25 yr old w/ psa....questions

[Sunglow21]

HI, I am 25 years old and have had psoriasis since I was 7. I have experienced bad leg and feet pain since I was 15 but was told I would "out grow" it. Well at 23 I decided this wasn't something I would outgrow and I was feeling worse and worse with each day. I finally was diagnosed with psa but still haven't found anything to make the pain go away. I was on Celebrex for a while but it eventually made my ankles swell and then I was switched to mobic. Well it went into remission for a period of a few months and I ran out of health insurance so I quit taking meds at all. Well a few months ago it came back with vengence. Now I can barley walk, I hurt most of the time and nothing I try seems to help. I went back to Celebrex albeit once a day since I don't have insurance and can't afford more than this. It has not seemed to help at all this go around. It has gotten to the point that I don't leave the house very often and dread having to stand or walk even to go the bathroom. I would love any and all advice from individuals with this disease especially if you developed the disease early on or are of the same age group as myself. I really don't know what to do. I am on unemployment right now but when you can barely walk it's hard to hunt for a job. Plus I am scared of applying for disability. Please feel free to contact me at Sunglow21@aol.com.

Thank you in advance to those of you that read and respond to my posting.
sincerely,
Ali

[Zwijndrecht]

Ali,

But for the grace of God, all with psoriasis go where you are now. I live in fear of losing my job and surviving. What I can suggest is to find some wise doctor or dermatologist who will prescribe some of the old NSAID's which will work for a while and are not too bad on the stomach if you stay away from alcohol and take them with food. These are things like sulindac, voltaren, feldene just look at the NSAID list in the NPF or hit NSAID in a search engine. They are much less expensive and when one stops working you can try another. Take NPF info to a doctor to show what else is available.

Even methotrexate is not a terribly expensive medicine but you will have to do some blood work to be able to make sure it does not take out your liver.

Try to keep yourself healthy as possible by getting rest and mild exercise, eating well and getting as much sunlight as you can.

Do not give up hope, work through one day at a time. If it were not for new mornings every 24 hours, many of us would have given up long ago.

[sussx2]

Ali,

I was told I had Psa my Sophmore year in college, after going to many doctors who missed diagnosed me as having tendonitous (sp?). It was a struggle making it through each day and getting out of bed was a real feat! However, I was given Methotrexate and it seemed to do the trick. I was taking the maxium level for a while (8 pills a week) and going monthly to my dr. for blood test, but it truly did give me my life back. I was on the medication for about two years and then gradually started to ween myself off of it. Today, at the age of 31 I have only suffered two relapeses which lasted for about three months each. It had been two years since I have been on any medication.

I know what it is like to think that you can't bear to face the day and do your job. Methotrexate did work for me, however it is not for everyone. Please don't give up hope that you will be able to find soemthing that will give you relief.

[kee]

Enbrel

[MikeK]

Sadly, some skanky spammer decided to resurrect Sunglow's 2002 plea for help. I somehow missed it the first time around. Ali, please forgive me for not responding sooner. I just posted a response to another thread of yours that was also resurrected by this same spammer. You haven't logged onto this site in a very long time, so I hope a) that you're feeling MUCH better and b) that you see my response. Here's a link to it: http://www.psoriasis.org/forum/showthread.php?t=2472.

Mike

[RenaeatUNC]

GAH! This guy is just getting ridiculous. Skanky spammer is right!

[MikeK]

Thank you NPF.