JOINTS & TENDONS
Joint pain and stiffness are very common symptoms associated with psoriatic arthritis. People with psoriatic arthritis can feel unusual pain or stiffness in a joint or several joints and can sometimes experience back pain as well.
This pain and stiffness is due to joint inflammation and is typically is worse in the morning and gets better as your joints loosen up.
Joint symptoms include:
• Pain
• Swelling
• Stiffness
• Warmth
Psoriatic arthritis can also cause inflammation where tendons and ligaments attach to your bones, such as in the following areas:
• Back of the heel
• Underneath the heel
• On the outside of the elbows
• On the outside of the hips
NAILS
Nail problems are a symptom often associated with psoriatic arthritis.
About 80-90% of people with psoriatic arthritis have nail abnormalities or disorders like the following:
• Pitting
• Discolouration
• Crumbly texture
• Early separation of the nail from the nail bed
In people with psoriatic arthritis, how bad someone’s nail problems are is often similar to how bad their skin and joint problems are.
SKIN
Psoriatic arthritis attacks the joints, so many psoriatic arthritis symptoms are related to your joints and how you move or feel overall.
Psoriatic arthritis can happen in people with a skin condition called psoriasis. Between 10 and 30% of people with psoriasis will get psoriatic arthritis. Psoriasis is an autoimmune condition where the immune system attacks the skin and causes skin lesions.
Skin symptoms include patches of skin (known as plaques or lesions) that:
• are scaly and silvery
• may itch or burn
• are dry and red
• may have raised edges
In those individuals who have both psoriatic arthritis and psoriasis, the psoriasis usually comes first (80%), but sometimes psoriatic arthritis can happen before a person sees any skin symptoms.
BACK PAIN
When the inflammation of psoriatic arthritis attacks the joints, this can sometimes also cause pain in your back or neck.
You may also notice that your joints and back feels stiff or painful in the hours after you wake up and gets better as you move around. For about half of patients, this stiffness lasts more than 30 minutes.
FATIGUE
Feelings of fatigue are common in people with psoriatic arthritis, and can be debilitating.
Fatigue is more than just being tired, it is extreme tiredness that can be constant. About 30-40% of people with psoriatic arthritis report that this is one of the most difficult symptoms to live with. Fatigue can stop people from being able to live their daily lives in the way they want to.
There is often not just one cause of fatigue, but various things can contribute to the loss of energy people with psoriatic arthritis sometimes feel:
• Body using resources for inflammation
• Mental and physical burden of being in pain
• Body deconditioning due to lack of exercise because it hurts to move
• Anxiety and depression
• Anemia (lack of iron from inflammation)
• Other comorbid conditions (like fibromyalgia, thyroid disorders or heart disease or diabetes)
• Side effects from some psoriatic arthritis medications
• Trouble sleeping
• Overall mental burden of living with a chronic illness
There are techniques to help manage fatigue. Consult a doctor for help with this symptom.
MOBILITY
Stiff and painful joints can contribute to a loss of overall mobility, and this is sometimes harder for people with psoriatic arthritis to deal with than the pain and body stiffness of inflammation.
A lack of joint mobility can mean that people with psoriatic arthritis may have difficulty moving and exercising, which can affect their quality of life.
Physiotherapy and occupational therapy can help people with psoriatic arthritis protect their joints and maintain mobility.
FINGERS & TOES
Psoriatic arthritis can cause swollen hands and feet, specifically swollen toes and fingers. In PsA, entire fingers or toes can swell up like sausages.
This is known as sausage finger or sausage toe, but the official term is dactylitis, and this symptom may be associated with progressive joint damage.
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CONSULT A DOCTOR
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