Welcome Members!

Welcome to Living with Psoriatic Arthritis Patient Support Community!

Our mission at Ben’s Friends is to ensure that patients living with rare diseases or chronic illnesses, as well as their caregivers, family, and friends, have a safe and supportive place to connect with others like them.

This is an online support group for patients, friends and families affected by Psoriatic Arthritis.

LivingWithPsoriaticArthritis.org is powered by BensFriends.org patient support communities for rare diseases, and is run by volunteer moderators who have been affected with Psoriatic Arthritis and is free for members to join.  If your family has been affected by Psoriatic Arthritis, consider Living With Psoriatic Arthritis. your second home. 

Psoriatic Arthritis (PsA) is a type of inflammatory arthritis which affects people who suffer from the chronic skin condition, psoriasis. Common symptoms of psoriatic arthritis include pain, swelling, or stiffness in one or more joints that are red or warm to the touch.

Persons with psoriatic arthritis also experience pain in and around the feet and ankles, especially tendonitis in the Achilles tendon or Plantar fasciitis in the sole of the foot and in the area of the Sacrum (the lower back, above the tailbone). Changes to the nails, such as pitting or separation from the nail bed also occurs.

LivingWith Psoriatic Arthritis .org is a virtual peer-to-peer community intended to be a safe place for patients and family members as young as age 12, to visit for information, discussion, venting and mutual support. Members come from many backgrounds. Some have a strong religious faith, and others no faith; some are children and others adults, rich and poor, graduate educated or taught by life. Our common denominators are that we share a life journey, and we try to help each other.

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How is Ben’s Friends Different from Social Media and Other Support Sites?

Our mission at Ben’s Friends is to ensure that patients living with rare diseases or chronic illnesses, as well as their caregivers, family, and friends, have a safe and supportive place to connect with others like them.

We’re interested in you as a person, and in your struggles as a rare disease patient.  But we don’t want to know your name or where you live. We won’t even allow you to use your real name when you register for one of our communities. Because when it comes to medical things, anonymity is important in our googly universe.  Your information is never shared, and your activity never tracked by adware.

When Ben’s Friends asks for the country and region you live in, that’s in case your fellow members can recommend local resources and help, and so everyone knows what kind of medical system there is where you live.  That’s important when it comes to giving and getting support. Because we are all about support, and we’re all in this together.. 

Ben’s Friends: Safe and Supportive. 
And anonymous to keep it that way.

Why create an account?

Posts on the different Ben’s Friends communities can be read by anyone on the internet. You can browse through the different topics and find most of the information you’re looking for but there are many things you won’t be able to do unless you create an account. These include:

Making your own posts. Although you’re able to find useful information just by reading other members’ posts, you might still have a lot of questions in your mind. Either you want to start a new topic to talk about them in detail or you want to reply to a comment on a thread. These won’t be possible unless you create a new user account.

Viewing other members’ profiles. Member profiles include information about the country or region they are from, whether they are a patient or a caregiver, and details about their disease and treatments. Maybe you came across an interesting post and you want to learn more about the member. Or maybe you’re looking for members who are from the same country as you. Having a user account allows you to see other member profiles and find information that may be relevant.  

Sending private messages. Aside from being able to post publicly and commenting on a thread, having a user account also allows you to send private messages both to other members and moderators. In case you want to discuss a topic only with a specific person, this is possible by sending private messages when you have created your account.

Click here to create an account and join.

Latest Discussions

  • Sacroilitis
    by Kelcull on March 15, 2024

    Well guys, I have the worst pain ever. Sacroilitis is excruciating. Also, my entire spine is a mess. Arthritis everywhere.Herniated discs. Degenerative disc disease The list goes on. My question is, does anyone else get Sacroilitis? Am I in a big 2 week flare or what? My Rheumatologist doesn’t think so.I hired a new one. I have to wait until april to see her. I have an appointment next week […]

  • A Little More Whining About that Ankle…Questions for the Group
    by Northernelf on March 14, 2024

    So passing the two month mark on that ankle – had an xray, no fractures (thought it could be a stress fracture). No event caused the ankle pain. So – left ankle very painful and now my right knee is pretty upset, guess I’ve probably been walking funny. Now I’m really walking funny. Kind of feel like I’m falling apart – also a couple of cracked teeth getting fixed and the usual aches & […]

  • Mtx wearing off
    by Rebel_mom on March 2, 2024

    my rhuemy started me on mtx to help with the skyrizi. i take the mtx on a sunday but it seems by saturday the joints and body are telling me that the medicine has worn off. would an increases help one or is it normal for this medicine? 7 posts – 5 participants Read full topic

  • Ankle Pain continued…still grumbling
    by Northernelf on February 25, 2024

    It’s been a month & a half now, we’re back home and the pain is still there, still limping here & there. Thursday I had an xray but really no reason to suspect a fracture unless it’s a stress fracture. It helps to walk on my heel but even then too much and I’m in a lot of pain and limping around. Anyone ever hear of peroneal tendinopathy ? From what I’ve been reading (yeah, self […]

  • Muscle Pain – All Over – What are you doing for it?
    by tamac on February 22, 2024

    For those of you who suffer with large muscle pain, like all the muscles in your back, or all of your legs and arm muscles hurting-what have your doctors told you is the cause? Inflammation or what? I am not talking about a muscle ache, I’m talking when you stand you want to scream. Or your legs will hardly hold you up. Or it hurts so much when you move that you don’t get out of bed unless […]