For most people, when you think of the word “arthritis” and the typical arthritis sufferer, you think of someone’s grandmother, with gnarled and knobby fingers, struggling to open a jar or hold a pen. The truth is that there are a number of different types of arthritis and they can hit people in the 20’s, 30’s, 40’s or even in childhood! One such type of arthritis is known as psoriatic arthritis. This particular form of inflammatory arthritis afflicts somewhere between 10 – 30% of those who suffer from the skin condition psoriasis. Typically appearing about 10 years after the first signs of psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis tends to afflict its sufferers much earlier in life than other forms of arthritis.
Arthritis is any one of a group of conditions that cause damage to the joints of the body. There are more than 100 different types of arthritis, with psoriatic arthritis being one of the more common forms. As with other types of arthritis, psoriatic arthritis is characterized by an inflammation of the joints. It can also be accompanied by tendinitis and severe swelling of the fingers and toes. For people that are suffering from this ailment, the swelling and tendinitis can cause just as much, if not more discomfort than the actual joint inflammation itself.
Treatment of psoriatic arthritis is similar to the treatment of basic osteoarthritis, and can include taking anti-inflammatory medications, such as naproxen. Other treatment options include the injection of specific corticosteroids into the affected joints or the prescription of certain immunosuppressants that can help reduce the body’s inflammatory response and therefore reduce the discomfort. The most severe cases are also being treated with special forms of DNA therapy, where different series of DNA that are not normally found together are combined, creating new, artificial DNA which can help prevent irreversible joint damage.
Psoriasis is estimated to affect somewhere between 2 and 3% of the western population of the world. It is a largely hereditary condition, and while treatable is not curable. Those that have psoriasis and then are later afflicted by psoriatic arthritis fall into one of five different categories of arthritis. Nearly half will have symmetrical arthritis and have joints on both sides impacted. The second most common form is asymmetrical, where only joints on one side of the body are affected. Regardless of what form you are struggling with, it is essential that you consult a physician at the first sign of arthritis, so that you will have the best array of treatment options available to you.
