My story

Hi!

My story begins as a little boy learning to play tennis with his older brother and being taught by our father. My dad was a really good tennis player and did very well on the court throughout his years of playing. My arthritis journey start out in BC with some itchy patches of skin behind my knees and and in front of my elbows at about 6 years old.

At about 14 years old, we move to Ontario, Canada and I was diagnosed with arthritis in my feet. I played some successful tennis as a teen and in my early twenties despite the diagnose and the related pain mostly in my feet. I had ache elsewhere, but never enough to stop me from playing.

It was at 30 years old that I went to bed one night an athlete and woke up in the middle of the night an invalid that couldn't get out of bed on his own. We went off to the emergency, but there was nothing they could do, but refer us to a rheumatologist. He put the itchy patches of skin and arthritis together finally, and diagnosed me with severe psoriatic arthritis.

Managing psoriatic arthritis

We wanted to start a family. so I started on NSAIDS and held off on the methotrexate till my son and finally my daughter were born. It was a terrible 2-3 years with cortisone injections, mostly into my finger joints on a regular basis. Finally the methotrexate could be used and settled that down for the most part.

Biologicals changed my life in my late early 40's and I was superman!!! I could play tennis twice a day and ride my mountain bike and go to the gym in a single day and do it again the next. Over and over my friends were amazed. This lasted for years.

The impact of other health conditions

Unfortunately all good things come to an end and within a month I was diagnosed with 3 different types of skin cancer. The worst being a mole that had turned to melanoma and had to be surgically removed from my thigh. Fortunately it was caught early enough and we changed up the biological that I was on for another without the potential for skin cancer. But it didn't work very well for me and I declined rapidly over Covid. I did a bad thing though, gyms were closed and tennis clubs and I didn't do enough to help myself from a physical fitness point of view. I knew better than that, I had made a big mistake.

Long story short, I'm on a third biological now and grim and determined to do everything I can the help it help me!

Staying motivated with PsA

I've been through a whole lot more than this short story with psoriatic arthritis and I'd like to try and help others too. I think I have a lot of experience. So I launched a YouTube channel to try and help bring awareness to the disease, I'm only just getting started, but I hope to help motivate others to help themselves, as the biggest thing I've learned about the disease is that the medications are really only a small part of the solution. We the ones infected with the disease are the biggest part of our own solutions.

It takes incredible effort though and I fall off the positive think, eat right and get exercise bus every now and again myself. Last November, 2023 I started a third biological and I'm trying my hardest to get it working like the first one that made me superman!

I'll keep you post on how that goes...

Colin