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The Heartbreak of Psoriatic Arthritis

No, there are not just a couple of garden variety types of arthritis out there. In fact currently, there over well over one hundred different kinds of arthritis. Shocking isn't it? Over 100 different types of arthritis make it one very aggressive disease that invades the lives of millions.

Psoriatic arthritis is definitely one of the lesser known types of arthritis. But it is a serious form of arthritis nonetheless. Oh, if it only got the "glamor girl" attention that rheumatoid arthritis or osteoarthritis does! Come on people, give psoriatic arthritis its due! Pay attention here!

As its name indicates, psoriatic arthritis is associated with psoriasis, the common skin condition characterized by inflammation of the skin, scaling, and red raised patches of skin. It is estimated that psoriasis affects approximately 2 per cent of the Caucasian population in the United States, although it can occur in people from all backgrounds.

The skin condition psoriasis most often affects the scalp, face, navel, tips of the elbows, knees, and areas surrounding the genitals and anus. Health professionals estimate that 10 per cent of all psoriasis patients concurrently develop some form of inflammation in the affected joints. These patients are thus classified as suffering from psoriatic arthritis.

So there you go. Seems to go hand in hand. Having psoriasis, the skin condition, is a major risk factor for the development of psoriatic arthritis. This is particularly true if your psoriasis has begun to affect the joint. Not typically a young persons' disease, psoriatic arthritis most often impacts most patients later in life, most often when people are in their forties and fifties. Men and women seem to be equally attacked by this condition. There doesn't seem to be an increased incidence of occurrence between one sex or the other. In this case, men and women are equal!

The majority of those who battle psoriatic arthritis actually battle psoriasis first. Yes, many patients experience the onset of psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis at different times. So it should be a warning sign that if you see psoriasis that you should also be on the look out for the signs and symptoms of psoriatic arthritis.

However, some patients develop arthritis before the onset of psoriasis. Roughly 15 per cent of psoriatic arthritis patients report the presence of arthritic symptoms before developing psoriasis. In fact, many patients report living with psoriasis for many years before developing any signs of arthritis.

Psoriatic arthritis is a systematic disease just like other forms of arthritis. With any systemic disease, other areas of the body can be attacked as well. So this simply means that you best be on the look out for problems with other body parts. For example, psoriatic arthritis patients can also be at risk for other problems with the kidneys and lungs. Patients may also experience problems with the heart, the eyes and the mouth. Systemic ... affecting other areas as well. The whole body is at risk.

Unfortunately, when psoriatic arthritis is severe, other terribly important organs can also be attacked. Just like with other varieties of arthritis, psoriatic arthritis can also attack the spine with an inflammatory reaction. This is really true of spondylitis arthritis and reactive arthritis. Again, this is such an important thing to remember so that you are well aware of the potential of inflammatory spinal involvement if you indeed are battling psoriatic arthritis.

So, here's the million dollar question. Just what causes psoriatic arthritis? Want the million dollar answer? Ok, here it is, we don't really know the cause of psoriatic arthritis. While there are many scholarly theories out there that attempt to explain the basis of psoriatic arthritis, the precise cause remains a mystery. Current research seems to point to many factors which can contribute to the development of psoriatic arthritis. One such factor is environmental, another is a flaky immune system and finally a genetic marker, known as HLA-B27. This particular genetic marker is found in many psoriatic arthritis patients, but it is not always the case and so don't count on it.

With psoriatic arthritis, not only does the genetic marker HLA-B27 often show up with these patients, there are also other genetic alterations that may appear. Of course, this just continues to feed into the researchers belief that this variety of arthritis is based in the genes. Another one of the common denominators in the case of psoriatic arthritis is the changes that are seen in the immune system. While we don't know the exact basis of this, those changes are often seen. Also, remember that simple environmental factors may also be a key component behind the reason why people develop this health condition.

Psoriatic arthritis is a battle that many face each and every day. It really does not matter the reason why you developed this version of arthritis in the first place, what does matter is that you are ready to work cooperatively with your doctor in order to build a treatment plan that you can work with and one that is designed to give you the best level of health that you can enjoy. Psoriatic arthritis does not have to be a harness around your neck, but it certainly will become one if you are passive about it. Get to it and educate yourself about your own health condition.

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