Ankylosing Spondylitis Support Group

Hello new friends.

I'm a newbie to this group, but I have been posting on the Fibromyalgia forum for years and I'm a GL there.

Friday (the 13th!) I went to see a new doctor at the VA. She was hired specifically to be a full-time physician for us female vets. I was reluctant to change PCPs because I've had 4 PCPs in 2.5 years. But this new one was wonderful. She took the most thorough medical history of any doctor even though all the info was already in the computer, but I did remember an operation or two I'd overlooked.

The reason why I'd called for an appointment was because the arthritis in my fingers had gotten much worse over the last month or so and I wanted to see if there was some other NSAID in their formulary I could try. When she finally got around to looking at my fingers with their "ganglions" on the top joints, she said "Who told you this was osteo?" I told her when I got my first arthric cyst Kaiser had taken Xrays and told me it was osteo...I've earned my living my whole life typing.

She noticed that my feet had a purplish hue and checked for circulation. She said I had excellent circulation in my feet and they weren't swollen so she thought that the color might be connected to the "not osteo" in my hands. She started talking about spondyloarthropathy and naming diseases, the only one that I recognized being Ankylosing Spondylitis. She ordered the HLA-whatever genetic test and said depending on the results, she'd either see me back soon or I'd be referred to rheumatology.

So of course like millions of Americans and most of the MDJers, I got home and went online trying to self-diagnose myself. The closest I've been able to come to what I have going on with my hands and feet is psoriatic arthritis...but I've always been told that the scaly, flaking skin on my elbows and tailbone are eczema, not psoriasis. My older sister tho has one of the worst cases of psoriasis I've ever seen and my father was so hunched at the end of his life that it made his emphysema much worse.

I don't have pits on my finger nails but they're severely ridged which is common with fibromyalgia. I do have some other patches of flaky skin that I can't see, one in particular on my back that has been described as silvery & flaky. My tailbone is constantly flaking and so is a spot just below the skin fold on my thigh.

I'm probably jumping the gun by joining this group. If it turns out that I don't have a spondy, I'll withdraw. But I really would like to know if you know of anyone with psoriatic arthritis who doesn't have pits on their fingernails.

Thank you all, sorry this is so long!

rayn

Hay there Rayn...Welcome to the group..It sounds like you can have either psoriatic arthritis or maybe psoriatic arthritis spondy. If you don't mind me asking did you get your results back yet for the HLA test. Did your doc mention maybe Reiter's Syndrom that also has the HLA gene? A big factor with everything too is that your Native American and unfortunately we seem to have alot of different types of arthritis problems and AS problems.

I know someone who has psoriasis arthritis and her nails look good. She has alot of problems with patches on her back and her feet are really bad & painful. She can't even wear shoes sometimes her skin hurts so bad. What really helps is Sea salt not Epsom salt that is cut with something...just pure sea salt..I know people that swear by it and really helps your skin. Plus it helps with achy muscles and joints...I love it.

I have alot of problems with my fingers too. They seem to be getting more & more crooked as the years go by. I do know that with arthritis in the fingers you can get pockets of fluid on the joints that harden. Alot of doc's miss diagnose them as ganglion's.

PsA doesn't always effect the nails it really depends on how bad your PsA is. Sometimes people don't treat the psoriasis or wait to long and it gets way out of hand or they just have a severe case. Just like with AS some people will have really bad fusion problems with there joints and others don't fuse at all. If your test does come back pos you really need to see a Rheumy. You don't want to have that arthritis getting out of control and end up in your back. Thats where the injections come into play..but I don't wanna jump ahead of the game. I'm sure everything will be just fine.

If you have any questions ask away...I'll help as much as I can. Talk to ya soon

Thank you Wendy! I'm going in to the VA tomorrow to pick up some more meds and have the blood drawn for the HLA test. I kind of got the impression that if the results were bad, I'd be referred to a rheumie. Reading up on things I saw that I should be doing the yoga posture they call the cobra, so I'm trying to do that after I've taken my night time meds but it sure causes all kinds of spasms! It's so hard to tell what's new, what's old, what's fibromyalgia and what's something else. I'm doing my best not to freak out as I haven't had the blood drawn and it seems like it didn't start hurting until I ran out of meloxicam. I'll get that refilled tomorrow too. <sigh> So I'll be like Scarlett O'Hara and think about that tomorrow Thanks for the reply, I appreciate it!

Speaking of yoga..you might wanna try Yin Yoga. Its different then reg yoga...Yin yoga targets the connective tissue in the muscle. Its good for people who have fibro or bad back problems...its really gentle on the joints. I don't know about you but I could never get in reg positions with yoga..I would be stuck in one position...yelling for help. I have a Jennifer Kries Dvd it starts off really slow for people who have joints problems or muscle problems...then if you want you can go to the advanced level. I know you can get her book or Dvd on amazon for a good price. I prefer the dvd because she tells you if have back or knee problems don't do the position ..and she will modify the position for something easier.

Try not get to stressed out it will be ok....you don't want to throw yourself in a flare up from the stress. I know its hard to tell what is fibro and what is something else. I have fibro and AS....sometimes I can't tell if its a fibro flare or the AS flare.

Well...I hope you have a good day today..try not to over think everything it will all work out.