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In a dark & painful place

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By livinginpain

2 min read

Hello All,
I am new to the diagnosis of PsA but am a veteran of psoriasis. My psoriasis started at the age of 11 yrs old covering my body from the neck down, I did have a very brief remission at age 18 but the psoriasis resurfaced on my elbows, knees, ankles, feet, nails, back, and scalp. I am 48 yrs old and have had 9 back surgeries due to a work injury, over the past couple years I have dealt with dizziness, shortness of breath & passing out issues. My PM sent me to my cardiologist to make sure it wasn't my heart (I have a Mitral Valve Prolapse) All was good with the heart so back to my Primary I went, after 2 yrs of being passed back & forth with no answers, I gave up.
One morning in April of 2017 I was in severe pain & couldn't move, I thought I might have overdone it but things continued to get worse after a few days of rest. Later that week I went to my Pain Management appointment in severe pain & barely moving. He did his exam of my back & asked why my psoriasis was so bad on my back?
That is when the suggestion of PsA came to light! I started doing some research & lots of reading & low & behold it was me to a tee. I then proceeded to try & get an appointment with a Rheumatologist, which took me 5 months to get into. Finally on Feb.5, 2018 I was diagnosed with Psoriatic Arthritis & given the starter pack of Otezla! For the past 11 days I have had vomiting, nausea, runny nose & major headaches, had an appointment with my PM today to find out that my Otezla script was denied & my blood work came back positive for the HLA-B27 Antigen. To top it off I called to get my SI Joint MRI done & the idiot on the other end of the phone kept insisting I need an Arthrogram & not an MRI so I needed a new script! Does anyone just do the job they were hired for? So I have yet to get my MRI appointment. So my entire day has been full of stress, my body is literally killing me & the fight has just began! I have been through allot in my 48 years of life but dealing with this has taken a toll on my physical & mental wellbeing :(

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