THE late playwright Dennis Potter famously suffered from psoriatic arthritis and wrote a successful TV play which brought the condition to public attention.
More than a decade after The Singing Detective, not much more is known about the causes of this potentially crippling disease, which affects both the skin and the joints.
There is probably a genetic link between the skin condition of psoriasis, and psoriatic arthritis, a serious inflammatory condition similar to rheumatoid arthritis.
Although it's not common, it is incurable and can be devastating for sufferers, requiring life-long treatment and medication.
The Arthritis Research Campaign has now brought out a revised version of its psoriatic arthritis booklet. With a foreword by Sir Michael Gambon, who played a psoriatic arthritis sufferer in The Singing Detective, the booklet explains symptoms of the condition, forms of treatment and self-help.
The booklet is available free from me.
BEVERLEY MOSS, Arthritis Research Campaign, St Mary's Gate, Chesterfield, Derbyshire, S41 7TD.
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