Does PsA always begin in the hands or feet?

Hi Dorothy, I am sorry to hear that you had a disappointing first appointment with your rheumatologist. Prior to your next appointment you may find it helpful to contact our helpline team who will be able to give you some tips and advice to help your doctor understand your symptoms better. You can get in touch with us via phone on 01604 251 620, email at mail@psoriasis-association.org.uk or on WhatsApp 07387 716 439. I hope this helps, Amber, Psoriasis Association

Hi Dorothy. It's a pain (no pun intended ;) ) when you have a good day when you really need to have a bad one if you know what i mean. Like i have told a few people on this forum, when your having a bad day take some photos if your swollen. It will help your consultant see where and what joints are swelling up. Did your GP see you when you where bad? If so maybe he could write a letter for you to take to the next appointment. Also did the consultant not feel your joints, the reason i ask i remember being with my consultant one time and i was having a really good day. They told me that they could still feel fluid or what ever it is they feel, and boy do they know where to go to find the sore spots. Sadly by the time i was leaving i was no longer having a good day, and they could see that :(.

Thank you both for your replies. I'll ring the helpline when I have a date for my next appointment - thank you for the suggestion. Mac, thanks for the advice about the photos - the GP didn't feel the joints at all, just looked at them. Although I don't get much pain in my hands, just stiffness, I have noticed a change in my knuckles on the fingers on my right hand - they are more 'pronounced' than they were a few years ago. I don't think anyone else would notice, but I do, and I can no longer wear the ring I inherited from my grandmother, as it doesn't fit over the knuckle on my ring finger. My GP doesn't see me when I'm bad as we have an 8 week wait for appointments in this area, so even if I ring at the start of a flareup, it's over by the time I see him! Annoyingly, I did have a flareup when I went in for a routine blood test recently, but of course, only saw the nurse (she has PsA herself, and as soon as she saw me walk in, she asked if I had it too because of my joints and the way I was walking!) The problem I've found with the GP as well, is that he seems to focus on one thing to the exclusion of all else, and then moves on to something else. So when he first saw me, all my health issues were due to PsA. Then I had blood tests which ruled out RA, but did show I was anaemic. So now he's decided I don't have any kind of arthritis at all, but I have bowel problems (which is the one thing I've never suffered from) So every time I see him, he pushes me to say I've had diarrhea, constipation or blood in my faeces etc, etc, and I say no I haven't, and he says 'are you sure?'...argh!!!!! Just waiting to see what illness I 'must' be suffering from the next time I see him!

Hi Dorothy, You can always speak to the PALS team at the hospital and /or your GP. They will listen to your concerns about your appointment. KM

Did your consultant not give a good examination Dorothy, as in check all your joints not just look at them. As for the GP from what I here I’m lucky, it was my GP that diagnosed/told me what I had before I seen the consultant, and has really been there for me over the years. Though to be fair i was in really bad shape, with all the symptoms of PsA. Hope goes well for you Dorothy, and you get to the bottom of of it. Knowing is half the problem solved. Oh and your GP shouldn’t be pushing you to say anything. I think I’d be making an appointment with another GP.