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In the world of diseases, psoriatic arthritis is a double-edged sword. On one end you have the inflammation, joint pain, stiffness, and swelling that comes courtesy of arthritis. On the other end are the hallmark red, itchy, scaly patches of skin that psoriasis brings (consider yourself doubly blessed). According to the National Psoriasis Foundation, psoriatic arthritis affects about one million people in the United States. Most people with the disease develop psoriasis first and arthritis later. And it doesn’t take much for one disease to turn into the other especially in the way of the psoriasis. “When I think someone has psoriatic arthritis, I ll go on a rash hunt, and a lot of times, the only thing I’ll find is a little patch of psoriasis behind the ears,” says Martin Bergman, M.D., chief of the division of rheumatology at Taylor Hospital in Ridley Park, PA and clinical professor of medicine at Drexel University College of Medicine.
Ankylosing Spondylitis. The disease you can’t pronounce and likely had never heard of until you or a loved one got diagnosed. It’s relatively rare, but for the 300,000 people in the U.S. (less than one percent of the adult population) who have it, it can be a real pain literally. The disease, which affects the joints primarily in the lower back, can cause pain, stiffness, and damage, and not because of wear and tear, but thanks to inflammation, says Martin Bergman, M.D., chief of the division of rheumatology at Taylor Hospital in Ridley Park, PA, and clinical professor of medicine at Drexel University College of Medicine. “One of the hallmark symptoms we look for is back pain that’s worse in the morning and gets better throughout the day; another is back pain that awakens you at night.”