Surgery and Psoriatic Arthritis

Does anyone know how this surgery would effect Psoriatic Arthritis? My daughter is only 25 with this condition. Meds do very little to help.

The extra weight she is carrying isn't helping. I know it's not a cure. I was hoping to find somebody here with the same condition who has had weight loss surgery. I would love your input.

Thanks,

Mary

I have it and it has not been affected for good or worse since my WLS.

Really? You haven't felt any better from dropping weight? I don't know what to even say to her. I really thought taking the pressure off her skelital frame would help. If you don't mind me asking, how much have you lost. I myself have had the sleeve but I don't have this awful type of arthritis either. It helped my arthritis, I still have pain but not to the extent it use to be. Thanks for your input

not really. The psoriasis is on. My hands,knees and elbows. I still have pain in my knees just as I did before. It is,of course,hard to say how much worse it might have been if I hadn't lost 118#. 

The psoriasis on my hands is on the top of all the joints of my fingers where the arthritis is in the joints on the inside. The most trouble I have had with it is the terrible psoriasis rash on my hands was very painful.  I had Enbrel therapy which made a significant difference and I believe eating a mostly grain free diet has helped also. 

I guess how much help she gets for this by losing weight depends on where the psoriatic arthritis is located on her body.

If she is taking NSAIDS - she needs to be looking at either the VST (sleeve) or DS (duodenal switch). 

The RNY (gastric bypass) does not allow NSAIDS at all and they can cause significant damage.

I have Psoriasis AND Psoriatic Arthritis. I had surgery in February of this year.

Because of my need for NSAIDs, my surgeon and I determined that VSG (the sleeve) was really the best option for me. I continue to take NSAIDs, and now I've added a PPI to protect my sleeve. So far, so good.

My psoriasis hasn't flared up much since the surgery. But I also attribute that to the weather. I find it's not as severe in warmer months as it is in colder months. I'll be able to judge better how this is in the winter that will soon be upon us.

As for the arthritis, I've found that I've been able to cut my dosage of medication in half. Mind you, I'm not taking methotrexate or any other more significant medications; I'm only taking the diclofenac. I was prescribed 150 mg per day (75 mg x 2... one in the morning, one at night) but my rheumatologist is really happy to learn that 75 mg is now good enough to handle my arthritis. This will be monitored of course, but I too am thrilled with it.

And now that a lot of my extra weight is gone, I'm able to exercise much more than I could previously. I've actually been able to take up running; this is coming from a woman who spent 4+ months in a cast because my arthritis manifested as a severe heel pain... they actually had thought I'd torn my Achilles! Nope... it was just the arthritis.

My rheumatologist also said that the half dose of medication may be delivered more effectively through my system now that my weight is gone. He said studies have shown that the hormones contained in fat cells may hinder the effective delivery of medication and thus higher doses are needed. With that fat and those hormones no longer in the picture, my medications are simply doing a better, more effective job of controlling my symptoms. That's a good thing, in my view.

It all depends. Everyone's results will be different. But I was prepared to have my arthritis and my psoriasis remain exactly as they had been. I'm pleasantly surprised to find that both conditions seem to have improved, although I am realistic and I know that it could simply be a fluke. And I do know that both conditions will never be cured. These will stay with me forever.

In my view, weight loss surgery may not necessarily help your daughter... but it certainly couldn't hurt her. And you never know, you may be pleasantly surprised as well.

I am fortunate in that I do not have psoriatic arthritis (yet!) but my father does.  He didn't have weight loss surgery but he did lose a significant amount of weight on his own.  The weight loss did not affect his arthritis or psorasis at all in and of itself.  What it did do was make him better able to be physically active and that has helped a bit with the arthritis. 

I do have some spots of psorasis on my legs.  I am able to get away with only using a strong steroid lotion to treat it.  Losing some weight and the associated occasional build up of fluid in my legs seems to have helped reduce my flare ups.  

As previous posters have mentioned, it's really all an individual thing.  She may find relief from the loss of the extra weight on her body.  She may not.  Of course, losing weight will be a good thing even if it doesn't change the psoriatic arthritis.

I hope her struggles with PA get easier very soon.  I will keep her in my thoughts.