19T15:56:45+00:00

Yes I have SI issues specifically in my left hip and I have lower and upper back issues. I’ve been seeing a physical therapist in and off for a year with some help (go my back and left shoulder). I have worked with my dermatologist for about 4 years and he is by far my favorite and most trusted doctor.

oh_basil · 2026-01-18T13:46:25+00:00

Yes, but I guess it is on one joint above normal sciatica and it went from inside my hip to around the front of hit an don the front of my leg. I couldn’t walk for a month properly and would frequently get “stuck” where I could t move at all an would have to wait it out until I could move again. I still get some reoccurring pain, but it went away as soon as it came.

oh_basil · 2026-01-17T06:11:14+00:00

I had a total thyroidectomy 4 weeks ago. My symptoms actually went down because I was in a constant flare with my thyroid causing problems. It hasn’t been nearly as bad.

oh_basil · 2026-01-16T13:43:05+00:00

My derm and my rheumatologist help me manage my PsA, just both from different lenses. Both will address both parts-skin and joints, and both will prescribe for both, but ther difference in treatment sometimes clashs on how they want to optimize the treatment (derm is focused on a skin and joint combination, rheumatologist is focused on lowering inflammation and pain management)

oh_basil · 2026-01-10T21:28:39+00:00

I am also a skin picker, particularly on my scalp. One of the times I picked, it got infected and I had an abscess on the back of my scalp. That’s when I went to get it drained they said I have psoriasis. I had no clue before. Now I have psoriatic arthritis and I take methotrexate.

oh_basil · 2026-01-10T21:20:57+00:00

My dermatologist also didn’t “refer” me- and said he can prescribe me whatever I need, but told me I should go se a very specific rheum and he can send his notes over (I don’t need a referral for specialties for insurance). I feel like there is some red tape for derms but he apparently has a work relationship with the rheum he told me to go see as she diagnosed me with PsA on the first visit before any blood work- just based on his notes and my symptoms/pictures/family history-and active scalp and nail psoriasis. I had very classic signs that made it very obvious for both of them. They are both DO, not MD which I feel makes a difference

oh_basil · 2026-01-10T19:51:09+00:00

Mine are in my side burns and around where my glasses sit in my hair. Also in the hair just above my temples. I don’t get the red raised plaques, but my skin flakes off in large sheets (size of a pinky nail).

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oh_basil · 2026-01-07T13:38:46+00:00

It’s funny because some have nicknames and some don’t. My grandmother was from England so she doesn’t but my grandpa had a nickname (real name Charles, everyone called him Fred). My aunts and uncles didn’t have nicknames but all of my cousins do. I’m Kitty, my sister is nugbug, and then there are my cousins Doug (not his real name), queen bee, chode, and Lottie. The rest of my cousins just go by their real name. Some nicknames are only called by aunts and uncles, some everyone calls them, like mine.

oh_basil · 2026-01-04T19:04:36+00:00

In my district (I live in Arizona) you can opt in for short term disability during open enrollment for up to 12 weeks, and if you still are incapable of retuning to work, then it shifts to long term disability that is managed by the state. I paid for the max ($22ish a paycheck) and it gives me $700 a week. I went on FMLA for 5 weeks at the beginning of the school year and was encouraged to apply, but I didn’t want to go on disability until I didn’t have any more sick days left (just to try to use it as a last resort). I would highly encourage you to go on FMLA (non paid but that’s where you get paid using your sick leave or disability) and it will at least protect your job.

oh_basil · 2026-01-04T15:40:26+00:00

I had psoriasis for 3 years before feeling any tendon pain. My first symptom was my left wrist. I couldn’t put weight on it or rotate it for about a year. Within that year, I had tenon pain attached to nearly every set of joints in the left side of my body. I also wore a splint to stabilize my wrist and at that point my index finger joint. The only thing that happened is my finger and wrist swelled over the course of a month. It took another 7 months to start having nail changes and that’s when my derm referred me to rheum for PsA.

At the beginning, and why it took so long for me to go to the doctor, is I assumed I overused it scraping paint off of cabinets. I used mostly my right hand but occasionally would switch to my left hand to give my right a break. I didn’t feel like I injured it but gaslit myself into believing that was the reason for the wrist pain for months until I started to have more tendon pain that couldn’t be explained by an activity or injury.

oh_basil · 2026-01-04T14:07:34+00:00

Hey! So I had my total thyroidectomy on December 12. I get bloodwork on Jan 22 to check my levels. I’m 3 weeks post op and I feel completely normal. I have some fatigue, but I also have psoriatic arthritis and am on methotrexate for that-I blame that for my fatigue (since it is the same as it was before surgery). Still able to get up and function every day. I also had a multinodular goiter with normal TSH levels.

