Tmbrwolf's PsA symptoms (this time in the right place!)

Symptoms & Treatments
1

Symptoms: Same as everyone, I guess. I posted pictures of the psoriasis outbreak and some of the inflammation. My left knee bursa is swollen badly. In fact, until I looked at the pictures, I had no idea my legs had gotten so bow-legged and malformed. I guess I try not to look at them. Out of sight, out of mind, right? Both wrists have recently begun to swell on the outer part. Hands and fingers are roughly 2-3x normal size. I was wearing a ring that is 2 sizes larger than my wedding ring, but had to take it off recently because it started to get too tight also. Fingernails are ridged and pitted, and toenails are starting to lift from the nail bed and develop psoriasis plaques between the nailbed and nail (ICKY). Thumb joints in the pad of the thumb are swollen, hot to the touch, and SORE! Makes it hard to brag to the dog that I'm a higher level being because of the opposable thumbs. Not so opposable anymore!

Fatigue, stiffness, fine motor skill difficulties, vertigo. Serious brain fog (the other day I literally could not remember how to use a knife to quarter an onion...weirdest brain fog moment EVER for me). I sometimes have trouble trying to remember what word I meant to use in a sentence. When I type on here it takes a really long time because I have to read back through and find all the word substitution errors, spelling errors, and finger hiccups before I can post - I'm OCD that way :)

Both knees feel like shards of glass are rubbing together when I put any weight on my legs. Back spasms daily - sometimes severe (of course I also have 4 herniated lumbar discs, so that may be the source. Treated the discs, and the back issues significantly improved until my PsA flared). Numbness, burning, and tingling from my mid to lower back spreading down the back of my legs, and also from my mid-upper back up through my neck. Cluster headaches (affectionately known as cluster&^%$ (word deleted) headaches). insomnia. depression. Icky gastrointestinal difficulties that improve when I'm on pred...so I'm guessing this is related.

There are more, but I can't think of them at the moment :)

2

Yikes! That's a lot going on. I hope I'm not overstepping here, but it probably wouldn't hurt to get the GI stuff looked into. So many inflammatory diseases like to follow each other-same with the auto-immunes.

3

Tmbrwolf, I have a laundry list of symptoms, too (posted already). I don’t have the psoriasis in my nail beds, but I do get outbreaks on the pads of my thumbs with swelling and a red rash up my forearms when I’m flaring. The pads of my thumbs feel like they’ve been burned. All of my fingers are “sausage fingers”, as are my toes. They hurt! My sister had symptoms much like you describe related to your hands, with the psoriasis in the nail beds and pitting nails, etc. The joints most affected for me are my hips and shoulders. That’s where I get the “broken glass” sensations. I’ve had GI issues during flares for years that I’ve been told is not related, but it is…I just know.

Thanks for posting. I don’t respond a lot, but I do read and it really helps to know I’m not completely crazy with some of these symptoms. A lot of the things I’ve experienced I have not associated with a flare before, but after reading about others on here, I’ve been able to communicate better with my rheumy, which makes this forum extremely beneficial!
Happy Holidays!

4

I just noticed that you listed GI probs. I had them too and they were pretty awful. I had a colonoscopy on my birthday one year. Ewww. Finally, diagnosed with IBS. The GI doc changed my diet and the change has been unbelievable. There is a diet called FODMAPS. Each letter stands for a food compound that should be avoided. It’s a tough diet, and I needed help from a nutritionist when I lost a ton of weight because I didn’t know what to eat. But the change in my tummy has been so positive, that it has been worth it. I’m posting a couple of links so that you can explore it if you like.
http://www.aboutibs.org/site/treatment/low-fodmap-diet/
http://www.medicine.virginia.edu/clinical/departments/medicine/divisions/digestive-health/nutrition-support-team/nutrition-articles/Parrish_Dec_12.pdf

5

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas timerwolf.

So ..tummy may possibly have been an issue all along?Not nice on top of all of the other pain you've been dealing with lately.I hope you are finding some relief from the cold.

