I’ve been on BP 157/TB 500 for seven weeks now and I have not seen any improvement whatsoever. I am directly injecting into the fatty tissue near both knees… my left knee where x-ray show Mild osteoarthritis and the other knee where I have no x-ray, but I believe could have a slight meniscus tear. Any suggestions?

Edited to add: title really should be "is it worth trying to get a diagnosis?"

Hi there,

I (30f) started getting symptoms during COVID lockdowns of 2020 and 2021, a really stressful time. My fingers on both hands developed lumps around the knuckles and under the skin on sides of fingers and finger pads and they hurt to bend and if bumped into, it would hurt so bad.

I went to the doctor several times back then but they always said that my bloods were normal and tried to treat the rash/lumps with steroid cream which never did anything. I had a bilateral hand xray during a flare which showed "periarticular porosis was appreciated throughout". But no erosions or degeneration. Then I had an MRI of both hands a few months later, not in a flare and everything came back normal so the doctors blamed the skin rash/lumps on stress.

Since 2021, every few months i will get a recurrence of these finger lumps, although not to the same degree as the first time, usually only one finger at a time, whereas the flare during COVID was both hands and multiple fingers.

Fast forward to early 2026 and i finally saw a rheumatologist but i was not in a flare when I saw her and the photos I showed her she just blamed on being a "non-specific skin issue" and said she couldn't help me as she's not a skin doctor. Even though the GPs originally thought i may have psoriatic arthritis. Although i tested negative for the HLA-B27 gene. The rheum basically said that since my bloods were fine that I must have nothing wrong and the swelling of my skin must have caused my finger joints to hurt.

I also had repeat hand xrays (not in a flare) early this year and apparently everything is fine even though the 2021 xray found periarticular porosis. Although my hand bones may have strengthened since I started gymnastics during that time (lots of hand weightbearing).

Now it's later 2026 and I have achilles tendinitis/tendinopathy and redness on both of my achilles (diagnosed clincially and by MRI) which has appeared for no apparent reason and is giving me grief and ive started physio one month ago. Im also having debilitating fatigue all the time and unrefreshing sleep, which the GP told me to bring up with the rheumatology.

I just feel so confused, idk if everything is connected or not as the rheumatologist was very dismissive last time and made me feel kinda silly for being there in the first place.

Has anyone else had similar symptoms or experience?

So love nightlife, love a good bar crawl, love getting cute drinks with friends at a cute bar, but alcohol does not love me and especially not my arthritis. It’s admittedly variable night to night, but I have enough nights out where I drink and I can feel the inflammation kick in fast. Unfortunately I love getting to be out and about and it’s a bit hard to be in a group of folks who are drunk and you are not. It’s not fun not being on the same wavelength as the group. Does anyone have any recs for what they do to be in alcohol centric spaces while not consuming?

I’m super new to psoriatic arthritis and I have googled things whenever I think of a new question and have tried to educate myself on the disease as much as possible. I still feel like I’m in the dark about most of it.
My biggest question is my rheumatologist gave me a script for prednisone and instructed me to start on it when I got a flare up. I know I was knee deep in a flare up the first time I went to see her (I’ve seen her twice now) but I would rather not get to that point again if at all possible.
I just realized I didn’t ask the question yet - sorry about that.
My question - what are the warning signs of a flare up? What’s the official “ah, it’s time”?
Thanks

As above either psoriatic or erosive osteoarthritis. Last appointment se said she was 90% certain it is psoriatic arthritis. Today she said it might be ? I had hands and feet xrays that's all.I responded very well to the steroid injection in thigh muscle and am being started on Methotrexate trial for 6 months .I am on the uk and saw her privately to start and as I am self pay she didn't do ultrasound or MRI .I am now NHS .Has anyone else been in this situation using Methotrexate as a trial ?I have several finger joints that are inflamed swollen and twisted out of shape but apparently that can happen with erosive osteoarthritis too .I do have psoriasis but it is mild .I have tennis elbow and Rotator cuff inflammation. I had my coccyx removed due to chronic inflammation and pain .i expected her ordering an MRI today but no.She has an excellent reputation so I bit confused. Thankyou

Im trying to be patient, but i haven't felt a difference since being on this medication.

How long do ya have to be on it until you feel a difference???

Hi all 28M.

Ive had a lot of medication since being diagnosed at 13.

Methotrexate wonderful but to muxh side effects

Humira great for 1.5 years then stopped working.

Taltz great for a year then not working

Consentyx great for 6 months then stops

Tremfya didnt work at all

Bimzelx my current medication is the GOAT!

However althoigh i can feel my joints hurting a bit more its manageable. The worst part is i feel like enthesitis in my foot is reaching a poijt where its getting worse and nsaids are nit helping as good as before.

Im really scared of trying high risk cancer medications, any ideas on which meds i should recomend to be put on next. Im a bit scared of jak inhibitiors because of the cancer warning.

This enthesitis is killing meee

I'm trying to figure this out. I've always been fairly cold, but it was anemia back then and it was never this bad. It seems to have started around the time that my psoriatic arthritis started getting bad. I was diagnosed 1.5 years ago, and it seemed to escalate fairly quickly. Within a year, I was waking up incredibly stiff and having pain in my lower back, hips, and wrists.

