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

  • Changing to SkyriZi but still have tooth infection from double dose of cosextyx
    by Kmwestmo on December 3, 2023

    I got a new rheumy after 2 years of using a teledoc. There were no rheumatologists who actually saw patients and accepted my insurance for that period of time. I finally got to see a new doctor and he gave me a short physical exam, didn’t check all my joints. He ordered blood work but said there was no rush. I have been on 150 mg shot of Cosentyx for for about 2 1/2 years. I still had psoriasis […]

  • Sausage toes
    by Rebel_mom on November 26, 2023

    What do people use in their shoes to help with sausage toes? 13 posts – 7 participants Read full topic

  • Anyone here on skyrizi? i
    by Rebel_mom on November 16, 2023

    anyone here on skyrizi? 4 posts – 2 participants Read full topic

  • Just changed to Humaria
    by Rebel_mom on October 12, 2023

    Hello,… I have just been switched to my second biologic after 12 years of being on Enbrel. Well I am going on six weeks on this new one and I feel worse than I did at the end of Enbrel. Very sore, tight, slight pain and many joints are angry. How ling should I wait to see if this working. I feel something else is going on? How long has people been on a new biologic before they call the […]

  • Holidays
    by darinfan on October 1, 2023

    I don’t do holidays. We never could afford them when I was a kid, and so you don’t miss what you haven’t had. But I’m 50 next year (fingers crossed!), and I’ve decided to mark the occasion. I’m having a “party” (on my own terms) at the time of my birthday. I normally do parties as often as I do holidays! But I’ve hired a hall and some caterers for afternoon tea. And a jazz […]