Phil treated for arthritis

[Tiger Spuds]

Apparently he could barely move prior to the U.S. Open and was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis.He's getting weekly shots to control it.Not good news for a golfer.

Story here .

[BallStriker]

I have a very similar condition and it has taken its toll over the past 10 years -- but I am being treated every other week with an injection and I have been absolutely pain free for about 18 months -- it has given me a new lease on my golf game (playing the best of my life right now).

Phil has PLENTY of resources to control this thing.....he will be fine.

[Ben]

I have a very similar condition and it has taken its toll over the past 10 years -- but I am being treated every other week with an injection and I have been absolutely pain free for about 18 months -- it has given me a new lease on my golf game (playing the best of my life right now).

Wow, that's a gnarly story! Good to hear its treatable. I think I've developed something in the left thumb? It kinda hurts at times after a shot, but its bareable. I just play through it.

[Chilli Dipper]

Arthritis has derailed Jose Maria Olazabal's career several times. Let's hope that Phil can keep his condition under control.

[DavidFehertysBike]

This just shows Mickelsons poor character and its obvious he doesn't care about the fans because he didn't disclose this condition sooner....

[Chilli Dipper]

This just shows Mickelsons poor character and its obvious he doesn't care about the fans because he didn't disclose this condition sooner....

Oh, I get it! That's passive-aggressive Tiger apologism!

[DavidFehertysBike]

Oh, I get it! That's passive-aggressive Tiger apologism!

ummm, i guess. I just found it amusing that tiger got slammed for not disclosing injuries and the reactions to phil's thing has been a bunch of awww's and puppy dog eyes.

[elvis14]

I have a very similar condition and it has taken its toll over the past 10 years -- but I am being treated every other week with an injection and I have been absolutely pain free for about 18 months -- it has given me a new lease on my golf game (playing the best of my life right now).

Thanks for the first hand knowledge, BallStriker. I hope Phil can manage this both on and, more importantly, off the course.

[Tiger Spuds]

Tiger's the bad guy now, he's gonna get 'slammed' as you put it, for every little insignificant thing, that's just how it is.Somehow, Phil went up in a lot of people's estimation just because of the Tiger scandal.All of a sudden it was 'Oh look, what a good family man Phil is and he's always so cheerful and good with the fans'.It's typical of modern society to go to such extremes.What Tiger did was pretty bad, but the criticisms went too far, and likewise, Phil seems like a good guy, but he ain't Ghandi.I think the main problem people had with Tiger's 'injury' was that it seemed a lot like just an excuse to pull out of the Players, where he wasn't in contention or player particularly well.We haven't heard a thing about it since either.

[zeg]

I have a very similar condition and it has taken its toll over the past 10 years -- but I am being treated every other week with an injection and I have been absolutely pain free for about 18 months -- it has given me a new lease on my golf game (playing the best of my life right now).

I have just what Phil has---psoriatic arthritis. What are you using? I'm using Humira which is an every-other-week option for psoriatic or rheumatoid arthritis... as I recall there are a couple other things out there besides the weekly Embrel that Phil is reportedly using...

Wow, that's a gnarly story! Good to hear its treatable. I think I've developed something in the left thumb? It kinda hurts at times after a shot, but its bareable. I just play through it.

The psoriatic arthritis that Phil has tends to be accompanied by psoriasis (skin plaques, sort of like blotches of a thick rash). It's different from typical arthritis, and usually creates knee or back problems. It's basically the same immune response that creates the thickened, red skin acting up in the joints.

Thanks for the first hand knowledge, BallStriker. I hope Phil can manage this both on and, more importantly, off the course.

I hope so. The thing about psoriatic arthritis is that it can be sort of unpredictable and can come and go. In my case, it first showed up (along with my psoriasis) when I was about 21 and was moderately bad for about 6 months. It was knee pain that made it difficult to get up from a desk, go up stairs, etc, and athletic activity was not possible. In that case I could treat it with Ibuprofen (big horse pills of the stuff a few times a day). Then it spontaneously went away, although the psoriasis did not. Cut to about 10 years later and the arthritis came back, only now in knees and back, bad enough that sleeping was an excruciating exercise. Now it was bad enough that Ibuprofen was not really an option---that reduces the pain, but the inflammation can be bad enough to cause permanent joint damage, so something to really eliminate the problem was needed.

Fortunately in my case it has responded very well to the Humira, and there is no pain. However, this sort of arthritis can respond well to a drug for a while, then decide it's going to come back anyway. My psoriasis did this---it first went away almost completely, then a few months later slowly came back. Now it's fading again, but that may be the increased sun exposure in the summer. The arthritis hasn't been back, and I hope it doesn't, but you never know for sure. Hopefully Phil's will respond well to the Embrel he's taking. As for the silliness about not reporting, in my experience this stuff shows up as the sort of thing you don't report right away. You wake up stiff and your knees hurt for the day. At first it might just be a stiff day. After a few days you know something isn't right, but it feels like it's not bad enough to 'whine' about. Eventually you get fed up, and unless (like I did) you have a bad case of psoriasis, it may take a while to figure out what's going on. His explanation makes perfect sense to me. All he could have done until he started a successful treatment was say, "It hurts and it's making it hard to golf," and I think people would have jumped on that as excuse-making.

[Stretch]

Sorry to hear it. I have a (currently) mild case, too. You do wonder how it's going to progress...

[ohiolefty]

I feel bad about Phil's condition. I have a back issue that, most likely, will never go away.

Still can't stand Phil though.
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Wait, was that his drive that just landed in my fairway?!?!?! At least we know he couldn't have been aiming over here.

[mhbomber]

I'm pulling for Phil this weekend. Hopefully he has this condition under control and I look forward to seeing him at the #1 world spot.

[Chas]

Let's hope Phil responds well to treatment.

When I was doing doctoral research on psoriasis back in the day (ca. 3 decades ago, ahem ....), very few scientists - including myself - thought that the condition was primarily driven by the immune system. We mostly worked on other theories that eventually died the death. Fortunately for people like Phil we now know better.