My name is Amy and I live in northeast U.S. I have had plaque psoriasis for about 25 years. I had it I my teens but was not diagnosed until I was about 20. I have never been completely clear but I have had some better times and worse times with it over the years. In general I would say it was mild to moderate with my worst times during pregnancy- my pictures with my newborn son look horrible. I had it all over my forehead. I was a walking, talking billboard for psoriasis, with the bonus being I never felt subconscious about it after that.
When it comes to the arthritis part I am not sure how long I have been symptomatic. I had some mild knee problems as an active teenager and at one point in my early 20s I couldn’t even get out of bed without rolling onto my knees and pushing up from the floor. I also did something to my left knee running up stairs at work in my 20s. My knee has never been the same since. I did see doctors but no real answers and just learned to live with the pain and flares over the years. My knee has always been a little swollen marked with flares of even more swelling and significant pain for weeks at a time. Over the last several years I have just had more and more pain throughout my body: back, neck, hips, feet, etc. I just kind of figured it was from compensating for my bad knee and being overweight. The hard part had gotten to be that I do like to exercise but I felt so much pain when I would try to exercise I couldn’t stick with it. I also work with young children and it had been getting much harder to sit on the floor for most of the day and get up and down from the floor so much throughout the day. I was literally a 60-70+ year old person in a 40 year old body.
On my last dermatologist appointment I saw the PA who asked about my nails, I have had it in my nails for many years, and he asked about pain and stiffness. As I described “a day in my life” when it came to the pain and stiffness of my body, and the physical limitations I was experiencing in my job he said I was describing PsA. He strongly suspected PsA as a result and prescribed MTX. I have been feeling much better. I had also been diagnosed with hypothyroidism a couple weeks before the PsA diagnosis so between getting my thyroid levels on track and treating the arthritis I haven’t felt this good in years. I still have some pain but it is manageable and my knees both feel much better. I can walk stairs now without pain. I had about gotten to the point of having to do stairs one at a time some days.
The only question have for others on MTX is about side effects. In general, I have experience minimal side effects, but one thing I have noticed is itching that is not related to my plaques. The PA thinks it is due to winter and dry skin, but it is a different kind of itch. I did try to explain it but he seemed to think it was very unlikely to be a side effect. I have intense itching, to the point I have bruised myself trying to scratch(I know scratching is BAD, but the itch is unrelenting and so uncomfortable). He did prescribe me an anti itch cream, but it isn’t helping. I don’t have a rash or any other problems, so if I could get this itching under control I would be thrilled with the MTX.