'Tis the season to be jolly & all that! So, any psoriasis success stories out there?
Closest I've come to feeling like I was in control and not the stupid disease was going for my regular swim regardless of really grotty skin. I'd like to say I strutted my stuff to that pool with head held high, but nope, I got in & out of the water as quickly as I possibly could. Still, I did it!
Perhaps you'd like to share anything that's made you feel particularly happy, proud or in control?
I've posted this somewhere else, but it certainly belongs in this thread. I went from daily 8 out of 10 pain to 1 out of 10 pain levels by "quitting the rat race". I dropped my perfectionist goals and decided to take life a lot easier. Some diagnoses: Osteoarthritis, PsA, psoriasis, sleep apnea, fibromyalgia, lupus, bipolar (just found it at age 59 due to hypomania), GAD, some OCD, herniated spinal discs, DDD, spinal stenosis and so forth, rosacea, etc.
I slowed my life way down, didn't rush around getting everything done, let the house have certain rooms be messy and certain rooms be the neat ones, etc. (This can be hard for us perfectionists to do). I let the income taxes be late because in the US nothing bad happens if the IRS owes you money. I can and do take 2 years to file if I need to. I take "sanity" breaks or "regain my peace" breaks. I just stop what I'm doing and go get a snack (healthy) and read something I want to for a few minutes. Or I stretch, which is needed for my aches and pains to not get worse. I'm looking out for MY health. I can sometimes even nap if needed. What a concept!!
I took this dropping out of the rat race very seriously for about a year before my body really got the message and I'd stop getting severe pain in a hip or knee or elsewhere. I have only needed one steroid injection and I'm not sure I needed that one. I've had no limps or other crises like that. I still can't stand for long without back pain, but that's a long story. After the 1 year point, I noticed I started handling an increased schedule of busy-ness. Many, many phone calls, a ton of paperwork and countless insurance and doctor's appointments and more keep me busy for many hours per day. Add caretaking for husband, 1 son, parents and additionally helping others and it's a lot. But my body is conditioned now to handle it the new, relaxed way. YES! Victory!
And I can usually tell if I get overloaded and recognize that I must take a break. I'm more likely to drop things and know which things to drop. I'm not afraid to cancel a Dr. app't. to protect my health if need be. There will ALWAYS be app'ts. but I must protect my health. I can always reschedule routine app'ts. I've gone from needing a 2 hour deep tissue neuromuscular massage which was painful to receive but helped me oh-so-much to get out of pain to a trial of a 1.5 hr. massage with little pain during the massage and after. I go longer between massages now, too. My therapist isn't putting me back together like she used to have to do, either. She'd get bones back in place, loosen unbelievably tight muscles that wouldn't allow me freedom to move my head, neck, back or arms and so forth. I've learned a lot on this journey, more than I can say here. You might, too, if you give it a try. If you believe in God, you know where most of my success came from.
I forgot to say that I recently noticed that my psoriasis seems to have disappeared. I don't miss it at all. Now I can go much longer between days that I have to wash my hair. (My psoriasis was mostly in my scalp in my hair.)
I had inverse psoriasis day in, day out, for a decade or more about 23 years ago. Not severe but unrelenting. The day that a difficult relationship came to an end once and for all, the psoriasis went and stayed gone for 20 years.
However this time around I think my much improved psoriasis is due to Methotrexate.
What is inverse psoriasis?
It's interesting how much difference a shift of attitude can make .... I think I've worked at chilling out too (which sounds like a contradiction) in order to handle the disease better. And the funny thing is I should have done it years ago.
I think what you're describing is incredibly important & it's not something that's discussed very often. I bet loads of us make some adjustments to the way we think, react or handle things .... change some patterns I suppose. And probably don't even register that we have half the time.
That could be very true. I wonder how many people have done that without realizing it. I was on such a hectic schedule that I had to make an obvious decision to change. But what if someone had a less obvious change in attitude or lifestyle? We or they might not realize they had accepted their disease and calmly proceeded on with life.
Inverse psoriasis is the type you get in moist areas, armpits in my case. The kind that tends not to cause plaques because of the moist skin. So I just had ruby red armpits for about 10 years which fortunately did not itch much. I believe it's difficult to treat because steroid creams may not be as effective as on legs & trunk etc. Diagnosis presented a challenge ... I hope that diagnosis of psoriasis has moved on & as far as I can tell it has. For example, one doctor (imagine her face screwed up in disgust) told me that the 'rash' was due to not shaving my armpits and that as we no longer lived in caves, I should do so. Wasn't interested in my protestations about how shaving made it so much worse.
Like you I had a hectic schedule before PsA put a stop to it. But the decision to leave teaching for good came later. Had I been enjoying it I think that would have offset the exhaustion and for some work is obviously very important for self-esteem and sense of fulfilment. Not to me though, I'd stopped enjoying it. Money's a major factor of course, not everyone can leave work or choose to do less hours.
Like you say, there are small adjustments, a sort of mental or emotional re-programming that can be worked at without a huge lifestyle change. I wonder how many of us can identify at least one way of looking at things or responding to stress that they have changed or would like to change in order to reduce stress and help with overall health?
Ohhh, your last question is so good, I hope you don't mind, I'd like to post it all on it's own. That's a little job I'm doing on this site and your words are perfect! I'll give you the credit for thinking of it, okay?
Lol! Feel free, but I'd rather have cake than credit! I do agree, the more we can bounce off each other the better.
Thank you,, postle. Imagine a luscious cake baked just today in your favorite flavor being delivered to your door right about now...I hear your doorbell ringing...that's the cake delivery for you! No tipping allowed. Now dig in and enjoy!
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