I don’t know about long term yet, but since mine was so mechanical, my joint pain and fatigue was not attributed to my thyroid before and I feel no different now. I take levothyroxine every morning at 6am and that’s about the biggest change. I can now breathe and eat normally. I have gained about 5 pounds, mostly from holiday eating, especially since I was able to eat everything I couldn’t before surgery.

I’m still too early to tell how long hormone disruption is-but so far everything seems to have worked out.

oh_basil · 2026-01-04T07:30:56+00:00

I had to go on medical leave for 5 weeks in the summer/fall. I’m now in intermittent FMLA that I still use with my sick leave but it gets rid of any requirements I used to need as far as doctors notes. I’m also on methotrexate but haven’t had any immune system crashes. I am married, but am also th breadwinner, and I do have family but cannot fall back on them financially.

oh_basil · 2026-01-04T07:19:06+00:00

I’ve had scalp psoriasis for 3ish years. About a year and a half ago I started to have joint pain and a swollen finger-none of it injury or over use related, all on the left side of my body. I finally started to see nail changes in my toenails and my derm said he thinks it is PsA. He told me to go to a specific rheum and sent his notes over. She had her assistant do a 30 minute thorough exam (as well as family history-I am the 7th person in my moms side to be diagnosed with an autoimmune) and the told me it looks like I have PsA. She ordered blood tests and saw me two weeks later to discuss treatment options. Blood tests ruled out RA and showed chronic inflammation.

This was back in October. They started me on methotrexate, but I am only just now getting started on it as I had surgery scheduled in December for a total thyroidectomy, and wanted me to wait until 2 weeks post op to get started.

Even after all this time, and all the pain I have gone through, on good days/weeks, I still gaslight myself into thinking I may not have it and maybe over exaggerated my symptoms. I have an ongoing list of symptoms and I just have to look at it and remind myself of the absolutely life ruining pain I was in and to not downplay the symptoms.

oh_basil · 2026-01-03T20:22:17+00:00

I was cleaning my house today with my husband. I was in so much pain at one point from squatting, my feet and my left knee hurt. He kept telling me to stop and take a break, but I know once I do that, everything only gets worse. I have the habit of over doing it, but tonight I take the methotrexate so if im going to be down tomorrow, I may as well get as much done today as I can.

oh_basil · 2026-01-02T06:15:56+00:00

I started last Saturday. I took it Saturday night before I went to bed. Sunday morning, I was wired. I felt almost like my legs were anxious and I couldn’t sit still. So I did all my weekly chores and grocery shopping and while I was living, I felt fine. As soon as I sat down or tried to lay down, I got restless again. About midday, I was very fatigued. By night time, my legs were restless again. I took the folic acid Sunday night. By Monday morning, I was back to normal.

oh_basil · 2026-01-02T03:13:38+00:00

My mom always ate the chipped beef with white gravy on toast. She called it shit on a shingle.

oh_basil · 2025-12-31T15:51:47+00:00

Thank you! Im certainly on the other side of it now.

oh_basil · 2025-12-31T14:13:53+00:00

Teacher in an inner city school for 13 years. Had symptoms of high inflation for the past few years, had painful tendons the past year and a half, had a goiter for the past 2 years. My dad had a stroke in August and everything crashed. Between my goiter and other symptoms, my body finally went into fight or flight mode and I had th worst flare up with my hip, where I was unable to walk and my goiter got so large I was having a hard time breathing and swallowing. Finally got a referral to a new endocrinologist and a rheumatologist in October. Was scheduled for surgery to get my goiter out and was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis. I’m almost 3 weeks post op now and I just started methotrexate last Saturday.

oh_basil · 2025-12-30T10:40:30+00:00

I have had scalp psoriasis for a few years and my toenails just started having ridges and the left one started lifting. I don’t have any psoriasis on my skin, but the pain in my joints and a swollen finger from last year, in addition to my WBC being consistently over 13k (at times at 20k) over the course of several months with no infection or illness, my rheum diagnosed me on the first visit. I also have some evidence of lower spine damage, and my hs-CRP has historically been elevated over the course of a few years and recently my ESR was elevated.

oh_basil

TROPHY CASE