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Dactylitis and Psoriatic arthritis

Posted , 7 users are following.

Lauren2107
Lauren2107

I was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis approx 7 months ago following a series of mis diagnoses.

I have had skin psoriasis since about the age of 16 and I am now 26.

I started experiencing pain in my feet around 3 years ago and was diagnosed with plantar fasciitis. Following treatment for this for over a year, one of my toes on my left foot swelled. To this date it has yet to return to normal size. I was told that it was likely to have been fractured due to the way in which I was walking following the pain in my feet. I now know that this is Dactylitis.

A few months later the same toe on the other foot also did the same. It was only following further pain in my lower back did one of the doctors send me for bloods and X-rays. At this point they identified arthritis.

I have been put on Methotrexate and am currently on a course of steroids due to a flare in my condition.

I have noticed in the past couple of weeks that one of my fingers (middle finger, right hand) has swollen so that I am left with a 'sausage digit'. What I would like to know is, is there anything that can be done to reduce the swelling or appearance? Out of all of my pain, the pain in my effected toes and now finger is the worst. My toes look so big in comparison to the others. Will it ever go away? Or am I stuck with two huge toes and one huge finger?!

Has anyone else experienced this?

Lauren

0 likes, 30 replies

30 Replies

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  • justinh
    justinh Lauren2107

    Posted

    Lauren, I think you just have to find the right medication that works for you. I had to go through several. When I did, swelling and pain went down. Still a bit of deformity but not much.

    • Lauren2107
      Lauren2107 justinh

      Posted

      Thanks Justin. That's positive news at least.

      At the moment dicloflenac (sp?), methotrexate or prednisone have yet to make any difference!

      The search continues...

  • robert271163
    robert271163 Lauren2107

    Posted

    i have sausage finger too and trouble bending another which i suspect will be going the same way i have had sausage finger for about a year now and to date no one has mentioned any treatment for it. I am also looking for answers as its my second and third finger of my right hand so i am at the stage now where i am unable to grip very much in my hand unless its large this includes holding a knife to eat with i am lucky as i am left handed but the fact remains its painful and makes life difficult. however i am almost 52 so at best i only have another 40 years if im lucky to put up with it. If i do find an answer i will let you know as am keen to find out myself if this is going to be permant as you can imagine it is making life difficult not having full use of my both of my hands. 
    • Lauren2107
      Lauren2107 robert271163

      Posted

      I'm really sorry to hear that you have yet to find any relief for your fingers.

      I know the feeling. I am right handed and what with it being my middle finger I am already experiencing some difficult with tasks. Particularly in terms of gripping.

      I find that the finger is extremely 'tight' and has a shiny like appearance. It's always worse in the morning and although it improves as the day goes on, the pain never quite subsides.

      In terms of my toes I wonder if I have more of a deformity now comes to think of it as my finger still feels 'puffy'. Feeling my toes it's almost as if that's the size they are?

      I wonder if it's because it took so long to diagnose correctly that I'll just have to accept my feet the way they are! But it does make finding shoes difficult sometimes.

      Do let me know if you find anything that works for you!

    • robert271163
      robert271163 Lauren2107

      Posted

      you may be right there as my right ankle had swelled up by the time they worked out what the cause was and decided it was arthritis it has remained the same due to bone growth it now looks deformed although i suspect even if it had been diagnosed earlier it would still be the same as it is now 
    • Lauren2107
      Lauren2107 robert271163

      Posted

      You may be right.

      I'm at the rheumatologist tomorrow so I'll ask them and see what they say. I'll be sure to let you know!

  • pippie56520
    pippie56520 Lauren2107

    Posted

    Hi Lauren, I started with treatment for plantar fasciitis and ended up with a diagnoses of arthritis. I find that soaking my feet for about 20 minutes in a bowl with arnica helps, and I use the arnica gel through the day. It does ease pain and allows me to move the joins that are stiff. I agree with Justinh that it is just a matter of finding the right medication, go back to rheumatology. People don't realize how painful it is, not just when you're walking but constantly.

