Fibs I Told About My Psoriasis

How many times have you lied about your condition or how it really makes you feel? I use to lie about my condition and my feelings all the time. Check out these lies I told about my psoriasis.

It's just eczema

I've had psoriasis since I was 7 years old. As a child less than a decade old it's a pretty tough responsibility of telling those around you what is going on with your skin. At that age, I hardly understood exactly what psoriasis was and what it was doing to my body, so I lied. I grew tired of the "deer in the headlights" looks I would receive when I told inquisitive minds that I had psoriasis. 22 years ago psoriasis wasn't as known as it is today! I would tell people I had eczema or that it was similar to the disease. Most people knew what eczema was but had never heard of psoriasis and it was too much for me to explain at the time. I hate that I wasn't an advocate sooner and I think about all the people I missed out on to educate about the disease.

I'm cold

The worse part of the year for me was always the summertime because I refused to show my psoriasis covered skin. Therefore, I wore long pants and long sleeved shirts throughout the hot months. People would ask me all the time why was I wearing so many clothes as hot as it was outside. I would lie and say I was anemic therefore I was cold and chose to cover up. I was miserable. I chose not to do anything that required me to show my skin.

I have bad allergies

When people would inquire about my dry flaky and patchy skin sometimes I would lie and say my skin had a bad allergic reaction to some lotion I used, "My skin is sensitive, and everything causes it to break out..." Although in a sense it was a lie at times it wasn't too far from the truth. Some people do have psoriasis flares due to environment factors and allergies.

The spots you see are chicken pox scars

Before the early 90's the chicken pox virus was something as a child you were just expected to catch, it was really common. I was born in 1987, and psoriasis free for the most part, at that time a chicken pox vaccine was not available. Once the early 90's hit the vaccine became available but because it was so new at the time my grandmother opted me out of the immunizations due to fear of side effects. In the same year the vaccine came out I caught chicken pox. After the pox disappeared we noticed the scars they normally leave behind if you scratch were not disappearing and seem to have changed texture. After a few days, my grandmother took me to the doctor only to discover the spots on my body were psoriasis. I use to lie to my classmates and tell them the spots they saw were just chicken pox scars.

Swimming isn't my thing

When I was in middle school a friend asked me to go to the water park, not wanting to miss out on the fun, I said yes. When I went I had on a super long maxi dress and this really thin but sparkly long sleeve top with bell bottom sleeves. I looked really crazy, to say the least. I remember getting ready to go down the water slide and the lifeguard asked me, "why do you have on all those clothes," I can't remember the excuse I gave but I was always equipped with one. I liked being in the water, but I didn't enjoy the attention my psoriasis brought to me. Eventually, I grew tired of all the questions about why I had on so many clothes at the pool and anytime I was invited to the water park or pool I would lie and say swimming just wasn't my thing.

Modeling and sports aren't my thing

I still tell this lie. I'm a really tall woman. People always ask me if I model or play sports, and when I answer no, they usually follow up with why? I usually say it's just not my thing, but the truth is in the past I didn't model or play sports because I didn't want to expose my psoriasis.

What lies have you told about your disease or your feelings about it? I want to hear from you!