I am a new member to the group. I have had symptoms of psoriatic arthritis since Jan 2015. I am awaiting a prescription for Humira which hopefully will help. I do have some small psoriasis on my forehead; however I am more struggling with the joint inflammation. My soreness seems to be different as time progresses. My hips and groin hurt in the beginning and now my ankle/shoulders are giving me problems. I am tired all the time and have no energy. After I get off work which I sit at a desk all day I am exhausted. I know exercise would help but I'm too sore to exercise and I don't know what to do. I am in the military and have gained 20 lbs since fighting this. I'm not sure where I am going with this but I'm just tired. I would like to work out but I don't have the energy and am sore. Does anyone have any advice regarding exercises, etc? Thanks!
Achy and tired all the time. Yup, we get it. There’s a featured article in the Newbies’ section about it. Myself, I found the fatigue and depression the most difficult parts of the active disease. You seem to know that keeping moving is very important when you have PsA, but we all know what it’s like to be sore and dead tired. To be honest, I wasn’t able to exercise until I’d been on aggressive treatment for many months. Then I found my best exercise: swimming. The fluid motions and the support of the water are wonderfully soothing. In hindsight, should have started swimming far before I did! I didn’t feel like it, and I didn’t think it would make any differrence. But I think it would have.
Glad to have you here, Craig!
Thank you! I appreciate the support.
My advice about exercise is .... do it! Keep moving if you possibly can. I was told to do some exercises when I was first diagnosed. As just walking around the living room was quite an ordeal I felt that being asked to do leg raises 3 times a day simply wasn't fair. It hurt! It was almost as boring as having PsA.
Fast forward ... once my knees eased up a bit I did start moving again. By then I'd developed secondary osteoarthritis in both knees. Probably related to the fact that they were swollen for years and probably also related to the muscle wasting which happened very quickly. Once I got moving there was no stopping me. It used to hurt, it doesn't anymore. The drugs have helped me so much but keeping joints strong and loose with exercise is almost as important as the treatment I believe.
The fatigue is an absolute swine. Apparently, and counter-intuitively, exercise can help with fatigue too. The stage you're at, I'd imagine that gentle but regular (regular is key!) exercise will help you slowly but surely.
I hope that Humira helps you loads. There's so much waiting involved but often it is very, very worth it. Meanwhile you can tell yourself that the huge effort involved in getting some exercise will very likely only be needed for a while .... things should get a lot easier once Humira kicks in. Good luck.