RA factor all of sudden normal and now intense Psoriatic Flare?

[RAlife2018]

Hello everyone, it's been awhile since I have posted as I mostly recovered in October 2019. I was diagnosed with RA in 2018 with a good probability of Psoriatic Arthritis. The story is long and my hands hurt a bit too much to detail today, but I was treated for RA in 2019 for about 10 months on methotrexate. I had to stop methotrexate due to chronic illness October 2019 that would not heal, upper respiratory and growth of gland in neck (not obvious). Come November 2019, my RA factor dropped to normal limits and decided to not go back on Methotrexate to see what happened....RA stayed away, mild aches/pains here and there, but nothing compared to RA flare pain. Today, September 2020, seems my first vacation to a lake house for relaxation seemed to trigger my current flare that seems to be a Psoriatic Arthritis flare--the pain is intolerable and everywhere and exhausting. Doc wants to start me on Cosentyx now, but I have so many unanswered questions that I believe there may be no definitive answers to. Has anyone ever had their RA factor normalize and then flare later into full Psoriatic Arthritic flare....any thoughts, guidance, comments?

[bubblyalex]

Well I would imagine yes will be the answer. The disease will never go away but factor would go up and down... people talk about drug induced remission. I wouldn’t hesitate at taking meds to try and get it under control and prevent damage. Apart from anything else raised crp and esr brings other risks ... heart kidneys and so on. I wouldn’t wait and suffer because it takes so long to get the right med and for it to start working.

My sister thinks she has cured herself ... yet she is not as mobile as she was. She insists she was told she had it and now she doesn’t.... as if some miracle cure has happened. She never took any meds. She’s over in India thinking she’s the all seeing eye guru. 🤷🏻‍♀️ we don’t see eye to eye at all lol and I do not for one second believe she hasn’t got the disease anymore. ... I can be wrong and not a doc and still a novice at understanding this all... and many others here know a lot more... but I spent a long time trying to fight diagnosis believing my issues to be consequential to the nasty fall and tissue damage I had. I hope you find the med that works for you and feel better asap 🤞🏻

[Hidden]

It’s uncommon but possible to have both, and therefore entirely possible for the R.A. to go into remission only to experience a full PsA flare instead, particularly when you bear in mind that almost all cases of PsA are seronegative. I don’t know if there’s anyone personally on the forums that’s experienced that, but back in my early days of researching to try and understand my own arthritis, I stumbled across papers online detailing cases where that’s exactly what happened. As someone that had PsA left undiagnosed and untreated for the better part of 2 decades and has the permanent joint damage to prove it, I would very strongly advise you to take the drugs. My last flare before diagnosis was the first flare in my fingers beyond a little stiffness, and in just 2 months it left me with deformity.

[helixhelix]

I have heard that antibodies will normalise over time in well-controlled disease. But here the levels are rarely re-checked post diagnosis so probably not much evidence. And since people who are sero-negative for both antibodies can have incredibly active disease I’m not convinced that it is the best indicator for how your disease is developing, or not developing.

This can be a very slow disease, thankfully, so a year between periods of activity doesn’t sound huge to me. I was reminded the other day of my early years pre-diagnosis when I would have small outbreaks that would then go away again for months and months allowing me to think whatever I had had gone. (And allowing the doctors to dismiss me...)

[Barrister]

I have PsA, never had RA factor but my dad was diagnosed with RA at the age of 78 (two years ago) and then a year later they said he probably has PsA. Neither of us has ever had psoriasis but my middle son has severe Psoriasis.

Clemmie

[RAlife2018 in reply to Barrister]

Hello there, so I originally tested for RA, but my body was also obviously flaring beyond the joints. The flares have no doubtedly confirmed Psoriatic Arthritis. As of a few months ago, I began cosentyx and for the first time I have clear patches of Psoriasis on my scalp and edge of my hairline at my forehead and temples. So seems the psoriasis constantly eats me alive inside and has finally shown its face on the outside. I originally had lesions on my scalp before the psoriatic circles appeared but the dermo kept dismissing it as plain O dermatitis. Now I have snow everywhere from my scalp. Such a strange disease.

[Barrister in reply to RAlife2018]

My son was absolutely covered with psoriasis from head to toe, it was truly awful but he is now injecting Stelara once every 3 months and his skin is clear.

Clemmie

[RAlife2018 in reply to Barrister]

So awful, you must have felt so powerless. It’s great to hear he had a great response to Stelara.