I’ve had psoriasis since I was in my 20’s, at least, though I was never officially diagnosed. As of yesterday, that’s changed. I’ve been officially diagnosed with both psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis.

I had thought my aches and pains were a normal part of aging until I started looking into psoriasis a bit more. Once I read that it was an autoimmune disorder and that 40% of people who have psoriasis end up getting psoriatic arthritis, everything clicked into place. Since then, I’ve been fighting to get an official diagnosis.

First, the doctor wanted me to see a nephrologist, since my kidney function is out of whack. (Is there an in whack? What is whack? LOL) Anyway, the nephrologist had an ultrasound and a Doppler done on my kidneys and said they were scarred. That I could regain most of my kidney function, but they would never be 100% again. She thought we could at least get it so my labs don’t look like I have CKD. Her thought was the scarring was from NSAID usage, though I’ve never overused NSAIDs. Usually, I prefer to deal with the pain.

Every time I went to my PCP, I didn’t have an active psoriasis flare, so she said to come in when I was in an active flare, but I could never get the energy when I was.

On the other hand, I walked into the rheumatologist’s yesterday, and she took one look at my scalp, and felt my elbows, and said I definitely have psoriasis, and my pain is caused by psoriatic arthritis. She wants me to get X-rays to get an official idea of how bad everything is, but she started me on medication already. She also suggested that the scarring on my kidneys could be because my kidneys are so close to my spine, and my spine is affected by the arthritis, which makes much more sense to me than the scarring being from NSAID use. I’ve got another appointment with the nephrologist in October, and I can talk to her about it then.

Now on to the impatience. Now that I know that the pain isn’t all in my head, or caused by sleeping wrong, I’m less patient with it. I just want it to be gone. I’m on day 2 of the medication that she gave me, and I don’t really know if it’ll help, and if it does, it’ll be a couple of weeks before I feel the pain relief, but I already want it gone. I’ve been slowly getting more stiff and hurting more. I couldn’t understand it because I move around more than I did when I worked at my last job, but it hurts to lift weights even, which I tried to start doing again.

I just want to be able to move my hands, my back, and turn my head without pain. I’m also looking forward to sleeping without pain. I’d like to be able to get a good night’s sleep again.

I know I’m not going to be able to wave a wand and start feeling 100%, and my mind still doesn’t believe that I’m getting older. I keep expecting to be able to do everything I could when I was younger.

I am hoping that once the medication kicks in – either this one, or the one she’s getting preauthorization for if this one doesn’t work – will allow me to lose the weight that won’t go anywhere no matter how much I move and eat well. I can eat healthy 95% of the time, and we know that 80% of weight loss is food, so I get so frustrated when my weight won’t go anywhere and I still hurt after moving around.

Anyway, I’d better get some sleep. It’s after midnight.

Laterness and g’night.