u/kitmulticolor

I have suspected psa, because I have dactylitis in my 2nd toe (confirmed with mri, I have autoimmune arthritis in the pip and dip joint, bone marrow edema, and tendon inflammation throughout that toe…and more mildly in the 3rd toe too), and also enthesitis in my elbows and Achilles. They’re calling it seronegative autoimmune arthritis for now, and just have me on hydroxycloroquine.

I already have another autoimmune disease, sjogren’s disease, that doesn’t cause these symptoms. I don’t have psoriasis, so they aren’t officially diagnosing me and also won’t put me on strong meds.

Ever since the autoimmune issues started in my toes, I have nail fold irritation. The nail folds will get pink and swollen for seemingly no reason. Is this common? I don’t even know what to do about it. The nail fold irritation is effecting my 2nd and 3rd toe, but now has moved over to my big toe (all on the same foot). Already saw a podiatrist, and he said I just have curved nails that are digging into the skin and I may need an operation on these nails. But…this never happened before the other autoimmune issues with my toes, so obviously there’s some kind of inflammatory process changing the nail shape or causing my body to overreact to nail fold irritation.

I’m seeing the rheumatologist NP next week and I just know she’s not going to be any help on this and will just scratch her head.

I have multiple autoimmune problems (autoimmune connective tissue diseases often come in threes so this isn’t that uncommon for what I have). I have Sjogren’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and some lupus symptoms (but no formal diagnosis of this yet). I lost a top first molar due to an autoimmune issue…the tooth had no decay in it, but my body decided to attack it and suck all the minerals out. So they recommended I have the tooth extracted, and I had bone graft put in the socket right away in anticipation of getting an implant. It seemed like I didn’t heal perfectly from the bone graft, my body rejected some of the material and I had to go back in and have it picked out of the gums (or maybe that is common…they made it seem like it was weird, but maybe it’s not?). I also was more fatigued than usual for several months after having the extraction and bone graft…it was scary, I thought I’d developed me/cfs or something, and I have never gotten back to my full energy baseline. I can’t blame this all on the bone graft itself though, because it’s likely it was just a stressor/trigger. ChatGPT told me (I know, I know) that I possibly had an inflammatory reaction to the bone graft, which is not that surprising seeing as my body is extra.

Because the bone graft seemed to not go well, and the systemic reaction of increased fatigue after getting it, I procrastinated on getting an implant. Now, it’s been 6 years and I miss not having that tooth…it’s a major chewing tooth. I think my bone graft has worn away enough that I need a sinus lift if I want to get an implant. I’m nervous after what happened last time, but I’m also nervous about never having a tooth in that spot. My dentist pushes for the implant, of course, but I also think he doesn’t understand how bad my health is.