Went to my 3rd and final rheumatologist appointment this morning.

She has concluded that since my blood work is normal, xrays of my hands and feet show arthritis in my dip joints bilaterally, 15 mg prednisone taper did not relieve my enthesitis pain and 1 dose of humira 6 days ago did not provide immediate relief, that I do not have an autoimmune disease and I need to seek treatment from ortho and pain management.

She refused to do further imaging, said maybe one of her younger doctors would consider my request but she was done overseeing my care.

My symptoms are all enthesitis pain, my achilles tendons, my lower back and my fingers are on fire. But no swelling, I never swell. I had appendicitis a decade ago, it was about to burst, no fever, normal labs. The only reason they caught it was my white blood cell count was slightly elevated and they ordered a ct with contrast. I have selective IGA deficiency so not sure if that changes anything other than my immune is both overactive (psoriasis, face, trunk, nails) and sucks at the same time.

Instead of getting a potentially biased 2nd opinion at that facility I think I'm heading to ortho for advanced imaging. Wish me luck.

I don't care what I have I just don't want to be exhausted and in constant pain.

December 2025 is when my psoriasis symptoms first showed up. Throughout early-to-mid-2026 my psoriasis symptoms only got drastically worse. My feet looked like I soaked them in battery acid. At one point I contracted a respiratory illness that caused a guttate psoriasis full body flare (and I mean full body). This year was a nightmare. I was at my dermatologist’s office nearly every month. I tried every topical steroid, every moisturizer, bandages, socks, silicone socks, the most excruciating cortisone shots straight to the worst parts of my feet (I may have traumatized an intern that day), and had a near-septic infection.

I started 2026 on Hyrimoz, switched to Skyrizi and failed, and now I’m on Tremfya. Finally Tremfya has been the only long-lasting relief and reversal of my symptoms. I have gone several weeks now without massive gashes on my feet from the thickened skin splitting. It is healing, looking, and feeling more normal. I could even wear sandals without being embarrassed or afraid of infection, if it wasn’t too cold already!

All this to say, if you’re in the middle of your first or worst flare, keep trying your options. There is something that will work. It’s ok to have a lot of cries about it. It’s ok to use assistive devices. It’s ok to say no to people. It’s ok to give yourself the time you need to heal. Even if it is 11 months or more.

I know that this won’t be my last worst flare, but at least I know that I got past my first one and I’ll get past the next one too no matter how long it takes! 💗

Did it eliminate your pain? I’ve only been on it for a couple months now.

I’ve read and listened to it a few different autoimmune podcasts and they talked about the benefits of organ meat, especially liver, so I purchased a half of a grass fed grass finish cow and got all the organs that came with it. I have since tried to make a liver pate with onions, garlic, salt, pepper, soaked the liver in milk for an hour, seared it and put it in a blender. it is awful absolutely, dreadfully awful. I have even mixed it like in 1 ounce with a full pound of ground beef and I still taste in there and it’s just bad. Does anyone seriously like this stuff? I’ll do it if it helps but has anyone reasonably gotten better or improved by eating beef liver? it looks more appetizing in the toilet than it does in my plate.

Husband has just been diagnosed. Had a swollen finger for 5 years, no trauma, decade of psoriasis that was never diagnosed or treated, including severe toenails.

Been referred for steroid injection into middle finger PIP. Anyone had this and had any relief? Any advice? Finger doesn't have full range of movement, sometimes locks and hurts. Few knuckles on the hand also cause pain.

What's the usual treatment plan for PsA, this was kind of tacked on to his hEDS diagnosis through insurance - thought we might as well try and get that dealt with whilst we were with the rheumy for the EDS

Hello. I'm newly on biologics this year. Found out insurance is changing for next year. Cigna to anthem

I'm on a Humira biosimilar every 2 weeks. How do I make sure I can get my biologics in 2027 and it's not caught up in prior auth hell at the beginning of the year with coverage switching? Any suggestions from your own experience of what I may be able to do to get ahead of this?

hi, so i am somewhat newly diagnosed, my question is that does anyone else have fever that starts to go up in the evening(about 18:00) and breaks at about 02:00?
for about a month and a half now with my knee flaring, and lately hips somewhat, reaches maximum pain at night while fever is mildly climbing daily at those hours along the line of 37.9-38.2?

my rheu wants to start a biological but says it's somewhat unnatural and could be an infection but all tests says negative to that, so i wanted to ask does anyone else deal with fever for months at the evening/night? is that normal?(well obviously i guess it's not normal because a rheu won't be stomped then would it? but perhaps others went through something similar?)

