Anxiety and Psoriatic arthritis

[Froggy]

Hi everybody !
First of all, I'd like to apologize if my English is not accurate, I'm French so I may make a lot of grammar/spelling mistakes.

I'm a 27 year old man and I've been suffering from panic attacks for 4 months now. I must say that thanks to breathing exercises, I'm not afraid anymore of having those kind of attacks. But, in the same time, I have also been suffering from anxiety (and particularly health anxiety). The symptoms are just hard to support some days. Depersonalisation is the most uncomfortable amongst them. When it is too hard to bear, I take anxiolytics to have a little rest. I'm wondering if I should not take antidepressants. I see a psychologist almost every week, and she does a great job, but anxiety remains and here is why.

I have been diaognised with psoriasis and Psoriatic arthritis ten years ago. The Anti-inflammatory that I used to take revealed not to work anymore; my hip hurts so muche sometimes that I can't even put my feet on the ground. I haven't been to work for more than a month and a half. I cannot go outside just to walk, because I'm limping and I am not able to do 10 meters without hurting. I'm just alone at home all day, with my thoughts and my anxiety. I'll start a new treatment soon and I hope this will improve my quality of life.

I noticed that my pain is higher when my anxiety raises. I try to relax and all of this, but it's hard. Going outside would help me a lot but I cannot walk so I feel like I'm in a vicious circle. I noticed that when I talk to people, my anxiety leaves me a little bit. Today, I have flu symptoms, my left ear is ringing and I feel i have a little bit of depersonalisation. My night panic attacks have appeared again those 3 last days.

My question is simple: are there people here that have psoriatic arthritis (or any other form of arthritis) with anxiety ? How do you cope with this situation ?

Another question: how to do to make my anxiety less important so that my arthritis doesn't worsen ?

Actually, I might not get any response, but I just wanted to share my story with you, maybe someone will recognize himself in this situation This is a very tough period of my life that I am experiencing. Sometimes, the anxiety is so high that I don't even feel the fear, but only the symptoms !

Thanks for reading !

[suzy-sue]

bumping post ..

[kibbutz83]

Hi Froggy, I seem to remember reading somewhere about an antidepressant which also helps alleviate certain kinds of pain. I can't remember what it's called though. Maybe you should ask your doctor if he/she knows about it? Or you could google it?
I do have very painful arthritis in my feet, and at times walking is almost impossible... I take an antidepressant called Venlafaxine which certainly does help with my heightened anxiety.. I think it's got to be worth giving the antidepressants a try

[Froggy]

Thank you suzy for bumping my thread

kibbutz: thank you for that piece of advice, I'll talk about that to my doctor and psychologist. I didn't know that this kind of medicine would exist.

So you have arthritis on your feet ? I know what you can feel except that my feet were never painful (hopefully). It's only my hips, my pelvis, my back and my neck. The most annoying is the hips, because you cannot walk at all. I recently saw my rheumatologist and I'll take a new treatment soon. Maybe I should talk about this antidepressant with him too.

[suzy-sue]

Hi FROGGY ,I have had Amitriptyline for pain in my feet ,its an older type of antidepressant but works for pain in low doses .Unfortunately it gave me Migrains so I had to stop it . It was very effective .I suffer with hip pain and have osteoarthritis in my spine hands and feet .I find being anxious makes the pain worse because it causes tension .Although I now dont very often get too bad anxiety wise .I find being stressed makes you tense too .Heat helps the muscles relax ,Relaxation/Meditation ,and distraction work for me ,anything to take your mind off things and stop concentrating on your symptoms . Im also currently taking 20mg of Citalopram a SSRI antidepressant .It helped me to get to where I am today I also take 1000MG OF omega fish oil each day and Rose hip extract .I helps with the mobility and joint pain .I only take strong painkillers when I have to ,and can still do most things ..I have to be careful not to overdo it tho ..Discuss these options with your Dr and anything you can do to relax your mind and body will help with the Anxiety and the Pain .You are so young to have this awful condition .I hope you manage to get some thing to help with your pain .When you have pain it can cause Anxiety and be very demoralizing if you let it .Dont let it beat you All the Best luv Sue x.

[Froggy]

Thank you Sue, you're so sweet ! You know, my disease started when I was 16, so I have almost live with the pain all my life, and I think that I have learnt to get used to the pain. Since I had my first panic attack 5 months ago, it has worsen, and I agree with you, anxiety has a real impact on the pain and on the ankylosis. I can feel how much you can hurt Sue...
You're right, the pain can lead to anxiety, and sometimes my mood is not very high... I wish I could go back to work, that would help me not to think too much and free my mind from those anxious thoughts lol
I learnt some relaxation techniques, and it works very well. Hypnosis and autohypnosis are very useful also ! I take magnesium because I was told it can help (and it does help ! I'm less anxious than I used to be).

I hope you'll get over your anxiety too Sue!

PS: thanks to wikipedia for helping me translate the medical terms into english !