How do you describe your PA pain?

Time to start a DMARD Med by the sound of it. NSAIDS will only alleviate inflammation not stop the progression of the disease. Best Practice treatment is to treat early and relatively aggressively. Look up the various sources of information Arthritis Research UK for one. 

Yes the pain we all feel does vary. PsA is one of those will of the wisp diseases that comes and goes in different parts of the body but when it sets in needs treatment. 

My PsA started in my fingers about 30 yrs of age and was no real problem until 20 years later when it became more aggressive. My hands felt as if they were being attacked by ants...called paresthesia I'm told. Most likely pressure on the nerves from inflamed tissue at wrist and maybe elbow. Pain is very subjective so our experience is likely to be different so stop worrying about the type of pain and ask for treatment that will arrest progress of the arthritis!.

You also would be wise to look up pain pacing for chronic pain to help with the leg /foot/tendon inflammation

 

The course of my pain went like so (spanning from 2013 or so on): pain in my knee when walking, later jumping to the other knee, followed by sharp stabbing pain in my elbows that woke me up yelling in the middle of the night, followed by sharp lower back  & hip pain then aches, and only as of last year did I start getting stabbing pains, tendonitis, and aches that was widespread.

I get the stabbing pains in my fingers, wrists, elbows, toes, plantar fascia, and knees.  They never last very long--usually a minute or so, but they are very painful and enough to stop me in my tracks & sometimes enough to make me yell out.  It's centered where a tendon attaches to a joint and radiates partway through the tendon.  It hits the same joints or group of joints repeatedly within the course of a few hours.  I think my doctors think I'm crazy, describing this fleeting migratory sharp pain.

I also have the tender/stiff joints, and sharp pain when using my joints sometimes.  The tenderness has only developed recently and mostly affects my hands and the balls of my feet.  It's lasted for a week straight now.

I'm in the process of being diagnosed, but I feel pretty confident that once my skin rash fully develops again & I get a skin biopsy, that will solidify the diagnosis.

Hello I have not being diagnosed with PSA, but have had psoriasis for over 20 years, and am now in the process of seeing a  rheumatologist for the second time due to joint pain , i have had pains and stiffness which started in my wrist over a year ago, i now have problems in my ankle, where sometimes it is so sore to put weight on it and when i am active, I have had trouble explaining the pain to my GP who thinks I am mad and all is in my head.

But recently been  seen physio who has found cartilage problems in my right wrist and left knee, and she supects PSA so I am waiting for a referral, again so I have stiffness and pain in both my wrists, both knees, lower back, and neck, with the ankle more recently started around a month ago, always bad in the morning and at night i feel if my ankle is on fire, i find it difficult to explain the pain to DRs, I can only explain the burning like pain as the same as when you maybe burn yourself and it is the constant throbbing and feels hot, I find the exhaustion more troubling than the pain although I havent been diagnosed,I used to work as a chef but have gave it up due to my wrist and hand not able to work as they used too, and being on my feet for long periods is something i cant do anymore.

Does everyone get swelling with PSA because I have no swelling symptoms at all, 

All the best James

 

Hi megz, it is a good question because I too have found it difficult to explain that there is differences in the different joints. I'm 37 and about three or four years ago I started getting pains in the top of my right foot. The doctors suspected nodules on the nerve, or possible fracture but scans showed nothing. My foot throbbed and swelled and only a cool bath would help. After about 4mths it got better and then I developed plantar fascitis in the other foot. After another couple of months it eased and then a toe on the right foot swelled. I would describe the pain as agony, but flare ups are often hot, constant and throbbing. Only a steroid injection would ease it. I'm now up to four toes and two fingers permanently swollen. I'm on dmards so the pain is less than it was, but it is always there. The more you do the more they ache, and if you over do it then the heat and redness returns. My hands and feet are always warm, but this has only been in the last 18mths, before that they were always cold. Now I'm warm all year round. My wrists however often get sharp pains and I have to wear supports if doing anything heavy. Some of my joints have pain but no swelling, some just seem to want to hurt more than others. I noticed that the affected fingers have been very sensitive even before I had PsA, they would swell temporarily after knocking them. And then there's the aching muscles. They happen more during flare ups, but it probably contributes to making you more sensitive to pain. I've just bought a tens pain machine to try and distract me from the worst pains. Its worth keeping a note of what works for your different pains and letting your doctor know if medications aren't helping.   Ruth