Intro

[Guest guest]

Hi folks,

I thought I should introduce myself to this group. My

name is Jaye, and I am 42. I live in Bellevue, WA.

I was first diagnosed with Palmar Plantar Pustular

Psoriasis in September, 2004, while living in the SF

Bay Area with my husband on our boat. My hands and

feet were so painful that I could barely walk, or use

my hands. I tried topicals, which did next to

nothing, and finally ended up on 50mg of Soriatane a

day, which actually worked pretty well for my hands

and feet.

In the spring of 2005, my husband and I quit our jobs

to realize a long held dream of spending a season

cruising on our boat in Washington and British

Columbia. About half way through our cruise, my knee

started to swell alarmingly, and HURT. I knew what it

probably was, but I wasn't giving up on our trip, so I

started buying aspirin by the half gallon and gritted

my teeth through the end of our trip. Cruising is

fairly physical, so it probably wasn't the greatest

thing to do, but it was something I really wanted. By

the time we got back to Anacortes, where we had a slip

for the boat and hoped to work and live, I could

barely walk. I had symptoms in my knee, both thumbs,

both hips and shoulders and in my neck.

I had no job at this point, but I had COBRA, so I set

about finding a rheumatologist. No easy job in a

small town. Finally found one who could take me, an

80 minute drive away. She put me on Feldene,

Sulfasalazine and gave me cortisone shots, which

worked for a while.

In the meantime, my husband and I both found work in

the Seattle area, so we resigned ourselves to moving

off the boat and renting an apartment. When my new

insurance from my job kicked in, I started Enbrel.

All this time, I had been trying to get off Soriatane,

since it was making my hair fall out and had other

annoying side effects. Enbrel worked great for my

joints, but didn't do jack for my skin. Found a

dermatologist down here, who prescribed Tazorac and

Clobex spray. Still no go.

This dermatologist referred me to a closer

rheumatologist, who I saw last week. She wants me to

start Remicade and MTX at a very low dose. I'll

decide this week if I'm going to try it. MTX scares

me, and there's no way that I'm going to cut drinking

out of my life entirely -- I've given up enough from

this -- running, wearing nice shoes, walking

everywhere, being an active co-captain on our boat --

but she's quite adamant that I should take 7.5

mgs/week, and just says she'll monitor my liver.

It's amazing, and quite depressing, frankly, to have

gone from a healthy, active 40 year old to a rather

disabled 42 year old. I imagine you all have similar

stories.

This looks like an interesting -- glad y'all are here.

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