Psoriatic Arthritis Dominoes

When I was little, my brother and I would spend hours, literally hours lining up those little rectangles, creating a winding path of dominoes all throughout our house. Obviously, my very favorite part was that moment when we finally knocked down that first domino causing that glorious cascading effect of falling dominoes, leaving me mesmerized. However, playing psoriatic arthritis dominoes is anything but fun.

Down goes the first domino

Since my psoriatic arthritis diagnosis, it feels like the first domino has toppled, starting a chain reaction that has yet to stop. Medications lead to side effects. Inflammation causes other diseases. Complications cause surgeries and additional procedures. Once you flick that first domino, all the others follow quickly behind causing additional health issues, one after another.

Comorbidities

The comorbidities that come with psoriatic are many. In my experience, there are even more than the ones “officially” recognized by the medical community. Because you have psoriatic arthritis, you are also at an increased risk for cardiovascular disease, inflammatory bowel disease, and diabetes, just to name a few. Many patients with psoriatic arthritis find that as the years go by, the list of other health issues they have just continues to grow and grow, continuing this domino effect.

I periodically suffer from high blood sugar. It is not high enough to be labeled “diabetes,” however it is high enough to be abnormal and suspicious. The only explanation I can manage is that my pancreas is “flaring” as a result of psoriatic arthritis. Now it has become just another complication of an already complicated disease. Just another domino ready to topple over.

Side effects

All the medicine we take is processed in our liver. This is why pretty much every medication to treat psoriatic arthritis comes with regular blood work to monitor the functioning of the liver. The liver is one of the first things to go south from processing too many potent medications. If your liver gets damaged from all the medication, it starts a whole other domino effect of symptoms, complications, and additional medications. If your liver has problems processing medicine, you can’t take that medicine, which leads to further permanent joint, muscle, tendon, and organ damage.

Surgeries

Psoriatic arthritis can cause permanent damage which may necessitate various types of surgery. With all surgery, comes risks. The least of which is a possible flare as a result of the surgery. Anesthesia and other complications can fall in the psoriatic arthritis domino sequence of events. One leading to another leading to another. All casualties of the same cause.

Psoriatic arthritis dominoes

Before you know it, you find yourself at the doctor’s office with a laundry list a mile long of medications, symptoms, additional diagnoses, side effects, surgery dates, and lab results. All tied together in looping swirls, up bridges, and around corners. Just when you think you have all of them lined up neatly, something else comes along and knocks them all down again. You are back to where you started, playing the game of psoriatic arthritis dominoes.