Arthritis diary A problem shared Understanding what someone else is going through is important when Whelping them live with arthritis, says BBC presenter Julian Worricker When I developed the skin condition psoriasis in my mid-teens, I recall the conversations as if they took place yesterday. “We wondered if that would happen,” various members of my family said, “because your father developed it at around the same age.” And so he had. I can remember those summer days when arms and knees were exposed to the elements, and I would notice those pink, scaly patches of skin that are so familiar to those of us living with the condition. It was no great surprise to him when he first developed it, because his mother had it as well. This concept of a particular condition ‘running in the family’ has always stayed with me. There was something quite comforting about the family connection. No teenager wants to deal with anything, especially anything visible, that makes him stand out from the crowd – and that was certainly true in my case. But having a dad who was clearly untroubled by the condition, and who could talk to me from a position of knowledge and experience, made a huge difference. I’m not suggesting that barely a day went by without us comparing another new ointment, but it was nice to know he was there and that he understood. Turn the clock forward 20 years, and there I was developing unexplained ‘aches and pains’, which were eventually diagnosed as psoriatic arthritis. The connection to my – always mild – inherited skin condition was made clear to me from the start, as was the one in five chance that psoriasis can lead to psoriatic arthritis. Family conversations then took a different, though always good-humoured, turn. “At least you didn’t inherit that from your father,” my mother would say. And now there’s another family connection. My mother, recently turned 90, has lived with mild arthritis for a number of years. Like me, she gets it in her hands and wrists. Some days, she’s barely aware of it – it’s no more than a nuisance – but, of late, it’s been quite debilitating. I was staying overnight a few weeks ago, and she got up for breakfast in severe pain. Her hands and wrists had swollen significantly, and she was struggling to do all those mundane morning activities that most of us take for granted. Thankfully, as the day progressed, she improved, and there’s been no repeat since. But she did say to me across the breakfast table that she was pleased I was there, because I knew what it felt like. I’ve not always received top marks for either sympathy or empathy over the years, but I’m glad the family connection paid dividends on this particular occasion. Julian Worricker has psoriatic arthritis. He is a TV and radio presenter and journalist, and currently presents the BBC News channel’s rolling news and the BBC World Service’s Weekend