ademas
07-19-2006, 09:26 PM
Just a quick introduction and a quick question.
I'm a 47 year-old male from Seattle, WA.
For about 20 years I've dealt with some minor nail pitting, and then about 6-7 years ago it became much worse. My doctor assumed it was a nail fungus, and put me on Lamisil. It did nothing, and I stopped treatment after 6 months.
A couple of years later, I switched health care plans and revisited the problem of my nails with my new doctor. He immediately went for the elbows, and noticed I had a patch of flaky skin about the size of a quarter on my right elbow. So...there it was. A psoriasis (and psoriatic nails) diagnosis.
He gave me some topicals (a steroid cream) and later dovonex, and for a number of years I've plugged along, treating my nails twice a day...occluding at night. It helped the appearance slightly, but only because of the moisturizing effect. If I ever skipped a day, they looked as bad as usual.
Well, the last 12-18 months, things have taken an ugly turn. My toenails became involved, and it has quickly spread to all toenails, and 3 toes on each foot are swollen and painful, and have the "mini-sausage" look. I'm also experiencing a lot of pain in my achilles tendons, particularly if I've moved around a lot the day prior. I'm also having some issues with balance, particularly when walking up or down stairs, or when stopping to change the direction I'm going--but this might be due to the way that I'm walking, due to stiffness, and to avoid pain.
My first appointment with the RA is tomorrow. I've been to two dermatologists, and neither could help me due to the fact that I can't take immunosuppressants. I don't really know that the RA will be able to do much for me either, and therein lies my question.
Is there an effective treatment for psoriatic arthritis that isn't an immunosuppressant?
Any suggestions?
Thank you.
I'm a 47 year-old male from Seattle, WA.
For about 20 years I've dealt with some minor nail pitting, and then about 6-7 years ago it became much worse. My doctor assumed it was a nail fungus, and put me on Lamisil. It did nothing, and I stopped treatment after 6 months.
A couple of years later, I switched health care plans and revisited the problem of my nails with my new doctor. He immediately went for the elbows, and noticed I had a patch of flaky skin about the size of a quarter on my right elbow. So...there it was. A psoriasis (and psoriatic nails) diagnosis.
He gave me some topicals (a steroid cream) and later dovonex, and for a number of years I've plugged along, treating my nails twice a day...occluding at night. It helped the appearance slightly, but only because of the moisturizing effect. If I ever skipped a day, they looked as bad as usual.
Well, the last 12-18 months, things have taken an ugly turn. My toenails became involved, and it has quickly spread to all toenails, and 3 toes on each foot are swollen and painful, and have the "mini-sausage" look. I'm also experiencing a lot of pain in my achilles tendons, particularly if I've moved around a lot the day prior. I'm also having some issues with balance, particularly when walking up or down stairs, or when stopping to change the direction I'm going--but this might be due to the way that I'm walking, due to stiffness, and to avoid pain.
My first appointment with the RA is tomorrow. I've been to two dermatologists, and neither could help me due to the fact that I can't take immunosuppressants. I don't really know that the RA will be able to do much for me either, and therein lies my question.
Is there an effective treatment for psoriatic arthritis that isn't an immunosuppressant?
Any suggestions?
Thank you.