Re: Thanks , questions, and Chat;

[Guest guest]

>I was under the impression that there were not

>any test that showed PA. (Question) Is there

>now a test that proves one has PA??

There is no test for PA. Many of us can go for years

with mis-diagnosis after mis-diagnosis before getting

the proper call -- and the proper treatment. Doctors

usually find it through trial-and-error -- there =are=

tests for Lupus, Lyme disease, Rheumatoid Arthritis,

and other things, and after all those have been ruled

out the doctor may decide to look at Psoriatic.

> I have never heard of anyone having PA

> without having P.

And the diagnosis is complicated when the patient does

not display obvious psoriasis. My P was not very bad

when I was diagnosed, and that made the process long

and difficult for all concerned. It took a

podiatrist, at the end, to notice the pock marks on my

fingernails and decide that I had psoriasis, hence,

psoriatic arthritis.

P and PA are not the same disease. Only one tenth of

the people with P have the associated arthritis, and

only a small portion of them display the arthritis

before the psoriasis. I was just lucky, I guess . . .

;-)

, North Jersey Highlands

raharris@...

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