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Hi Glou55, Welcome to the site. Perhaps you could be a little more specific about what it is that is the problem. And have you asked your doctor to clarify whatever it is that is confusing you? wendyloish

Hi Wendyloish. The short version is this all started 20yrs ago. Took about 10yrs to get diagnosed initially. Got told my left knee randomly swelling was my age (was 23), then lifestyle (was a dancer). Drs were convinced it was torn cartlidge so rather than scans they took me in and operated annd they were wrong, no damage so they refered me to rhuematology. When I eventually saw them within 10min consultant told me it was psoriatic arthritis. Saw them a handful of times over the next few years. Going through a flare up at the moment but this time it's affected my back aswell. Took 2 months to see consultant as I had been discharged from the dept! Saw a different consultant this time who has told me it's not psoriatic arthritis because she can't find any psoriasis patches on me and blood tests don't show any inflammation. I've read other people saying they've had the same blood results. Just looking for any suggestions as what to do next

Hi Glou55, So here is what I know from the experiences of my brother and myself, both afflicted with psoriatic arthritis., but not diagnosed until we got old. I had psoriasis from my late teens, but my brother had no symptoms beyond his finger skin and his nails. {He was always getting peeling skin on his fingers and his nails were really thick but split and came away from the nail bed.} When my back problems got really bad and I had scans done the doctor asked first thing to look at my finger nails. From that I have concluded that the pitting and ridging of the fingernails may be a telltale sign that 0ne has psoriatic arthritis rather than any other type of arthritis {osteo or rheumatoid}. I Googled to confirm this. Blood tests seem not to be definitive, I had them done in my 40s, but although the results came back with elevated markers the result were not high enough to indicate lupus so the doctor did nothing more and it took another 20 years for a diagnosis, From the above you might conclude that a diagnosis of psoriatic arthritis may be difficult, hence the differing consultants. One thing I can tell you. Psoriatic arthritis is degenerative, so that as time goes by it can only get worse. But if you spend the time reading the information part of the website and peoples posts you will find that there are management techniques, both pharmaceutical and dietary that may help. Sadly there is no a known cure. wendyloish

Hi Glou55 The best thing to do is work with your consultant, if your going though a flare up and swelling take photo's. These will help your consultant, and let her see where and how bad the swelling is. From what I have read you can get PSA first, and then develop psoriasis. How true this is I don't know, i had psoriasis first. As for the blood test, they can be used to rule other things out like rheumatoid arthritis, so useful for narrowing down what it could be. As Wendy has said above it can be hard to diagnose, if your not showing all the PSA symptoms. Hope you get it sorted soon.