I wanted to share with everyone that I have had both psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis going on 25 years now and I developed them when I was 19. I then developed gastritis, then diabetes type 2 about 7 years ago. I became very ill with pneumonia in 2014. I then developed anxiety attacks and high blood pressure in December of 2014. I later found out that I had been vitamin D deficient and I also suffered from Non-alcoholic Fatty liver which are both related as well. I started to also suffer from TMJ soon after along with mood swings and major depression. I have had some weird stuff happen as I have been on antibiotics at times for long periods of time. I have had 2 salivary gland infections in the past year and not sure if it is related to my TMJ issues. I did find out that having severe PsA and PsO you are more at risk to develop infectious diseases. I really wish I had been more educated on these illnesses, so I wanted to share with whoever is interested.
Welcome to our PsA clubhouse, Man! Yes, there are lots of those co-morbidities around here. I’ve got major depression, high BP, NAFatty Liver, carpal tunnel and there are probably more that I’ve forgotten. Oh yes, very dry eyes.
Interesting, my high BP ad my Carpal Tunnel get worse and get better according to how well my PsA is controlled.
What an interesting disease we share! Endless fascination and topics for discussion. LOL
Glad you found us! Tell us how you did that …
I freaked out when I first got PsA and hit the web, as I took the “morbid” bit of “comorbidities” the wrong way and thought these were things we might die from if we have PsA! It took me about two months to learn the real meaning and that I wasn’t going to peg it from having dry eyes!
Hi Seenie, I was googling for some information regarding my TMJ in relation to my psoriatic arthritis and I came across this site. I am a disabled veteran and I have been trying to associate it with psoriatic conditions. I see that someone shared a link regarding a government study that I used for one of my claims months ago. Yes, google does help!
Welcome aboard Man, and glad to have your sharing!
Getting more educated about the disease you have can be tough, though I understand wishing you had more information. As @darinfan mentions, it can be hard not to get too much information or plain the wrong information just in the way you read something.
I was saying this as I have been ill with PsA and PsO for 25 years and seeing military, private and VA medical doctors for these service connected and none of them ever mentioned to me that I was more at risk until it was too late. So, I just wish I had been made aware of the possible secondary issues that could bring my health down. I may have made better choices earlier as a result. Anyways, just a thought and hopefully these sites will help others better manage their illnesses.
So, the dry eyes, dry mouth, ears ringing, clogged arteries, high BP, high cholesterol, asthma, IBS, la-de-da-de-da, are all possibly comorbidities?
I found this:
"Comorbidities among people with arthritis:
In one study, CDC examined the presence of four specific chronic conditions among people with arthritis: chronic respiratory conditions, diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. About half (47%) of US adults with arthritis also have at least one of these comorbid conditions (2007 National Health Interview Survey).
As shown in Figure 1 below, of US adults with arthritis,
24% (11.2 million) also had heart disease. That’s nearly 1 in 4.
Heart disease was the most common comorbidity among people with arthritis.
19% (9.0 million) also had chronic respiratory conditions.
16% (7.3 million) also had diabetes.
6.9% (3.2 million) also suffered stroke. Stroke was the least common comorbidity studied among people with arthritis. "
Haha, at least that’s some good news for us about strokes!
I would much rather look at The National Psoriasis Foundation website for that as arthritis is generalized, where psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis have more direct research for people like us.
Consider what meds you take. I was taking some that after a long time stopped doing their job and started causing neck muscle cramping and TMJ that got so bad my mouth locked open one day.
The headaches from the neck tension was almost as bad as the migraines I get from time to time.
I have moderate PsA, mild PsO, Non-Alc Fatty-Liver, which keeps me from a lot of meds because of enyme levels sky rocketing, and last but not least, I am a walking petri dish.
If something can infect, it most certainly will. And fungi have a feild day.
Hi Man and Phil, if you have any good TMJ and PSA links, can you post them? I got sudden onset TMJ about 6 months ago and after excluding temporal arteritis have been studiously ignoring it, but the headaches are getting more consistent so, will need to do something soon.
There’s a MASH episode where Frank gets sick with some epizootic. He’s out of it and tells Hawkeye he knows he’s bothersome. Hawkeye says yes, Frank, you’re a pain and a bother.
My pain and bother: psoriasis (since I was six years old), PsA, dry eyes, dry mouth, ringing ears, high blood pressure, Vitamin D deficient, Non-alc fatty liver, carpal tunnel, depression, anxiety. My dentist also says periodontitis is a result of the PsA, which means I get to go for a cleaning every three months.
I only have my personal experience. My pysch doc had me on Geodon for years. After 7 or so I built up a resistance to its beneficial qualities and started down the muscle cramping path.
I saw him one time and told him of my TMJ and he said that he needs to know all about my body changes just like any other doctor because his meds cause weird things to happen and TMJ was a sign of some SSRI’s have stopped.
Hi a Phil, thanks very much for that info. I’m not finding lots of the types of things I like to make my treatment decisions (RCTs, large scale prospective studies - yes I’m a nerd), so I really appreciate any input I can get from those who are truly motivated (or in other words, actually feel the pain ).
I’ve spoken before about recurrent mouth ulcers that come with the PsA (and still they come), but I’ve now got some weird ones and they are worrying me somewhat. I spotted them at Christmas. They are tiny - about 1mm across, the size of a pinhead. I initially found two, just above where the tongue joins the back of the mouth - and then found there was another two on the actual flesh that joins it. And then found there were two more in the same place as the first two but on the other side of the mouth. At least I’m symmetrical.
They are SO small, about a fifth of the size of my normal ulcers (if that). But they won’t go. I’ve been to the docs twice, and he thinks they are mouth ulcers that haven’t healed rather than anything “sinister.” And my logical brain agrees with him - there are six of them (well, five now, as one finally disappeared), they are so tiny, and they’re not growing or changing shape - believe me, I’ve taken photos and blown them up to make sure! But what on earth are they? If they haven’t gone in a month, the GP is sending me to the hospital to have them looked at - which scares the hell out of me, just in case they are nasty. But it has been two months since they arrived.
I’m only on hydroxychloroquine for the arthritis, and can’t see any links online with that. So, what I’m asking is whether anyone else has had these little tiny friends invade their mouth for an extended stay, and whether it turned out to be linked with the arthritis?!
Do you get a dry mouth Darinfan? My optician says I have dry eyes, which I barely notice. But I also get a very dry mouth and I assume it’s all due to a bit of Sjogrens, if you can get just a bit of that. Could be the cause of your ulcers I guess. Try not to worry … oh, those words don’t work do they? I worry like hell about anything wrong with my mouth but time and again my fears prove unfounded.
I did get mouth ulcers, prior to even seeing my Rhuemy or getting on a dmard, but after arthritis onset. My Rheumy thought it was linked to the arthritis itself. Mine didn’t stay small for long though, so I ended up getting some kenalog (topical steroids) from the pharmacy, which made pretty short work of the ulcers.
The only time I got mouth sores was about 3 months after starting Enbrel at my daughter’s wedding. There were 3 or 4 really painful bumps inside my bottom lip. My lip sort of swelled up and my daughter laughed when I gave my little “mom’s speech” during the dinner–she said I was talking out of the corner of my mouth. How embarrassing.
Anyway, those buggers only lasted about 12 hours. I did put salt on them, which is what I always do for a canker sore. It hurts for a few seconds but that’s been the best remedy for me!
The IB was with me until I went on a biologic.
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