LIVING WITH PSORIASIS: THE LONELY DISEASE (Part three)

PART THREE

Two years after I started exhibiting symptoms of psoriasis I graduated from high school, because of all the mental baggage I was logging around and essentially living a lie, I did not perform to my full potential in my exams. My graduating class planned a beach picnic so that the class could celebrate our new found freedom together before going our separate ways to face new life challenges, sad to say I was the odd man out, I did not attend, I had hid my skin condition from my classmates and almost everyone else for two years and I couldn’t let them find out when we were about to part and be scorned and pitied.

 I felt bad and was overcome with guilt that I was missing out on all these once in a lifetime events but it was the price I had to pay; I certainly didn’t want my classmates having a lasting memory of me being a scared scaly mess. Psoriasis was not a common disease in my community, back then the information super highway had not arrived in my neck of the woods, the internet was still novelty commodity to people where I am from so I couldn’t Google Psoriasis to try and unravel the mystery. I my world and psyche psoriasis was a taboo subject, my high school graduation that was supposed to be one of the happiest occasions of my life closed as a very sad chapter for me.  

 

After finishing high school, I decided that Psoriasis will not define my life; I told myself that I am too strong mentally to allow that to happen. I was determined to find my place in life and if it meant adopting my lifestyle to minimize the effects of psoriasis on my life then that I will do. I was unemployed and had a lot of time on my hands I decided that I will use some of my time to learn as much as I could about psoriasis. Where I am from a lot of faith is placed in the healing powers of herbs and bush medicine, after learning the harmful effects of prescription medication to treat psoriasis on the body and immune system in particular, I decided to use local plants to make “bush medicine” to try and rid myself of the disease. I had no medical or scientific knowledge as to the effectiveness to treat psoriasis or any other disease, or the potential damage the consumption of these plants may cause to my body and health, I was desperate and felt that I had to do something. I did not seek any medical advice from medical doctors or elders in my community who are more knowledgeable about such matters than I am, I went on gut feeling if I saw a plant and I had a good feeling about it I took it, boiled it in water and drank the water.

 Looking back now that was very unwise on my part, I did not see any improvement to my psoriatic skin and a few of the plants may have been harmful to me, I did experience some pain in certain areas of my body when I used a particular plant. I reverted to conventional medicine and sort to educate myself on the whole subject of Psoriasis; I wanted to know what caused major flare ups, how to control Psoriasis symptoms, alternative treatments, etc.

The problem that I had at the time was that my information stream was almost dry but I tried to get my hands on whatever literature I could, I had no access to the internet and I was ashamed to go to a library to do research. When I visited the dermatologist who was treating me I asked a lot of questions and for any literature he could give me about on Psoriasis.

When I was nineteen I realized that under the crusty flaky patches of dead skin were inflamed with puss, at that time I did not know of the pustular form of psoriasis, fortunately that form of psoriasis did not afflict my body for very long and it has not reappeared since.   With the experience and knowledge I gained from living with psoriasis and learning as much as I can about the disease I was able to control the flare ups and keep the percentage of my body surface that exhibited the symptoms to about twenty five percent.

Click here to learn more about how you can get rid of psoriasis.

End Part Three.

How Do You Cope With Being a Sufferer of Psoriasis after the Initial Shock of Being Diagnosed?

Being diagnosed with Psoriasis is a traumatic experience; it is never easy digesting bad news about your health especially when you learn that the health issue will be affecting you for the rest of your life. Naturally each individual will react differently to the initial diagnoses as everyone has a different perspective on life and different coping mechanisms based on their life experiences, background and other factors in their lives.

The worst thing you can do after being diagnosed with psoriasis is to build up your stress level and go into a state of depression, dermatologists and other health experts will tell you that psoriasis will break out into its worst forms when a sufferer is in any high stress state of mind.

The best approach to take after being diagnosed is to become familiar with your condition, do a lot of research on the subject, a lot of people are still not aware of the condition but it is far more common than you might think. Information on psoriasis is far more available and accessible than it was twenty years ago. If you do research online there are blogs, articles, forums, journal, search engines and other resources available where you can learn anything you are interested in learning about psoriasis.

Acceptance of your new challenge is very  important as your attitude is going to be very important in how you control your psoriasis. The more willing and motivated you are about learning about every aspect of psoriasis and how it affects you, the more successful you are going to become at controlling outbreaks and how soon your symptoms clear when you do have an outbreak. You should start your research by finding out what causes your psoriasis. Learn more about yourself, both your physical being and your psychological makeup that might trigger the onset of psoriasis in you. Outbreaks can be triggered by stress, genetics, allergies, certain food you eat, injuries, and environmental factors. You should discuss psoriasis with relatives (Especially your parents if they are around) to find out if there’s a history of psoriasis or other autoimmune diseases in your family.

Find out what form of psoriasis you have and research what are the best methods of treatment for you, there is no standard treatment for everyone because what works well for one person may cause another person’s psoriasis to get worse. Be meticulous in paying attention to your habits and routine, note what aggravate your condition and what makes it improve, avoid doing activities and using products that trigger your psoriasis. If you don’t take proper care of your body psoriasis symptoms will be a constant presence in your life, cut out harmful practices such as smoking and the heavy consumption of alcohol.

Avoid processed foods as much as possible, eat a diet predominantly of organically grown food, green leafy vegetables, nuts and whole grains, and eat fish (Especially oily fish) and other seafood as much as possible, eliminate red meat from your diet, use olive oil instead of oil containing saturated fats, rehydrate your body by drinking a lot of water, drink herbal tea, keep your body moisturized. If you are male and suffer from psoriasis of the scalp you should keep your hair cut low so you can treat you scalp effectively and keep your psoriasis under control.

Being diagnosed with psoriasis is something that each person who has been diagnosed must come to grips with, the sooner you get over the initial shock and start taking the necessary actions to learn everything about the disease and what make you vulnerable to the disease, and doing all the right things to care for your physical and emotional health to keep your psoriasis under control, the more successful you will be at coping with psoriasis.

Click here now to get instant access to information on how to rid yourself of Psoriasis symptoms http://bit.ly/1ktrz2v