That was one of the first questions my reumy asked me about last visit. I am on a strict migraine diet (supposedly... I really do try) of no hard cheeses, no red meat, no sugar, limited caffeine, no bleached wheat flour and no alcohol.

These where the first really ill feeling symptoms I had when all of this started for me. I never associated my arthritis with my psoriasis, so I did not make that connection until I started to change my diet drastically when I was told I may have M.S. last years. Most of the GI symptoms diminished with the huge diet change, they still sneak in now and then If i am not strict in my intake choices. This has been a bad month for making good choices with the holidays delicacies everywhere, but we all have to kick it now and then.....

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See, I've been told to follow a low protein diet to minimize inflammation and damage to my liver. Crazy what different advice we all get.

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Hi all. Thanks for responding! I have been lactose intolerant for about 4 years, so when my tummy started doing weird things, I thought maybe I was getting lactose from some strange, unidentifiable source. I'm usually pretty careful. I seem to have no trouble with cheese and some limited yogurt...but milk, ice cream, stuff like that - no WAY will I eat/drink that stuff anymore. Too hard on the tummy. Then when I started getting serial diarrhea every evening/night 7 days a week for several hours at a time I thought maybe my meds were messing up my tummy. I never even mentioned it to any of my doctors (until this last visit w/ my Rheumy) because I really honestly thought it was something stupid I was doing. Silly, silly tmbrwolf. Nope. I have IBS. So now the doc has me on sulfasalazine (which supposedly helps with that particular thing), but it takes 8-12 weeks to reach full effect. So I'm being really careful. I only eat what I know I can eat. Sadly, I used to LOVE eggnog...but that is one of those things that does really really really really bad things to my tummy, so I avoid it like the plague.

I've had 3 or 4 people say that I have lost a lot of weight recently, but I don't feel any thinner. Of course, my pants are all falling off now, so I guess I am, but I really, honestly still feel like a beached whale most of the time. I think (I hope) it is because I have all this inflammation everywhere so I feel like I'm bloated and icky, and not that I'm going through that stupid teenage phase of seeing myself as fat, ugly, and unappealing. I've way outgrown the teenage years, I certainly do NOT want to sink back to that god-awful place again! Good lord...that is the LAST thing I need! The doc also put me on amitriptyline because I've been in kind of an ugly, dark place in my head...so maybe that will fix whatever seems to be broken in my psyche.

I've been told to eat/not eat just about everything under the sun. And I tried each and every one of those suggestions. I juiced. I avoided nightshade veggies, I went gluten free....you name it, I've tried it (not at the same time). Nothing worked. Nothing made the PsA or psoriasis better. Some things made it much, much worse. So now, I basically know what I can eat and what I should avoid, and I go from there. When I find a recipe I want to try, but it has something in it that my system doesn't tolerate, I switch things around until I find something that tastes great, but doesn't contain my problem foods. Oh.. .and I will never ever ever give up my diet coke (I'm a diet coke fiend).

Tomorrow (Christmas) went from a simple meal with my hubby and kids to a food fest for all my in laws that live in town. YIKES! Luckily, I've planned well in advance and picked easy things to fix that I can eat, that are festive, and that will please everyone who is coming. I also have both of my boys here (yippeeeeee!!!) and my hubby, and they have all been informed they are being drafted to kitchen duty after we open presents in the morning. No chopping, grinding, or lifting for tmbrwolf! They can do all the heavy, ouchie stuff, and I'll take all the credit (big grin). Our Christmas menu:

Honey glazed spiral sliced ham (bought 2)

Baked apples

Baked potato casserole

Caramelized brussel sprouts (my absolute fav!)

Baked asparagus (my #2 son's favorite)

Oriental slaw salad

Crescent rolls

and 5 different kinds of pie/nondairy whipped cream

Of that, I will eat a little of the potatos, a LOT of the brussell sprouts, and maybe a teeny tiny piece of ham.

