Don’t Turn Your Back On Me

I remember years ago when I was forced to take gym in school and how I felt having to change my clothes in front of other people. I remember it being equally embarrassing because I would never turn my back to anyone. My back was totally covered, not a clear spot. I remember this one person saying, “You ate up with that mess”. Well, this started a whole new trend of not letting people see my back.

This statement has always come across as negative; don’t turn your back on me, but I had to find a way to make it positive for me. It’s a body gesture to make a statement that I’m not interested, or leave me alone or just get away from me. My back was always highly covered with plaque psoriasis and it was always difficult to reach my back to scratch it when it began to drive me crazy.

I would always turn my back and get family members to put cream on my psoriasis.

From back itching to back pain

Now that I have psoriatic arthritis as well, I find myself still turning my back. The low back problems I experience are often painful due to the inflammation in my joints. Some mornings it’s a real task to turn my back. It bothers me on both sides, the left and right. I just want to turn my back and be pain-free. Unfortunately, sometimes it doesn’t work that way.

My medications give me relief with the injections that I take. It lets me turn my back with my disease. Psoriasis on the back is almost something that can make a person lose it; you have a hard time trying to lay on your back and you feel so miserable.

This disease is very serious and a lot of people have become crippled and have to wear back braces due to this. One of the things I recall my doctor telling me is that it is crucial to take all medications because psoriatic arthritis can progressively make my back worse.

Back to ...some relief

Have you tried washing your back when you are covered 90% covered and in a lot of pain? It’s horrible and a very difficult task. You have to be able to raise your arm up to reach behind your back. I mention this because it’s not easy to do what may be very simplistic to someone else. My back had turned on me.

I’m thankful for my back scratcher and my back brush. They give me the flexibility to reach those areas whereas I would find impossible. They have been a lifesaver for me and helping me in the most helpless times.

Our back is just like other body parts that are very important to our health. There is a limit to what we can do with a debilitating back. When you have plaque psoriasis covering your entire back and the pain from psoriatic arthritis, it’s only short of a miracle that you can do anything. I will appreciate my back and all its functions it allows me to do in my day to day activity. I continue to treat my back with excellent care and I’m not turning my back on psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis.