Subject: Psoriatic Arthritis
I was diagnosed with Psoriatic arthritis around 2 years ago. I chose not to take medication since the condition had very little impact on my life, and I'm a severe sufferer of Anxiety and the prospect of medication was daunting. 2 years on and things are getting worse. I havent yet been told I have any joint damage, but what started out as minimal pain is now pain in a lot of my joints. As much as life if painful, I have learned to manage and I'm still not on any medication. My rehumatologist has prescribed sulfasalazine, but the issues Im facing now, is that my partner and I would like to start a family. I am due to have my contraceptive implant taken out in April 2016, and the discussion i've had with my rehumatologist is that I will take the sulfa until then to try and get good disease control (CRP 23 - ESR 28) I'm just so worried about taking the medication. Im worried about the side effects, but my main worry is that once i'm on the meds, I will need to depend on them forever. I would preferably want to stop them if I were to conceive, and I worry that If I do stop them, my arthritis will get worse and I wont be able to cope or even worse, manage a pregnancy. I am so stressed out right now and all of this really is getting me down. Any help / advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
M x
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