arthritis

Hello. I'm new to this site but unfortunately not to TMS. I've had back pain, SI joint pain, plantar fascitis, reflux, IBS, and joint pain to name a few.

Recently, I've been suffering from a bout of joint pain for the last month. I went to see my rheumatologist who ran lab work and xrays which showed inflammation and some changes to the xray with my hands which seem to hurt the most. Given that the bloodwork shows inflammation and my hand xray shows mild erosive changes, I was told by my rheumatologist that I have psoriatic arthritis even though I don't have psoriasis. She immediately wanted me to start injections of a biologic which have very bad side effects as they suppress your immune system. Now, my level of fear and anxiety is through the roof since I've been told I have an autoimmune disease. I'm an emotional wreck. But when you look at how my pain began it screams TMS.

I got the shingles in August which my family doctor told me was due to stress. Then, my father passed away a month later while I was still recovering from shingles and trying to lower my stress levels. Once the shingles started to resolve, I woke up with terrible joint pain in my feet, then my hands, and now on my elbows, shoulders, and knees. My feet and knee xrays were normal but I have intermittent pain there. I also have terrible fatigue. The pain also moves around from place to place and gets worse as I focus on that particular area. I've read that infections, such as shingles, can cause autoimmune diseases and I'm wondering if my labwork results reflect my body battling the shingles virus at that time. I'm getting a second opinion on my diagnosis. What I notice most is that the fear and anxiety and focus on the pain makes it a thousand times worse. My husband told me tonight that he feels strongly that it's not psoriatic arthritis but a bad case of TMS. He's so convinced that he wants me to see a TMS doctor in D.C. who is also a rheumatologist. I saw her a few years back when I also had joint pain and was convinced I had RA. Can anyone relate to this? Has anyone experienced joint pain or an autoimmune disease and was successful applying a TMS approach?

Thank you.

 

I am new to this site as well but not new to tms. I have had unexplained neck pain and severe tension for years. I also have had psoriasis for many years and six months ago developed psoriatic arthritis. It is the worst! I refuse to take the injections and other meds that "work" by shutting down your immune system. My understanding is that psoriatic arthritis can tear down your joints so I too am wondering if it is true TMS. I know it is auto immune related and like the other woman said...what can it hurt to treat it like tms? So in 6 months it has progressed from one toe to four toes and all the joints at the ball of my right foot, my right wrist, and right clavicle. It is the worst pain ever and now my neck pain has returned so I'm back into the TMS info. If you have an update I would love to hear it. I refuse to give up and take drugs so I'm glad I found this website.

 

Dear Saturngirl, you could ask for an appointment with a TMS doctor. This would give you the necessary informations and guidelines what is the best. I honestly don’t know if it is ok to treat psoriatic arthritis as TMS. I remember Dr. Schubiner saying that arthritis is not TMS, or at least not pure TMS.
I would check it out to be on the safe side ...
Hope123, with your history of TMS it is most likely again TMS this time. If you had a reactive arthritis it would show in the blood work. You had been through a lot! Start with being kind to yourself!