Originally Posted By louisay
So do you have AS or PsA, do people fuse with PsA aswell as AS


Since I have GI inflammation but not full blown crohn's, psoriasis but not very severe, enthesitis along with bone spurs in my neck and SI joint inflammation but no evidence of fusing:

my rheumy and I have settled on just calling it "spondyloarthropathy".

in the U.S. with my BCBS insurance, we can call it just that and get the humira, so that's what we decided to do.

In my family, fusing doesn't seem to be a part of the illness.

my aunt has a spondyloarthropathy as well, hasn't fused yet, and she's 15 years older than me. she's been dx'ed with psoriatic arthritis, but it could be mixed like mine, but by the time she got a dx (50 years after her symptoms started, age 65), her psoriasis was finally noticeable enough to get a dx. But by then, she needed a walker to get around, so clearly her joints were even worse. But a biologic is helping her as well. Her insurance made her start with remicade, but that didn't help her. She's now on Cimzia now I think (I know its one of the newer ones). She and her doctor had wanted her to start with humira, but her insurance wouldn't allow it; that's too bad, as it worked so well for me, and with us being related, it probably would have worked well for her too. Anyway, finally she's seeing some relief.

As for fusing, I'd look at family history to see if you think you'd fuse. Too, the inflammation itself is bad enough both in symptoms, disfunction, and disability and in overall health. Inflammation is so bad for us overall: heart disease, artery disease, etc.


sue

Spondyloarthropathy, HLAB27 negative
Humira (still methylprednisone for flares, just not as often. Aleve if needed, rarely.)
LDN/zanaflex/flector patches over SI/ice
vits C, D. probiotics. hyaluronic acid. CoQ, Mg, Ca, K.
chiro
walk, bike
no dairy (casein sensitivity), limited eggs, limited yeast (bread)