Interesting study out of Canada, that Ps and depression may lead to PsA.
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Personally I think having either or both causes depression as well.
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hi, Jon_sparky it always seems to me to be similar to the itch, scratch response. is it the stress from depression that brings on psoriasis. which feeds the depression & it comes out as PsA. or is it a mixture of it all? seems self perpetuating though. The Canadians are doing a lot of research into PA & PsA at present. i read an article they produced about the benefits of pregnancy for sufferers ( not much help for an over 50ās bloke like me though) but good news for the younger ladies. every bit of good news gives hope that more break throughs are coming.
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Again, which comes first. . . while women already diagnosed may experience a remission of sorts during pregnancy, for other women, pregnancy may be what gets the ball rolling.
That theyāre making connections in the research is interesting but it seems as though it is likely correlation rather than causation.
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hi Stoney, ah always a catch isnāt there. strange thing with this disease, every now & then you hear or read something that puts a dim light on in the back of my mind. My mother was diagnosed with RA at 21 when pregnant which was 1957/8 i donāt think PsA was on the radar then. but when i look back over her life PsA would have been a better shout. thanks for another piece of the jigsaw to ponder on.
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This is the case for many autoimmune diseases, that pregnancy can impact when they begin.
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If stress i.e. Pregnency, Depression, accident, allergy, can acerbate the immune responce, to cause PsA, seems like that is what is happeningā¦
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A bit off topic, but for a number of years theyāve been thinking that depression might be an Alzheimerās trigger. New research, however, suggests it may actually be an early part of the disease process for Alzheimerās itself manifesting.
As we know depression, anxiety etc are often also outcomes of PsA, then I imagine itās a bit of a which came first - the chicken or egg? type question, and the answer, like many things in PsA being specific to the individual, may be āit dependsā.
Itās a great question and one that could do with some research.
Most certainly in my case.
I always thought that the pregnancy link was because the immune system slows, lowers or whatever so as not to reject the foetus during pregnancy. Hence why so many women with pre-existing PsA feel better at the time. I think Iāve had PsA lurking a long time and used to say Iād be happy to spend my whole life pregnant. It was always a high energy time for me, even with a couple of rug-rats in tow.
Iād guess that the immune system revs up with a vengeance once the baby is born?
OMG thatās scary!!! I mean the depression-Alzheimerās link!!! Iāve been confused and forgetful lately (and a little depressed), blaming it on the statin I started taking a year ago. If Iāve got Alzheimerās, shoot me!
I originally went to the doctor because of brain fog, 10 years ago I was 50. I think it is mainly tied to autoimmune.
I may have some what of a unique perspective on PsA and depression. I was diagnosed with PsA about a year ago, but I have also suffered from chronic depression for 30 years. Now, the depression is about 90% controlled because I had a vagus nerve stimulator put in 11 years ago. I still take anti-depressants and anti-anxiety meds, but I do well now.
Psy doc keeps tabs on me more now because of all the pain.
I do not have bad P, just in my hair. Mother had P bad. I donāt have the B27 marker, but doc said that doesnāt really mean much about the PsA.
Fighting the pain and the little depression is a task sometimes. I am taking Otezla and have not had any increased depression or anxiety from it that I can tell. I have been taking it for 11 months.
Hi Grandma J, if being forgetful and a little depressed is Alzheimerās, youāll have to sign me up too!
I think we both already have ample excuse for that already though 
. Iāve got an awful memory for things that happened in the first 30 years of my life, I figure if they start coming back with clarity, Iāll go see a doctor.
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Jen, that is somewhat reassuring. Younger members: please feel free to pile in with examples of forgetfulness etc. You will be contributing massively to the happiness of us older ones. If none of you show up, Iāll assume you āknow thereās something I meant to do, but ā¦ā
Iām 30 nowā¦ so youāre saying thereās hope for me getting better memory now?
And yes I have terrible memory! I hardly remember anythingā¦ please donāt ask me when something happened when I do rememberā¦
I have to make lists for everythingā¦ Iām horrible with names to anything (I have complete processes in my head for things that happen inside cells for exampleā¦ but I canāt tell anyone about it because I have no clue what the names areā¦)
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(and are you guys sure you didnāt forget how bad your memory was when you were younger?)
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I am 60, is that still young?
My brain fog started in my 30āsā¦
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I didnāt forgetāI remember when I had young children I told my doctor I thought I had Alzheimerāsā¦he just laughed at me! So, I guess the forgetfulness follows some of us through life and itās probably nothing serious. Itās just scary when you get confused about names of celebrities and things people told you yesterday! My daughters ask me nearly every day if I have Alzheimerās, so thatās unnerving!
I meant it the other way aroundā¦ the people who think itās only now that theyāre āoldā they forget thingsā¦
I also think that the more you focus on how much your forgetting things the more you seem to forgetā¦ the moment you think āmaybe itās Alzheimerāsā you go from forgetting 80% of the times when you forgot something to remembering most of the times you forgot somethingā¦
Thatās what happened to my momā¦ sheās not forgetting more then before she just felt like she didā¦ and itās totally what I would doā¦
Iām not saying itās not bad nowā¦ I donāt know Iām not in your head 
it might beā¦ and Iām definitely the person who would totally freak outā¦ because I doā¦ about every little thing that I feelā¦