    I empathies

    • Lauren2107
      Lauren2107 pippie56520

      Posted

      Thanks Pippie56520, I might give arnica a go. It's something I haven't tried before so it's worth a shot.

      But yes, I totally agree. I don't think people understand just how painful one toe can be! Some days it's almost debilitating.

      I do have an appointment tomorrow though with rheumatology so I will roads the issue once more.

      Thanks :-)

  • robert271163
    robert271163 Lauren2107

    Posted

    It is very much down to trial and error finding which treatment works for you and with there being so many out there it can take a long time to find the right one for you how long do you take a new medication before you know if its the right one for you. Most takes weeks/months to get into the system and to start working or not as the case maybe then i guess you have the transition period of that leaving your system and the next new drug to start taking effect or not. As well as other options of improving the condition by controlling diet and exercise and resting the joints effected. It is a mine field trying to balance what is right for you. i have cut out sugar and red meat from my diet and eating more fruit and veg but it is too early to see if this is helping or not but i guess these all have a factor in our condition and the treatment.
  • sheila65847
    sheila65847 Lauren2107

    Posted

    Hi Lauren and all,

    I'm afraid sausage toes and fingers is one of the features of PsA. Once the correct treatment has been found, the swelling will reduce. Unfortunately, we have a relapsing condition so the swelling and pain and shiny redness will reappear during a flare up. Regarding use of cutlery etc I use foam pipe lagging cut down to fit, to cover my knife and fork, somewhat cheaper than buying adapted ones. Also I struggle with jam jars, bottle tops etc. I bought a flexible rubber tool - looks like a figure of 8 with a little circle on too and a big circle below, it's an absolute God send. It cost a few pounds on the Internet. If using a kettle is difficult please obtain a kettle tipper - another God send. Please speak to the Occupational Therapist attached to your Rheumatology dept. They will beach able to provide lots of practical help. All the equipment I have mentioned is available on prescription. Foot/ankle problems - ask your rheumatoid for a referral to the podiatry department. They can help in sole insets etc. The help is there for us folks, it's just knowing who and what to ask for help. I hope some of you find this info useful. Bless you all. I'm having a flare at present, how I hate this condition. We are blessed or cursed with having a condition where on the outside we look well but no one can see (or feel) the unrelenting pain, the morning stiffness, the itch of psoriasis and the fustration we have. Rant over.

    • robert271163
      robert271163 sheila65847

      Posted

      hi do you have a link for the rubber fig of 8 tool? i have the insoles which do help 
    • pippie56520
      pippie56520 robert271163

      Posted

      you can get them on ebay foe less than £2 and free pp.

      search multi purpose grip jar opener.

  • sheila65847
    sheila65847 Lauren2107

    Posted

    All - sorry for spellings. Auto spell makes interesting reading sometimes.☺
  • Lauren2107
    Lauren2107

    Posted

    Hi all,

    So I saw the rheumatologist yesterday. I was given a steroid injection (depo? It was in the butt anyway! Ouch!) and put onto sulfasalazine alongside my methotrexate.

    Apparently it would appear the MTX alone isn't suppressing or dampening my immune system enough so the addition of the sulfasalazine should help.

    My toes look permanately deformed purely because diagnosis took a long time, however the doctor and nurse were confident my finger would return to normal with the new combination of drugs and the steroid shot.

    I'm back to fortnightly blood monitoring and have a follow up with the nurses soon.

    Luckily I've not had too many side effects with methotrexate so hoping I'm the same with this new drug but time will tell. Just taken my first tablet this morning!

    • robert271163
      robert271163 Lauren2107

      Posted

      i have been on sulfasalazine for the past year and i am on max dosage of 6 a day. just about to start on methotrexate so hopefully the combination will work for me the sulfasalazine im on will be reduced.  I had a depo shot but it only lasted for 1 day  and yes it is a painful injectiion. Tomorrow i should be having Steriod injections and hopefully that might improve things a bit too. Like you i will also be on fortnightly bloods for a while and the deformed ankle i have is for the same reason left to long before treatment. so looks like we are both about to be on the same treatment for  a while fingers crossed it works for us both 
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