What are your most common PsA symptoms?
It can change over time, but I'm curious to know: what are your most common psoriatic arthritis symptoms? What symptoms do you struggle with the most daily? How do you deal with them?
My daily challenges are fatigue and enthesitis. Some days the fatigue is enough to keep me at home in my pjs all day. Most days it is more manageable, as long as I'm realistic with my expectations and budget my energy accordingly. The enthesitis is tough to deal with, as I can't take anti-inflammatories. Gentle movement such as swimming, is helpful, as long as I'm cautious not to overdo. Monthly myofascial release massage also helps my tendons. It keeps my muscles from getting so locked up, making movement less painful for my tendons. As far as medications: Orencia and sulfasalazine help some, but not as much as I'd like. I also take low dose naltrexone at night, and it helps a lot! I sleep better most nights, and my pain is less overall. Before taking the LDN, I would have said that Complex Regional Pain Syndrome was a huge daily struggle for me. The LDN has pretty much eliminated the CRPS!
Hi, I too struggle really bad with fatigue & Enthesitis. The pain us unbearable some days. My doctor put me in pain patches over a year ago which has made a huge difference especially with the pain in my legs, however I am now having to wear 2 patches because they don't last a week so I put a new one on every 3-4 days but keep each one on for 7days. I've also gone up in strength twice! Before I was diagnosed with PsA I tried LDN for pain as I also have Fibromyalgia & hEDS but I didn't notice any change. Some of the specialists I've seen have suggested to go back on it but because I'm on patches I can't so my doctor said I could take a really low dose (.1mg) and slowly go up & lower the patches but I stopped when I got up to .4mg because my Kinesiologist said it wasn't helping. I don't want to stay on the patches but without them I can't even walk! The pain is so bad that even sitting I have extreme pain!. One thing the patches dont help with is my back pain. Nothing does!! I've tried so many strong drugs & nothing touches it! Do you have any suggestions 🙏 Thanks Ingrid 😊Make sure you have your kidneys checked twice a year.
Thanks,
! I've been taking LDN for about 5 months. My PCP started me at 0.5 mg/day and gradually increased it every 2-4 weeks. I've been at my long-term dose of 3mg/day for almost 3 months now. The gradual increase worked well for me and deterred any side effects. I started feeling a little relief after only 3-4 weeks, and the improvements increased with the dosage. Before LDN, the nerve pain was crushing, and the affected areas (ankle, and wrist) would swell a lot and get very hot and red. All of that is completely gone. I can deal with everything else much better now without that additional pain! I hope this information can help someone else who lives with CRPS. It has reduced the PsA pain as well, but not as dramatically. hi what is the name of the meds you take for pain I am desperate to find something else thank you Hi
, hopefully can also chime in, but I wanted to let you know that LDN stands for Lose Dose Naltrexone. Here's a link to an abstract about the study of LDN for the treatment of chronic pain, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3962576/. -- Warmly, Christine (Team Member)
My main symptoms are pain in my fingers and toes and not just the joint. They soft tissue aches. I also have chronic throbbing pain in my lower and hips.
soft tissue is awful. Hard to get relief It really is tough to get some relief, How are you managing at the moment?
- Clair ( Team Member)
I'm currently in physical therapy for my hip and back occupational therapy for my hands. It's been really helpful. , it's good to hear that the physical and occupational therapies have been helpful! I saw an occupational therapist for my hands too. They gave me some exercises to do which really help with stiff/swollen fingers, and some compression gloves which also seem to make a difference. Hoping you continue to find these therapies helpful! Please keep us posted if you can. Warmly, -Catherine, Community Moderator
