psoriatic arthritis

I have been putting off tx for a couple of reasons.

1 - My wife and I were starting a family and was scared the drugs could cause problems.

2 - I have psoriatic arthritis and am afraid that tx will increase the symptoms.  

We've had children now and my doc says that if I get my condition under control with embrell that we should do tx.  This worries me because psoriatic arthritis is a fast mover, when I get a flare up, it happens in a matter of days, so if the tx does cause a flareup, then all the embrell I did to clear it was useless.

I'm still considering tx and I'm guessing that once cleared, the psoriatic arthritis might get better because (guessing again) HCV is causing the early onset of psoriatic arthritis, which usually hits people in their 50's and I started getting it around 25.  

Anyone have any experience with this?

[CitizenSmith]

Hi, I don't suffer from Psoriatic  Arthritis (my mother does) but I do suffer from bad Psorasis.I recently finished 48 weeks Tx and was very concerned about a flare up,guess what nothing nada. So while flare ups are associated with Tx it doesn't mean you'll necessarily have one.Best wishes.

[NYgirl]

I wouldn't let anything stop me from doing treatment - otherwise you can find 100 reasons off the top of your head, medical or not.

My best advice is just to go for it - and if something comes up either deal with it or stop treatment if absolutely necessary.  Of course - I don't have your condition though but I have several of my own...and treatment isn't FUN but I want this disease to die so......

Good luck

[way]

Hello we have missed you around here!!!!!

[thatgirl67]

You know, Hep C causes it's own type of Arthritis as well, and the way I see it... you can't afford to not treat. Knock out the Hep C before you get really ill. I have Rhumatoid (the pain was still bad when I started treatment but now it's under control with 1500mg. daily of Sulfazine, 10 mg. pregnizone, and 400 mg. plaquinil, she is going to wait post treatment to treat with Embril and take me off everything else) My Rhumatologist and Gastro doc work very closely with my meds as to not aggrivate my condition further. The idea is to get rid of the Hep C (24th shot and virus free!) so I can concentrate more on my Arthritis as I need to. You can't cure the Arthritis, but don't wait, try to knock out the Hep C now!

[motheroffour]

Hi, my husband has psoriasis and psoriatric arthritis.  He spent the last year getting everything under control with Enbrel (his p was on 90% of his body)  and just began tx a couple weeks ago.  His rheumatologist is on standbye in case he has a flare. He has discontinued the Enbrel for the time being.  He's getting patches of P but the PA is not flaring.  Apparently Enbrel can be used in conjunction with Peg/Riba  if monitored carefully. There are some studies that indicate the Enbrel has anti-fibrotic capabilities. Can't tell you how it's going as he's just begun, but in my husband's case he had no choice, he had to treat because of his liver damage. I'm sure you all aren't alone out there but make sure your hep doc and P doc are all together on your treatment

[bikeaddict]

Thanks so much for your feedback.  Your comments confirm my thoughts that I need to start treatment.  I'll get my docs talking to eachother more.