Many of you have already figured out that I have psoriasis. I don’t have it as bad as some people, but I do still have it and have to deal with it on a daily basis. It’s a very uncomfortable disease and something that is hard to deal with. It’s a nasty little thing that likes to rear it’s head every now and again. So for those of us that have it (and those of you that don’t, but are interested in learning more), here are a few of the things we deal with most often.
1.) Cold Weather
You might as well just put lotion into your blood stream. Your whole body is dry–even in the spots that don’t have visual signs of psoriasis. You can predict weather better than a weather man–once you start a itching, the weather is gonna get cold!
2.) Other diseases
Well. There happens to be a few other diseases/fungi that look exactly like psoriasis. (Ringworm is the first one that comes to mind.) Unfortunately, people jump to conclusions and believe that we are walking fungi and have no idea what is on our bodies. Believe it or not, if we had a contagious disease/fungi we would probably cover it up to make sure no one else gets it. (Sometimes when people ask me, I rub my elbow on them and say, “OMGOSH you’re gonna have this now toooooooo!” suckers. haha) Just so it’s clear, psoriasis is NOT contagious. It’s a genetically transmitted condition.
3.) Not as gross as it seems
Psoriasis is actually just an over active immune system. Our skin just builds more skin cells than we need. That’s IT. We seem to get embarrassed about it, but it’s really nothing.
4.) Lotion
We know more about lotion, what it does to help, what you would need for a dry skin condition, and any other skin irritation that we should probably be dermatologists. (Not really, but we think we can.) We use of a lot of lotion to keep our skin less ‘flaky’ and irritated. It’s a lot of upkeep, but we manage.
5.) Steroids and Sunlight are our friends
No we don’t inject steroids and get all jacked up. We use lotions and creams that have a small amount of steroids in them to help calm the irritation and actually make the psoriasis spots less visible. Guess what also helps with that? Sunlight. If you ever see me out tanning, don’t EVEN give me a lecture about tanning, because I will give you a lecture about psoriasis. (Just a note, we DO NOT tan every day or for long periods of time. Small amounts of tanning are all we need to help.)
6.) Stress
Stress is awful for us. Not only does it cause high blood pressure in people, but people with psoriasis break out. Like zits, but only in psoriasis patches. We have to learn to control our stress otherwise it gets out of hand. (NOT easy while planning our wedding. haha)
Have any questions? Does this all seem odd to you? It’s a part of our lives so it’s ‘normal’ for us. Want to learn more about psoriasis? Follow along with me, I’ll help you learn!
To all my other psoriasis sufferers, let the itching begin. Winters right around the corner. 🙂 Just kidding, keep your head high and don’t be afraid to stand up for yourself when someone ask a question or makes a rude comment.
–Kellie
