Hello,

I’m new here. I did a search on this topic and didn’t find what I was looking for so I thought I’d give it a try.

I’ve had guttate psoriasis since I was 4 yo (I’m 52 now). Hospitalized 2x during childhood/adolescence. For most of my life it has covered 80% of my body. Summertime and Light therapy were the only things that really got me close to remission.

I had lower back pain on and off over the years but shrugged it off to running. Fast forward to 2017. Woke up one morning and could barely move. Took forever to get out of bed I was so stiff and sore. Soaked in epsom baths just to be able to get dressed. Went to GP who did blood work and diagnosed me with polymyalgia rheumatic based on high sed rate (90+) and CRP. Started me on prednisone. I was skeptical of dx so went to rhuemy who confirmed it. Prednisone helped some with pain but not all. After 1.5 years I was still feeling badly so went to the Mayo Clinic here in MN. After rhuemy saw me struggle getting off table he ordered MRI. Confirmed bilateral sacroilitis and dx AS. I’ve been on Humira for 2 years. Psoriasis completely gone for first time in my life. Pain in neck and back improved but still get pretty bad flares under stress. Just discovered NSD so going to try that.

Now for my question: has anyone here been diagnosed with psoriasis at such a young age and then gone on to develop AS? My rhuemy at Mayo said the inflammation in SI is chronic so it’s been around a while. No one has mentioned the HLA-B27 test, not even Mayo.

I would love to hear from anybody with some insight.

Thanks,
Angela

Hi Angela,

My husband has always had psoriasis, as long as he can remember. He was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis (a close cousin of AS) in his 50s. He also lives with back pain, but it's hit his wrists very badly and they have fused. The result has been a wicked golf shot that goes perfectly straight down the fairway, but that's about the only benefit.

With bilateral sacroilitis, they may have felt that the HLA-B27 test was unnecessary. That's pretty classic AS.

The NSD may help. I went low/restricted starch until the last year or so. Then my husband became ill and I needed to simplify because I didn't have the energy not to. So, I started eating wheat again, mainly because it was one less aisle to go down at the grocer. Not smart, but now I've also been diagnosed with Crohn's disease (last June) and that's in treatment, so wheat isn't the issue it used to be. My biologic has recently been switched to adalimumab (Humira) and for the first time in ten years, my whole body has calmed, just this past week or two.

We do continue to flare, even on biologic meds. Make sure you are stretching and doing range of motion exercises, just to keep things moving.

There aren't many of us here, these days, from when I joined in 2001, but the information is good. And there are people here who know different things than I do. You're in good company.

Warm hugs,

Most of my life I have had dry skin- with burning elbows with lumps and redness about six years ago I was DX with psoriasis by a dermatologist. She recomened CeraVe Moisturizing Lotion. After using the lotion for several months psoriasis on legs and elbows have disappeared and no lumps under skin can be found. I have now used this for six years. It worked for me.