well guys for whatever it is worth,.,, i am in the first stages of psoriatic
arthritis...i also have psoriasis, scleradurma, fibromyialiga, and a few other
skin disorders....i have come to the conclussion that all of these are from an
accident i had when i was 8 and cut my leg halfway off and from gane green
settling in caused my blood to be contamiated, in other words i have tainted
blood...i am now researching the cleansing of the blood...also which i am low in
red blood cells and iron. as my research continues i will update my progress...i
have also lost 72#'s to date, i am a female age 47...good luck to all and may
God be by your side in time of pain...

Costello <costello@...> wrote:Welcome to the group. I am sure you will
find the support you need here.
Most of us do not know other people with our disease--except the friends
here.

I am fortunate that my children were older when I got the first really major
episode. I am now about three years into it. I am going to a holistic
healthcare center on Monday. I really hope they can offer me an alternative
to the harder drugs. I have been on Vioxx for all this time and it is just
not doing it any more. It has also spread to my hands this summer. As a
teacher, I wonder how I will be able to continue to grade all those essays!
I may have to start recording my comments on cassettes as one of my college
profs with arthritis was forced to do.

Good luck. I hope your wife can handle the load. You might check the
archives. Someone shared a very good set of advice for educating those you
love when you suffer from this disease.

Ks Di
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bergerson, Andrew S." <bergersona@...>
To: <Psoriatic-Arthritis@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, August 19, 2004 11:21 AM
Subject: [Psoriatic-Arthritis] RE: Welcome to Psoriatic-Arthritis


> Hi:
>
> I am a new member of the list.
>
> I am a 37 year old man. I was diagnosed some 8 years ago with psoriatic
spondyloarthritis for pain in the connective tissue of my fingers/toes, of
the knuckles of my hands and feet, and my wrists; I also have seborrhea, a
skin condition aparently similar to psoriasis. Other doctors have called the
pain fibromyalgia. Recently, though, it has gotten much worse again, making
it difficult to walk or do strong grasping. I have little inflamation as
such (only one "sausage" toe): it is more a matter of pain while moving the
joints, putting weight on them, i. e. using them; i also get shooting pain
at times and a general acheness. I learned that my father is showing similar
symptoms and that he was independently diagnosed with psoriatic
spondyloarthritis; he failed to remember that I had faced this condition for
many years already. He has pain in very similar places, and yet he does have
psoriasis and not seborrhea. I am now looking for an
immunologist/rheumatologist to get a "clean" diagnosis (one uninfluenced by
prior accounts), but I feel far more confident that it is in fact psoriatic
psondyloarthritis now due to the likely genetic link. (My paternal
grandmother also has seborrhea.)
>
> I am looking for support groups, online and in my area, to help me deal
with it. (I have had more luck on line than in my area so far.) I find it
very frustrating that the dermatologists deal only with the skin conditions
and the rheumatologists only with the arthritis, since they all seem to be
part of the same disease. (I also read somewhere that my inflammed bowel
syndrome is also related.) I have tried acupuncture and chiropractic work. I
practiced chi kung and tai chi and yoga for many years. I am now trying
swimming, since it is getting to hard to stand for long periods of time. The
pain is the hardest to deal with. I am reluctant to move to more elaborate
pain killers, for fear of a slippery slope, but I now find myself hoping to
see the doctor as soon as possible to get stronger medication.
>
> I feel like I am burdening my wife wiith enormous responsibilities because
it becomes so difficult to move around the house. We now switch tasks: I do
the sitting things, like foolding laundry and getting the kids dressed,
while she does the puting away and getting of things. But there is now too
much for her to do. I get very tired after work (I am an assistant professor
of history at a public university). I get irritable with my children because
of the pain and the fatigue. I am frustrated-and very unhappy- that I cannot
play with them. They are two very energetic kids (1 and 4) who love to climb
all over me (and I love them doing it); but they sometime hurt me as a
result and I have to stop. Sometimes the pain gets too much entirely,
wearing me down emotionally, but I do not want my children or wife to have
to deal with the burden on it. Yet they need or want my attention.
>
> I feel like I am not able to be a good father or a good husband anymore.
>
> I spent many years waiting for the pain to go away, practicing tai chi and
chi kung, getting massages, taking herbs, confident that I could beat it,
and waking up in the morining surprised that it was still there (or worse).
Since the seborrhea is located in relatively invisible places on my body,
the disease was also relatively "invisible", so I am starting to tell more
people about it-at work, among friends- though I feel extremely awkward
doing so. But speaking about it with able-bodied people does not always
help. At this stage, I feel that I would prefer to talk to people who have
similar conditions and circumstances. I am looking for understanding, but
also for the kind of advice that only comes from experience. I hope that
this is an appropriate place for that.
>
> yours
>
> Drew Bergerson
>
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>
>



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