Oh...for those with hand swelling issues: I just purchased a pair of therapeutic compression gloves and have been wearing them for several hours for the first time today. My hands are working better than they have in a long, long time, but there is still a lot of stiffness. I will take them off at night, but wear them during the day so that hopefully (fingers crossed), the inflammation will subside in my hands and fingers. I will let everyone know how that goes in the next few days.

I hope everyone has a terrific Christmas.

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GrumpyCat, thanks for the links. The only things that I boo hooed about giving up were: Avocado (LOVE them...but they are so expensive here in OKC in comparison to the TX/Mexico border that I haven't been eating them anyway), Chickpeas (no hummus???? SAD SAD tmbr), broccoli, cauliflower, peaches and mushrooms. The rest I can live without easily. I already knew that anything containing malitol or sorbitol was really really bad for my tummy, so I never eat anything with it. I'm really glad cabbage and potatoes didn't show up on the "do not eat" list, because I would have had a really hard time giving those up. One of my favorite weight loss tricks is to make cabbage soup with cabbage, celery, carrots, maybe a potato, and fat free chicken broth. If I get hungry in the evenings, I have a bowl of the cabbage soup. My tummy feels full, I love the flavor, and I'm not tempted to dig into something really bad for my tummy and my weight loss goals. Win/win!

9

I boo booed some things on the list too…a lot of my favorite veggies are on there! When I started out, I eliminated everything listed until my tummy evened out. Then, I would try one new food at a time to see what happened. I found that some foods like broccoli and cauliflower are fine while others…chick peas… Not so much! :slight_smile:



tmbrwolf329 said:

GrumpyCat, thanks for the links. The only things that I boo hooed about giving up were: Avocado (LOVE them…but they are so expensive here in OKC in comparison to the TX/Mexico border that I haven’t been eating them anyway), Chickpeas (no hummus??? SAD SAD tmbr), broccoli, cauliflower, peaches and mushrooms. The rest I can live without easily. I already knew that anything containing malitol or sorbitol was really really bad for my tummy, so I never eat anything with it. I’m really glad cabbage and potatoes didn’t show up on the “do not eat” list, because I would have had a really hard time giving those up. One of my favorite weight loss tricks is to make cabbage soup with cabbage, celery, carrots, maybe a potato, and fat free chicken broth. If I get hungry in the evenings, I have a bowl of the cabbage soup. My tummy feels full, I love the flavor, and I’m not tempted to dig into something really bad for my tummy and my weight loss goals. Win/win!

10

I love that silly old cabbage soup. I wasn't sure anyone even still ate it but a few of us hard core High Germanic backgrounders. My mom always called it POW soup and we had it at least once a week for supper with biscuits and jam.
I make a baked version with not much liquid and I like it for lunch with just a few crackers. :)
tmbrwolf329 said:

GrumpyCat, thanks for the links. The only things that I boo hooed about giving up were: Avocado (LOVE them...but they are so expensive here in OKC in comparison to the TX/Mexico border that I haven't been eating them anyway), Chickpeas (no hummus???? SAD SAD tmbr), broccoli, cauliflower, peaches and mushrooms. The rest I can live without easily. I already knew that anything containing malitol or sorbitol was really really bad for my tummy, so I never eat anything with it. I'm really glad cabbage and potatoes didn't show up on the "do not eat" list, because I would have had a really hard time giving those up. One of my favorite weight loss tricks is to make cabbage soup with cabbage, celery, carrots, maybe a potato, and fat free chicken broth. If I get hungry in the evenings, I have a bowl of the cabbage soup. My tummy feels full, I love the flavor, and I'm not tempted to dig into something really bad for my tummy and my weight loss goals. Win/win!

11

Hello brother, just take a breath

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Everything is going to be OK so long as you breathe

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Which every diet you decide to follow, the key it to find out what foods don’t agree with you, and avoid them, it’s a slow process,a md there will be foods that simply will not work no matter how much you with they will! Pick a healthy diet, make changes slowly over time, and hopefully your stomach issues will even out.