So the Story so far…
I am a 44 year old satellite/Comms Tech,and in my job we use ladders quite a lot, aswell as other access equipment.
I would say over the years I have had various sprains and niggles, that would clear up over days, maybe a week. I also had slight psoriasis from time to time in different places, though never particulary bad,itch or annoying. I would say roughly a year before I was diagnosed with Psoriatic Arthritus (PsA) nails were getting pitted, separating from nail bed and a couple fell off (at different times). I just thought maybe I banged fingers at work and damaged nails without me knowing about it. So looking back there were some signs.
So skip forward to midway January 2016. I had a sore left foot a slightly swollen right achilles tendon, as month progressed the little niggles I thought would go away, got worse both feet swollen including 3 toes on the left foot, also my back was getting tight and starting to feel sore. I went to hospital via my Gp and a few days later was diagnosed with PsA, i was initially treated with Sulfasalazine and prednisone and then sent home from hospital on a set of crutches. but after a couple of months once i was coming off the steroid, the symtoms became a lot worse. My rhuemy at the time doubled the dosage and would see me again in a couple of months. Again 2 months later, I was actually worse than I was before I went to hospital. This is when I changed rheumys, my original one was going to change dosage of salazopyrin.
We are now in May, my new rhuemy has started me on 20mg methotrexate and vimovo. During the time to my next appointment in september my mobility improved from struggling to walk anywhere with 2 crutches and sometimes unbearable pain to 1 crutch, to then no crutches, but i still had a moderate amount of pain and discomfort and i could only walk small amounts of a distance before the pain would get worse. I should also point out I would tire out very quickly. Then in september, i was put on Humira and a reduced dose of 15mg methotrexate aswell as the vimovo. during the last couple of months I feel I am getting better but very slowly. It was during this period we had a holiday booked.(from before i was ill) we thought long and hard about cancelling it. But decided against it, if i was going to suffer, i was going to suffer in the sun, and afterall my missus deserved it after having to put up with me this year!!
My last visit to my rhuemy was last week. He has decided to continue the course of treatment i am on at the moment, as for the first time this year my immflamation counts are back within normal levels, so he want to give the Humira a little more time to work on my achilles and foot, I should also point out that movement in my back neck and spine near back to what they should be and are pain free.
I know I have went on a bit. But in the new year I will hoping to get back to work in feb (thay have kept my job open for me)
I think i covered everything for the year
So I would like to say to everybody stay positive at this time of year, as this condition does take time to control, some quicker than others… and good luck to everybody in the new year!!!