How do you describe your PA pain?

Posted , 7 users are following.

All over the net I find descriptions of PA relating to "tender and stiff" joints. Certainly when my PA started my fingers were a little tender and a little stiff, but mostly just sore. Since then (10 months, only NSAID treatment) i've had:

- burning pain joint and skin pain with some redness

- fever-like pain, like how your joints feel when you have flu

- intense but very short lived stabbing pains as if being stabbed with a vey tiny icepick. These stabbing pains will come and go across a few select fingers over a few seconds which I am grateful for, if it lasted much longer I'd be very miserable.

But I never see these pains talked about! It makes be doubt my Dx. I no longer have any stiffness in my hands at all and the pain is *much* less frequent (likely due to no longer working with a computer). I've gone from having multiple "stabby pain attacks" a day to maybe once a week. Which is great! It just makes me feel like a big faker. 

I also have plantar fasciitis & achilles tendinitis due to the PA which is just getting worse and worse and I also have hip pain and stiffness, which is tender. Sometimes my foot bones lock up in the morning as if they would snap if I were to walk normally. 

I find it hard to find the words to describe PA pain and am just curious to how it affects us all differently. Share your experience with me? 

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  • Posted

    I have pain in my SI joints in my low back, it's a burning ache and the joint snaps in place when I twist. The worst time is at night. I have burning pain in both hips switching off and on and some times in my knee. I had Achilles' tendonitis two years ago that I worked out by stretching and better shoes. That was before I got the PA diagnosis.  I feel crappy and fatigued most of the time, prednisone helped the most, but everyone wants me off it so I'm currently down to 5 mg a day.  My neighbor suggested mj cookies for sleep, which works well but I'm not sure it helps fix the problems. The psoriasis is the least of my issues with finger joints covered but in the "pink" phase. I have rash down both upper arms and my chest. I think the methotrexate helps that.

    • Posted

      Thank you for sharing! I have a friend with RA who does the whole mj thing..,it's not legal here though and difficult to come by..plus I never found it useful personally, I just get twitchy! Best of luck to you. 

  • Posted

    I was diagnosed with Psoriatic Arthritis about 30 years ago. I started out with a swollen joint on my right pointer finger. The doctors thought it was infected so opened the finger up. But there was no infection and it continued to be swollen and discolored so they were getting ready to do surgery again. A friend was a doctor and sent me to Rhumetology. After a few test I was diagnosed with PA. Right after that my foot was giving me a problem also it was swollen and hot to the touch. Then my knee, hip, and wrist. I was also diagnosed with fibromyalgia. Now I have deformed toes and fingers. I started with Motrin then they added prednisone on that for almost 10 years. Then it was gold shots didn't help. Then methotrexate helped also was doing enbrel shots. Worked me off the methotrexate so all I do is enbrel twice a week in shot form. I still suffer from stiffness for about a hour and a half. Can't take Motrin anymore so alli take for pain is Tylenol. Does any one else suffer from any other forms of arthritis I also have osteoarthritis and osteoporosis. The pain is like needles throughout my feet and hands. I take lyrica for that. Getting late goodnight 

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