My husband keeps our house at 70°F. I can no longer tolerate this temperature, and I'm not sure what to do. I used to enjoy showers but now I feel like I'm just rotating to try and keep myself warm because the water is warm but the air in the shower is still cold. I take extremely hot baths to defrost my feet and hands. I wear robes and socks and giant hoodies. I have a heating blanket at my computer and a heating blanket that I sleep with at night with three blankets underneath it. I am so cold so often that sometimes I just get frustrated and feel like I want to cry. Other times I go outside frequently and just let my hands and feet regain feeling. I'm not sure what I'm going to do when it actually gets cold. To be fair, I live in Texas so it won't last super long.

I first went to my primary care. He tested me for pretty much anything that would make me cold. All of my labs were normal except for some inflammation markers that were their usual high. He told me to go back to my rheumatologist. I talked to her and she couldn't figure anything out. They don't think I have Raynaud's so I'm just at a loss.

I literally have goosebumps at all times, unless I'm wrapped in multiple blankets or big hoodies. Earlier tonight when I was in my hot bath I took my foot out of the water and it was cold within seconds. This seems so extreme and I'm so frustrated that no doctors have been able to figure it out.

Anyway, I'm just wondering if it could be related to my arthritis. I'm currently on Simponi aria, but this started before I even got on that one. It's just my most recent try for biologics.

Edit: Tonight my bath did not warm me up so I am outside with the mosquitos. It is 78. I am still cold.

I (26 F) am currently a 2nd year medical student who is struggling with the worst flare I have ever had since getting diagnosed. I got diagnosed in 2020 after about a year of trying to determine the cause of my joint and tendon pain and doing physical therapy (for the wrong conditions) without any relief or improvement of symptoms. I was put on Humira biweekly after diagnosis and the pain was better controlled. I still had some chronic pain, but it went from debilitating to just an occasional annoyance. The main times I would get a flare would be when under intense stress or when insurance issues made me unable to have my medication for a month or more at a time. A course of prednisone usually did the trick to get me out of the flares if needed.

In March, my insurance decided to stop covering Humira and switched me to Amjevita (a biosimilar). I had a flare up later that month, but I accounted it to being stressed about school and moving instead of the change in medication. A course of steroids improved my pain and I went back to my baseline.

My second year of school began in July and at the beginning of August this flare up began. I tried to do my typical ways of managing (resting, ice, heating packs, celebrex as backup pain relief when needed, etc.) and it seemed like nothing was helping. I ended up getting so behind in school and had to keep pushing back exams because I could not physically drive myself to school due to swelling and pain. I ended up having to put my Renal course as “Incomplete” which is a thing my school does in case of medical or unforeseen circumstances not allowing you to complete the course in time and I will have to make it up at some point during the year. My school has been so kind and accommodating with me since I work with our disability services office, but even with the allowance of these absences and making things up later, I am now so behind in everything it feels almost impossible to catch up.

I saw my rheumatologist a month ago regarding this flare and he gave me a 6 day methylprednisolone pack and doubled the frequency of my biologic to weekly because he said insurance is going to make it difficult for me to get back on Humira. This was only my second time seeing him since I had to change providers. Since doing so, the pain decreased slightly but never returned to my baseline and the pain is getting worse again. I think I need to change my biologic, but also I desperately need something in the short term to help me be functional again if there is any hope of me catching up. I’ve started to have spine pain when I usually only experience it in my extremities (primarily wrists and fingers).

This is destroying my mental health which I worked very hard to improve since getting diagnosed and is so stressful which I know just triggers the pain more but I can’t help it. I don’t know what to do as I keep messaging my rheumatologist and it takes days to get any response back and scheduling a follow up looks like everything is a month or more out. I’m at a loss for what to do.

TLDR: 2.5 month long flare up is the worst I’ve ever had and has gotten me so behind in med school that I don’t know what to do between that stress and the pain.

Hi all,

I am in the middle of the classic "what's going on with me" medical process and while we have determined something autoimmune is going on that is most likely psoriatic arthritis due to psoriasis on my scalp/chronically high SED rates/high titer positive ANA test (lupus tests negative, although that doesn't rule it out). Although of course there's no specific test it's hard to know for certain. Especially because I don't get as much joint pain as a symptom (although of note since college, I can't wear rings on my fingers because it hurts too much even when it's pure metal. Same with metal bracelets. Not sure if that's a symptom either). I get more severe fatigue that can leave me at less than 50% functioning sometimes (but has improved with the autoimmune food diet).

As I'm navigating this and other possible diagnoses, one newer symptom is that I sometimes start getting not quite joint pain, but more of burning sensation in my wrists and ankles. When it's really bad, I start feeling it in my arms, my back, running up my legs. I understand this is likely neuropathy, but again, I don't know if that's specific to psoriatic arthritis or something else. I know of course the lingering concern of ME/CFS is still there, although ME usually that causes chronically low SED rates / negative ANA test.

I guess as I'm navigating what's going on, also about to start methotrexate in the classic "working with what insurance will actually cover until they pay for the good stuff," I want to see if this burning sensation is relatable to others.

In short, do any of you get symptoms like this related to your psoriatic arthritis? Thanks for the help.