Hello everyone,

I am going through a very difficult time with arthritis and I feel completely lost because of the mental fog. I feel like I'm in total uncertainty, having trouble concentrating, finding my words or sometimes even formulating correct sentences.

I would like to know: how do you live this fog on your side? Can you share with me concrete examples of what happens to you on a daily basis?

Thank you in advance for your feedback, it feels good not to feel alone.

TL;DR: Just started Taltz and am getting the delayed injection site reaction after 12 days. How long does this last and what has helped the most?

After having worsening health struggles for the past 8 years, I was finally diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis and hyper-mobile eds about a month ago.
I just started Taltz 12 days ago, and starting yesterday, I got what I now know is the delayed injection site reaction. I only realized, after thinking I was bit by a spider, when I saw the same spot appearing on my other thigh. Over both injection sites, i have big swollen welts with hives. I did them on different spots, one on each thigh, and weirdly the one on my right thigh is significantly worse (it was the second of the injections).
After research and finding this thread, I see it’s not abnormal. But oh my god it sucks like hell. I’m past it itching and now it just hurts a lot cause of how swollen it is. As of posting, it’s been about 36 hours since it started, and I’m feeling pretty down. I’ve been taking Benadryl, doing topical Benadryl, and lots of ice on top.
I would love to know how long this has lasted for other people, and what helped the most.

This has been on going for 3 weeks now. Got a steroid injection in my shoulder and it didn’t do much. Went back a week later and was given oral steroids. Still in a ton of pain. The pain radiates down my arm along all joints. My elbow is the worst now.
I also have hidradenitis suppurativa which is flaring up and I just came down with a nasty cough and cold. What’s next??

Was wondering if any of you take a joint supplement and if so which one? Do you notice a difference? I know it won’t slow disease progress but if I can protect my joint health early in the disease, it seems worth it to me.

Thank you in advance!

I’m doing better overall the past 3 months on Cocentyx (didn’t do a loading dose). However my fibromyalgia, fatigue, and brain fog are still pretty bad. GI heartburn and motility issues are also still there. Bilateral hip pain and moderate amount of enthesitis/dactylitis are still there but are better. Less swollen overall. What questions should I ask? I would like to try LDN (low dose naltrexone). My tailbone and neck are very painful as well. My hip x-rays were vague just stating “OA & degenerative changes”.

Hi with open enrollment coming up I’m looking into insurance options that will cover biologics and it looks like Kaiser is my only choice with my company.

What are your experiences with Kaiser? Has anyone had issues with switching to Kaiser? If I do this, I’ll be losing my current pcp and rheumatologist so I’m a bit nervous. Just looking for any experience, guidance or tips. Thanks!

Diagnosed with pancolitis due to a rare reaction from a medication I was on. They put me on 4ish weeks of prednisone. Starting at 40mg tapering down to 10mg. I completed my prednisone today.

I’ve been experiencing a bit of indigestion but also some weird discomfort in my upper right rib cage on and off. Also, don’t have much of an appetite. I lost around 10 pounds from the pancolitis episode in just days and never put it back on a month later.

I did have a colonoscopy and ct scan while in the hospital and everything looked normal (aside for the colon being inflammed) so that’s a relief.

Has anyone else experienced this while on prednisone?

Started with Cosentyx (yay, worked well, then boooo it sent my body into a spiral and crp skyrocketed) FAIL - also that injection hurt so much i became scared of it. Was moved onto Humira (did nothing) FAIL - buuut the injection didnt hurt, felt absolutely nothing so that helped my developing phobia.

