Hello,
I need your opinion / advise.
I was diagnosed with PsA when I was 25. I’ve been dealing with the disease now for almost 2 years (I’m 27).
Luckily, since I started my new lifestyle (Sulfasalazine, Better Nutrition, More Sleep, More Exercise) my symptoms remain quite minor.
Once a week I may have aching in a joint, but it’s low on the pain scale and is more annoying than anything. Stiffness is not an issue and lack of strength happens only occasionally.
That’s right… I’m lucky - for now…
I have experienced the intense, debilitating pain this disease can inflict. The first 3 months that PsA blind-sided me were physically and mentally exhausting.
I remember laying in bed for hours in the mornings and screaming with every move until I could get enough mobility to crawl out of bed and work the inflammation out of my leg joints.
Now, I am looking towards a career as a police officer and need your opinion.
For those of you that have PsA experience, how much worse does it get as years go by? Is it entirely dependent on the individual? On the lifestyle? Or is there a pattern here?
My dad has had RA since he was 15. If he is relatively pain free with few flare ups - do those genetics indicate anything for my future?
My dad said he had a good 10 years of the RA not affecting his ability to play sports.
Thanks,
I've had PsA since age 10. I'm 41 one now. I've had a few remissions (no symptoms even without medication, able to do everything with energy, etc) , and some periods of extreme flares where I can't move and nothing seems to help.
I'd say that over the 31 yrs I've had this I see a worsening pattern. I've had better years and worse years, but overall it is trending toward more disability. I haven't had a remission in 10 years, the longest I've gone without a time of feeling great. I've had to take more medications, and the ones I take don't seem to help as much. I developed full body soft tissue problems (enthesitis) this past summer, so developing brand new areas of disease activity in the future is not ruled out.
Some of this may be due to getting older, but I have more fatigue and less energy, even during flares. My joints have been slow to damage, and I do not see any acceleration in damage.
One of the hardest things about this disease, for me, has been inability to plan for the future. As an example: I thought I could easily juggle finished graduate school with raising a small child (I was about your age and had lots of energy). But each time I tried my body rebelled with flares. Once I stopped trying to do both (I kept the child, lol), my body settled.
You should certainly try for your police officer training if that's what you want, but have a backup plan for work in a similar field you can do if your body rebells at the physical / emotional demands of police training. If your body cooperates, and you make it through training, have a backup plan for a desk job in police work in case your body has a melt-down in the near future. In other words, go for it! but have plans A, B, and C as backups.
Best wishes!