Humira....&...Diagnosing PA?

[yankees88]

So, I have just started my first Humira shots and after one week i am getting pretty excited about the results.. I have not had one bad reaction, no headaches or anything... So, that's not even my reason for the post, as i only have Psorisis.. it's my mother who is just just been diagnosied with needing a hip replacement and spinal cord issues.. She has serious psorisis and we are wondering if anyone can lend any information on how we can tell if any of these issues can be related to PA? Any info or suggested questions to ask the Dr. would be gretfully appreciated..

GO HUMIRA!!!!

[MikeK]

Hi Yankees88,

Good luck with the Humira. I hope and pray that it turns out to be your wonder drug. I'm sorry that your mother has hip and spinal cord issues. I'm not a doctor, but in my opinion there is a very strong possibility that the problems that she is having are due to PA. Unfortunately, if it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck ... well .. you know the rest. (Sigh.) :( PA is certainly something that she should explore with her doctor.

You asked:Any info or suggested questions to ask the Dr. would be gretfully appreciated.I'm going to give you a link to a "must read" post by JesseLou. She's married to an orthopedic surgeon and has PA and she discusses the questions that must be asked and the tests that must be ordered whenever PA is suspected. Here's a link to her post: http://www.psoriasis.org/forum/showthread.php?p=74786&highlight=favorite#post74786.

I find that the NPF's discussion about PA is also helpful. Here's a link to it: http://www.psoriasis.org/about/psa/index.php.

Finally, I was looking for something the other day and I came across a very, very old thread about PA. Sadly, none of the people who participated in that discussion post here any more. That being said, I think that you might benefit from that discussion. I found the posts by LadyAndy to particularly helpful. She included some links to a website that is maintained by a practicing rheumatologist in South Africa. I just visted his site for the first time in a very long time. Some of the information is outdated (and some of the treatments that he discusses are not available in this country) but, IMHO, there's also some very useful information there. Here's a link to the thread: http://www.psoriasis.org/forum/showthread.php?t=3361.

I hope this helps.

Good luck. Keep as posted as to how both you and your mother are doing. Let us know if you have any other questions.

Mike