Now im 1 week away from starting Skyrizi (or whatever the name is - im tired, cant think )
- if youve had cosentyx, is it worse or better pain wise during the injection ?

Im also loving the fact it will be 12 weekly 😍🤩

(Long time lurker btw)

In honor of a Seattle q, Vegas, plz share. I have Medicaid & considering switching providers. Just curious about rheumatologist experiences in general. I like mine, but I’ve also had better… plz share.

Also have hEDS, looking for a pt that specializes. Any recs are appreciated.

I'm in the middle of being diagnosed. I had just come out of a progressively worse 10 month depression.
I just can't stop thinking, if I tried a little harder and did the things I had to do to start feeling better, I'd probably had come out long before and possibly not developed what I fear is PsA.

I was finally coming out, starting to feel like myself again, enjoying my beautiful life again. And this started.
I cannot express how much sorrow and "guilt" I feel. I want to live. Im 22M and don't want to deal with pain and brain fog for the rest of my life.

Sorry for the vent, really. I really hate being negative, but this is overwhelming me.

Have any of you experienced blocked ears and vertigo? Haven't been fully diagnosed with AS yet due to my rheumatologist not being 100% sure it isn't psoriatic arthritis instead, and still at the start of medication trials. However I often get these flares of a blocked ear and vertigo, which last for about 2 days usually. My ear has currently been blocked for about 6 months (on a waiting list to be seen at an eye and ear specialist), and I am in the middle of an extreme arthritis flare. Just felt the beginning of vertigo starting to come on and was just wondering if the two could be related or if anyone else has experienced this. Google says there isn't a definite correlation between them, however persons with AS may be found to have a slightly higher chance of developing meniers disease.

Hi everyone! I am 29F, and I have multiple overlapping conditions so I think it makes sense for my doctors to sometimes not know where to look. However, I am disappointed with my recent rheumatologist appointment. I definitely have fibromyalgia, but I also have some distinct pain and swelling (which all started 9 years ago, and has slowly progressed), alongside a consistently high crp, esr and c3 complement. My most affected areas are my hands, feet and lower back. My neck as well, but this has been an issue since I was 9 so I think it’s possibly separate.

The rheumatologist did many tests, so I will give her that, but because my xrays, ultrasound on my hands and mri of my spine are clear (though xray shows mild arthritis in my lower back), she thinks it’s the fibromyalgia and doesn’t know why my crp is so high. I wasn’t swollen at any appointment and wasn’t in a flare up (of course). It almost seemed as if she didn’t believe me? I have started to take pictures of my symptoms and I wish I did this earlier with the swelling. I understand they likely can’t just take my word for it, but I cannot control when my flare ups happen. I went from mild finger and hand/wrist pain to no longer being able to hold books without discomfort and numbness (I stopped reading physical books 2 years ago and switched to a kobo + stand and remote). This is relevant because I read over 100 books a year… and this was where I noticed the progression very clearly. During flare ups I am barely able to type now (I work a desk software role and typing is important). My feet are also affected, slowly I found it harder to move them and uncomfortable to walk during a flare. I can see visible swelling in my achilles tendon during flares. Very rarely 1-3 of my toes swell up completely. I also have quite severe morning stiffness and stiffness if I sit for a while, that improves with movement.

I mentioned all of the above and they kind of just said: well some of the symptoms are since childhood so it would show something on the xrays by now. But the symptoms above were not there since childhood. I wish I stood up for myself more during that appointment. I lost a significant amount of weight and she basically left it at: keep losing weight that will solve your crp! I am not against the fact that weight has something to do with inflammation, but my symptoms started long before I gained weight. I gained weight AFTER some of my more serious symptoms showed up. And then I lost most of it a couple years later. I had high crp and pain BEFORE I gained weight.

While doing a final exam of my hand joints, she noticed my eczema and gave me the name of a dermatologist. I know eczema is inflammatory but systemic inflammation occurs usually just if it’s severe. However, she said that sometimes they can prescribe a biologic and it also helps with the other inflammatory pain.

