I’m wondering if anybody else has this experience. I find that when I am sick that my pain levels decrease by more than 50%. So for example, I’ve been dealing with awful pain in my right knee with a meniscus tear and pain in the other knee as well. I’ve been sick since yesterday and shockingly, neither one is particularly hurting right now.
I had this happen last year when I was hospitalized with pneumonia. I had an awful trigger finger and it did not hurt me at all while I was really sick.
I’m wondering what other people’s experience with illness and pain levels has been
Very standard really for me anyway. Your immune system is busy elsewhere so PsA stuff decreases. A minor advantage given you’re pretty sick with something else nevertheless.
I believe it’s akin to Reverse Koebner’s Syndrome in psoriasis which where your psoriasis disappears in the place you have an injury. In psoriasis it’s actually quite rare as Koebner’s Syndrome is more the norm as in psoriasis increases where you have an injury. But it seems more prevalent in PsA.
Hope the sickness resolves and the PsA is slow to notice that.
If it’s a cold or something and I’m still functioning, then yes my immune system seems to switch gears from attacking me to dealing with the virus. However, if it’s a bad cold or flu and I’m laid out flat my body will hurt from inactivity - in that case it feels like a double recovery as I get my joints moving and my strength back up.
Yep, happens to me every time I am sick or get injured. After I had my disk replacement surgery there was no noticeable effects of PSA but as my neck healed the PSA slowly reemerged. Thats how I knew my neck was healing well.
We have over active immune systems I’ve had psoriasis and PsA for over 40 years now and apart from these conditions haven’t really been ill. Last month I had COVID and was quite ill for 3 weeks but my aches and pains from PsA seems to disappear. My take on it is this our over active immune system will attack and try to defend us against the stronger illness I still have some problems from COVID but it has basically gone and within a week or two all my ain from PsA is back and now bloody worse my neck shoulders scapula and hips are awful. It just shows ur immune system is strong. My PsA developed after having multiple vaccinations when I joined the military in 1980 10months after joining I got the boosters and then psoriasis started within a couple of months. A USA study on they’re military carried out because such a high number of vets were leaving with autoimmune diseases compared to the civilian population this was odd because when u join you have to be A1 fit. They concluded that it was probably the vaccines that kick started the autoimmune reactions in these other wise previously A1 recruits
My rheumy said due to Covid and indeed its vaccines - both incredible new to humans - there is a rise of people now developing autoimmune diseases too. So the rheumys and the gastro guys are getting lots busier. A friend of mine developed significant Crohn’s last year, his gastro also said the same.
It kind of makes sense doesn’t it? They’ve known for decades psoriasis can be kick started by a strep throat. It was for me aged 13. And it was a bunion repair operation with the teeniest plate and screw in my foot that kick started my PsA aged 54. Stupid immune system had a significant temper tantrum about that altogether.
Thankfully in my late 30’s I badly fractured my shoulder and my psoriasis then just fled and so very gratefully has remained ‘fled’ too. Classic Reverse Keobner’s Syndrome if ever there was one. And no doubt now helped to remain ‘fled’ with PsA meds. I never realised how grateful I would be in so badly fracturing my shoulder. I refused to let them pin it in an effort to lessen the effects of later OA (so had a longer healing process and indeed more painful too) and to date PsA has never affected that shoulder at all. Nothing has. It now works just fine.
I’d love if they just understood more of this type of thing and properly tracked such issues too. It would be so helpful for patients to understand better too. Along with properly explaining to patients that the reason you have PsA is the over activity of your immune system so it’s unlikely the meds used to treat it is going to make you have less of functioning immune system either. The fear that the phrase ‘immunosuppressant meds’ causes for too many people is unreal. The fact is most of us on PsA meds that work for us, fight off the normal bugs and colds etc just fine. I have certainly. The first cold/bug I’ve had since 2016 is just recently a couple of months ago. Given to me by our dog’s vet when we were in a tiny consultation room for far too long, stupidly chatting.
I totally agree I had my gallbladder removed in May of this year I had been in pain for quite some time with it but didn’t want to go to hospital in the winter months because of COVID. The pain was totally different to the PsA pain which has dogged me for over 40 years now but during the gallbladder pain my PsA settled down. It took some time to recover from the gallbladder OP but they said it was because I had waited too long to have it removed. Once the pain subsided back came the PsA then COVID struck me down and the same thing happened but now my PsA is worse then ever. You might have already read what I have added below but it is fact.
My PsA developed after having multiple vaccinations when I joined the military in 1980 10months after joining I got the boosters and then psoriasis started within a couple of months. A USA study on they’re military carried out because such a high number of vets were leaving with autoimmune diseases compared to the civilian population this was odd because when u join you have to be A1 fit. They concluded that it was probably the vaccines that kick started the autoimmune reactions in these other wise previously A1 recruits.
As a child I had no vaccines only the polio sugar cube when i started school. I had every childhood illness fractured my skull at 4 years old after just getting over chicken pox and whooping cough the last was mumps at 13 not pleasant my Doctor told my mum not to worry as I would have a very strong immune system then at 17 the military filled me with different vaccines and its been down hill since I’m 61 now and its a bit of a slog.
I wish you a very Merry Christmas and a pain free New Year, just kidding
Absolutely! I usually find that even though I don’t actually enjoy whatever ailment I have (recovering from surgery especially) it is a nice break from the everyday normal pain. I have areas that always pronounce themselves daily and some that wax and wane but those always subside with something specific that immune system is supposed to work on. The hard part is dealing with the uptick response after. Like having a car in 5th gear but the trany won’t shift!
And now that I’m feeling much better, I’m not. I not only have many joints that are swollen and painful, but also and having a skin eruption of whatever it is I get there (not psoriasis). Fun times.
At least I should finally be getting the gel injection for my knee this week
Are the gel injections a “shot in the dark” because nothing else is helping? There seems to be a lot of controversy as to the effectiveness of the gel injection. “American College of Rheumatology treatment guidelines actually recommend against the risk of supplementation in the hyaluronic acid,” says Dr King. “Because when you look at the studies for hyaluronic acid and individuals with OA, where we have the most data, when you restrict to the studies that are of the highest quality, it doesn’t look like that there’s an effect that is meaningful for patients.” Still, she says, this therapy may have a place in some treatment plans.” Not trying to discourage you and being who you are, you likely know all of this. I had asked about it 3 years ago and was told by my orthopaedic surgeon that he has seen little help from it but also no signs of harm. Sorry if I’m being a downer…not my intention, just sharing my information.
Over the last 2 weeks I have had my own encounter with pain reduction while being quite sick. I developed a bad chest cough infection which then caused a terrible sinus infection…worst I have had that made my eyes, cheek bones and teeth hurt. Crazy headaches also. But I found that I was going up and down the stairs with ease, no knee, foot, hand/finger pain…I thought that 3 months of Simponi was now working. But as the antibiotics started to work on the infection, all of foot, knee, hip, hand etc pain ramped up again keeping me awake. Now i’m starting a different antibiotic because the first one didn’t do what normally happens for me…48 hours and I feel pretty good. I’m hearing of many others getting this sinus and cough infection that is very persistent and hard to treat. Nasty bugs out there! This coughing til your ribs hurt is no fun. Press on.