Psoriatic Arthritis: A Patient’s Perspective

IT BEGAN AS a twinge in her left knee. A 10-year-old softball player, Julie Cerrone underwent painful knee surgery after being diagnosed with a torn meniscus. Seventeen years later, after enduring multiple surgeries and misdiagnoses, she learned the injury she sustained at age 10 was caused by the underlying inflammation associated with psoriatic arthritis.

Psoriatic arthritis is a chronic inflammatory autoimmune condition that causes joint pain, stiffness and swelling. Because the symptoms aren’t always obvious, it is commonly misdiagnosed, as Cerrone learned the hard way. She recalls spending much of her childhood enduring physical therapy or using a brace or crutches for mobility as doctors attempted to figure out what was wrong with her.

A Painful Road to Diagnosis

Although ill for much of her life, Cerrone’s symptoms disappeared for a few years after high school but returned with a vengeance after college. As a young information technology consultant, Cerrone struggled to cope with a challenging career and a chronic illness. “It was a very strenuous job,” she says. “I would fly out on business Monday and not come home until Friday.” As the stress mounted, Cerrone started feeling worn down, and the pain down her leg returned. “If I moved even a little, the pain would be agonizing.”

The next three years were filled with confusion and misdiagnoses — from sciatica to a thickening of her synovial tissue, the latter of which led to two back-to-back knee surgeries in 2012. Then, in December of that year, things came to a head. “My leg swelled up so much I couldn’t even put pants on,” she says. Frustrated, Cerrone referenced a health diary her mother had used to record her symptoms and injuries from the time she was an infant. Seeing a pattern, she brought the information to her rheumatologist, who ultimately diagnosed her with a severe case of psoriatic arthritis, along with complex regional pain syndrome and avascular necrosis in her femur bone.

Looking back, Cerrone believes her early experience with physicians and the resulting frustration ultimately helped her to become her own healthcare advocate. “So much pressure is put on doctors to tell us everything we need to do to get better. But if you learn as much as you can about psoriatic arthritis on your own and are vigilant about your symptoms, you can go a long way toward helping yourself,” she says. “I feel as though I get more concrete answers from my doctors now because I’ve become more knowledgeable and am more prepared to ask the right questions.”

From Health-Challenged to Health Coach

Once she received her diagnosis, Cerrone’s doctors put her on methotrexate and Humira (adalimumab), a TNF inhibitor. While she says both medications helped, she also credits other components of her treatment plan for her symptom relief, including eliminating gluten and red meat from her diet and alternative treatments such as yoga and water therapy. “I actually spent a year tracking every single one of my symptoms,” Cerrone says. “I recently presented all my tracking methods, from food, relationships and activity levels, to sleep patterns, moods and emotions, at Stanford Medicine X. I was able to identify my specific triggers, which led me to my ultimate treatment plan.”

Despite her arduous journey to diagnosis and the many setbacks along the way, getting the right diagnosis and treatment plan has allowed Cerrone to become an expert in managing psoriatic arthritis. A born optimist, she now refers to her condition as a blessing in disguise: “It gave me a chance to start a career helping others.”

Today, Cerrone makes her living as a certified holistic health coach, yoga instructor and WEGO Health patient influencer and network director. She has been blogging about living with psoriatic arthritis for several years, developing a loyal following. “Whether it’s through health coaching, through my blog, through a yoga class or working with the amazing patient influencers at WEGO Health,” Cerrone says, “I’m always striving to help patients realize they still can live their best life despite any diagnosis.”