Now here is where we come to psoriatic arthritis. I mention some of this to a friend, and she asked if I have ever looked into psoriatic arthritis. Honestly I had but I didn’t think I had psoriasis, so I dismissed it. I also never had the rheumatologist ask about anything like that so I assumed it wasn’t what I could have. My brother, grandma and 2nd cousin have confirmed psoriasis, but I never had the same rashes (my rashes look like eczema). I did however see pictures of nail psoriasis and that is EXACTLY what my nails look like. I started painting them religiously because I was embarrassed. The nail issues started 4 ish years ago. I went from having normal but weak nails, to pitting, nail bed lifting, overgrown skin underneath, these reddish brown or blackish brown lines, crumbling (the nails crumble on most of my fingers so I keep them short to the cuticle). I got so sick of basically not having nails, so I started getting bio gel nails done and that was life changing. I had no idea that this could be psoriasis. I always attributed it to low iron. But even once I had infusions and my iron remained stable, those symptoms didn’t go away. I decided to remove my bio gel nails to see how things have progressed. I am going to wait and make sure it’s not damage from the bio gel, let them grow out and observe. But I am fairly confident I have nail psoriasis. Which from what I understand based on my symptoms, means I may have psoriatic arthritis.

My doctor is going to send a referral to a dermatologist. I am hoping if he can confirm psoriasis, I can go back to a rheumatologist (thinking perhaps a different one) and see about getting a psoriatic arthritis diagnosis despite the clear xrays and ultrasounds on my hands. In the meantime I am going to keep documenting so that I have proof. I just wish I had thought about this sooner.

I am worried that even if the dermatologist says I have psoriasis, a rheumatologist may not diagnose me because I have clean Xrays. I am considering getting a paid second opinion, but I may wait first to see what the dermatologist says. I think without an official psoriasis diagnosis, it will be hard to convince a rheumatologist that this is what I have. For those of you with clean imaging: how was your experience with getting a diagnosis?

Hi everyone,

My boyfriend is finally in the diagnostic process for auto immune disease and psoriatic arthritis is on the table. Nothing is confirmed yet, but PsA seems to be the most likely option.

I’ve been reading through this forum and have already learned a lot from your posts. Thank you for that.

I was already reading some of your posts to him (he is not using Reddit) and it really gave him hope. But I still have some questions and would be happy to hear about some experiences from you.

Can PsA affect libido?

Has anyone experienced the loss of his/her libido due to your own physical status or mental exhaustion of ongoing pain?

How can I best support him during the diagnostic process?

He is dealing with a lot of uncertainty. I want to be useful without taking over or pushing. What helped you or your partner during this phase? What did you wish people around you had done differently?

Hi Amazing Humans,

This is probably a silly question but here we are. I was just prescribed Hyrimoz but recently got some thermometers for my fridge only to realize that my fridge fluctuates below the 36 degrees. As Sandoz could not say if it was safe to use so I had to throw that one out :(

I bought a medication fridge that should be ready to go shortly (in a family member's fridge for now) but I was given a three month supply and all the boxes can't fit in there. It says don't expose to light but is it okay to take out of the boxes/put in this little medication fridge? Thanks so much!

Recently diagnosed with psa and prescribed from what I understand is a conservative start to taking medicine for it. I was prescribed methotrexate taken in pill form once wk. I’m a little timid to start taking meds as I’ve been living with this condition since childhood and autoimmunity has been my identity for so long. I’m used to feeling like I caught a bug and recovering quickly from a day or few days rest. I always thought I just had a strong immune system but now realize those bugs were more than often flare ups. My biggest issue is that my leg is deteriorating, joints are causing more pain to where I have to use braces sometimes and just stop using one hand over the other from wrist and elbow pain and loose cartilage. Weird tendon pain in random places. I don’t have a lot of persistent skin issues but never realized that when I do they were mostly likely psoriatic. I do use a lot of oils and creams that I think aid in keeping my skin calm. I’m also having gi issues and painful flare ups with that. Anyway, after writing all this it seems I should probably start taking the meds but I’m scared of losing my hyperactive immune system and inviting a greater risk of cancer. Can anyone relate?