tejoyo wrote and asked:

If they are what I'm thinking, I've had them 20-25 years.
First diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis in 1976-77,
then with RA in the mid-90's.  No PA present.

... Conclusion is the place where somebody got tired of thinking.

Vertical, from the base of the nail (the moon) out to the top?  Those
are generally associated with stress.  Anyone who is ill, in any form,
is under stress.

There is also a nutrient definciency, but can't seem to recall at the
moment what nutrient, that can cause this.

I've had ridges for as long as I can remember (since at least 18 years
old).

Smokie Darling (Annie) - RA, OA, Fibro, Bursitis (etc.).

Thanks for the responses. I feel like in a way I'm doing altogether too
much navel gazing but then when I have flashbacks to my thyroid
disorder and the myriad symptoms which I complained about for years and
were dismissed, well, I go back to slogging thru medline articles and
pestering this group. I have learned that doctors need help diagnosing
everything except high cholesterol. Did I mention that the ortho showed
me my bloodwork results in which it said "giant platelets" and said he
was "concerned" but didn't know what it meant (didn't he keep any a
them big books from medical school??) so I should ask the
rheumatologist. I saw the endo before the RD so I asked him, he said he
didn't know (his office is crammed with books also but apparently none
that mention platelets) and I should ask the rheumy. So when I finally
got the the VIP RD I brought him a copy of my labs and told him what
the other docs had said and asked him what it meant and damned if he
said he didn't know. God help us.

I have them and was told they are a symptom of aging.
grumble, grumble
Try this link
http://www.walgrens.com/library/healthtips/april04/fingernailsa.jhtml
Duckie

with PA it is horizontal ridges that develop, kinda like speed bumps on your
nails.  But even then it is not considered indicative of PA unless you have
other psoriatic symptoms.  And they generally look for at least pitting in
the nails (lots of very small pits in clusters) as evidence of psoriatic nail
changes, well that and other even less desirable nail changes.

The vertical ridges can be a sign of stress, also a sign of dryness.  Since
I've been up north, they always appear in the winter when everything is
getting dry.   You can even buy files designed to smooth and buff the ridges
if they bother you.  I finally did so when a couple of my nails got really
bad last winter and were splitting along the ridges.  It helped.  bought
something for $1 at a drugstore and just kept it by the computer to work on
my nails bit by bit while my dial-up access was slowly getting around to
doing something.

i have neither RA nor PA.  i have oa and i've had vertical ridges since my
late twenties/early thirties.  i just buff them out.

had a p.e. teacher once, in junior high school, whose vertical nail ridges
were so pronounced that if you looked at the edges of her nails, there was
no smoothness to the underside of her nails.  looking at just the edge
(while not being able to see the rest of her nails), the tops and underside
of her's looked like this ^^^^^^.   i don't forget seeing something that
unusual.

kate