- psoriasis

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

Thank you so much for the birthday wishes. We had a very nice day. Not many

people showed up for the party because of the weather, but that's ok. We had

a really fun time anyway. I got to meet the mother of one of Wyatt's

schoolmates and she is really nice. She gave us a standing invitation to

visit her and her family. My mom and dad gave me a hand blender and another

Creed cd and the new Matchbox Twenty cd. These are all greatly appreciated.

I have found that I can use certain music to help with pain relief. I just

put on my headphones and kind of fall into it.

No, the psoriasis isn't much better. It seems to go in cycles. It gets

really bad for a couple of days then not so bad for a couple of days, then

starts all over again. My hands are rough as sandpaper and extremely itchy

and painful. My skin is really rough and snags on everything. The joints in

my hands seem to be more painful too. My RA was dx'd with bloodwork and

analysis of joint fluid from my knees. My symptoms really didn't follow the

rules of RA, but that's something that my rheumy and I joke about all the

time. I seem to remember about 10 years ago, I saw a dermatologist about

these hands and he told me it looked like PA, but it didn't go any further.

I think I'm going to have to look into it again. Another thing, I seem to be

getting the psoriasis on my scalp also. I can't see them, but I can

certainly feel them. The pustules, I mean. That's just what I need, another

thing to help my hair fall out. LOL My rheumy also told me a while back

that I had polyarthropathies. I guess that's one way of putting everything

into one word.

I did get a letter from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center inviting

me to join one of their studies. They want to follow people with RA for

about 4-6 years and record the outcomes of certain treatments. It is not a

paid study, but they will send out " tools " that are being tried out with

people with arthritis. They sent me a tool that holds dental floss. It kind

of looks like a wrench and you wrap the floss around the top of it and then

you just secure it and you're done. It really does work too.

This infusion of Remicade doesn't seem to be working as well this time. I am

still a bit stiff and painful. I have developed a new pain in my elbows and

shoulders. I wonder if it has anything to do with the horrible weather we

have here in the northeast U.S.

Think I'll sign off now. Hands are hurting. Will catch up more tomorrow.

Wonder if my car will start in the a.m. Have an appt for p.t. Temp is

supposed to be near 0.

Love

Stacey