Rheumatoid Arthritis Support Group
Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic, inflammatory, multisystem, autoimmune disorder. It is a disabling and painful condition which can lead to substantial loss of mobility due to pain and joint destruction. The disease is also systemic in that it often also affects many extra-articular tissues throughout the body including the skin, blood vessels, heart, lungs, and...
I'm new to RA and Im trying to pay more attention to my symptoms. I'm discovering that things I've thought were from normal aging may actually not be normal! I think I've lived with symptoms a long time now without actually knowing they were symptoms. One is the way I feel in the morning... I don't have swelling, but when I wake up I have what feels like tightness - mainly in my feet, hands, knees, and my Achilles' tendons. My feet and hands also feel hot (not to the touch - but they feel hot inside if that makes sense) and I can tell there is a lot of blood flowing to them (they sometimes look red too). Does that sound like morning stiffness? What I feel is a definite tightness, but it's not so severe that I can't walk or anything like that. Sorry for the dumb questions, my doctor suspects RA and started me on plaquenil so I'm really trying to pay attention to how I feel.
Here's the rub: nails are skin and most people who don't have psoriasis with skin lesions/scales will have some striations/ridges in their finger/toe nails from time to time. The ridges go in the direction of the finger.
Have an HLA-B27 test done. Most people with Psoriasis or PsA test positive for that.
The treatment for PsA is the same as it is for RA.
A rheumatologist should be able to differentiate PsA from RA on the basis of the location of finger nodules [if present].
I walk like Frankenstein morning noon and night - ha.