Psoriatic arthritis is a
type of arthritis that affects some people with the skin condition psoriasis.
It typically causes affected joints to become swollen, stiff and painful. If it
is severe, there is a risk of the joints becoming permanently damaged or
deformed, and surgery may be needed.
Almost 1 in 3 people with psoriasis have psoriatic arthritis. Like psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis is thought to happen as a result of the immune system mistakenly attacking healthy tissue.
As psoriatic arthritis can cause joint pain that may affect the quality of your day-to-day life, it has been linked with an increased risk of depression and anxiety, characterized in part by negative thoughts due to sadness and hopelessness.
“Psoriasis can be disfiguring for the skin, then when you add in the arthritis, people can also have problems moving around,” explains rheumatologist William Harvey, MD, clinical director of the division of rheumatology at Tufts Medical Center in Boston.
“We have a wide variety of treatments available to them,” Dr. Harvey says. He suggests that people consider complementary approaches such as yoga, tai chi, meditation and acupuncture. These will not cure psoriatic arthritis but could improve your quality of life.
With psoriatic arthritis, it is true that there may be some activities you cannot do when you want to do them. Try focusing on on the things you can do, learn new skills and hobbies, and reach out to your support system. In fact, you have more options for coping with a flare.
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