What It's Like to Live With Mild PsA?

Living with mild PsA is like a minor annoyance. Like that neighbour next door to you blasting their music from time to time. Sometimes it's nothing at all - it disappears for no rhyme or reason for months at a time, making you wonder if it was really there to begin with. Just when you think you won't hear from it again, it's back. You feel a flare coming on and wonder how long it will last? 2 days, or 2 hours? You wonder if it will ever go away at all.

Even if it's mild you still have it!

Yes even if it's mild, you still have it. You still feel scared about your diagnosis just like everyone else who has it. You still go through a grieving process, mourning the person you used to be. You deny you have it for awhile thinking it must be something else. You bargain thinking if this goes away I promise to eat better and exercise like there is no tomorrow. And finally you accept it. You accept it and you try and live the best you can. You wonder if it will get worse. Will you wake up one morning not able to walk? Will you be able to work? Will you be able to continue to do the things you love?

How has it changed me?

Being diagnosed with PsA has made me realize that life is short. Every day is a gift given to us and we should not waste it. PsA looms over my head urging me to fulfill my dreams while I am here and while I am able. Writing about it helps me to release my emotions in a positive way and to bring attention to this often confusing and misunderstood autoimmune disease that doesn't get much attention. I am grateful to those who have written about PsA and showed me the degrees in which this disease takes its toll. I am grateful for the people who choose to share their story, and in so doing create a community that we can all lean on.