Flakes Worse During Psoriasis Flare

Flares happen. Psoriasis makes sure of that. My main trigger for a flare has always been stress. Lately, I have had more than my fair share of stress.

Usually, stress causes my active patches to become bigger, making them spread. However, there are those rare times when it does not spread. Instead, it flakes more. I usually joke to people that I could never commit a crime. My psoriasis flakes would leave a trail straight to me.

This flare is one for the record books when it comes to flaking. The flakes on my worst psoriasis patch are so thick. It almost feels like a blanket encompassing my left ankle. No matter what I seem to do, it is only getting worse. It is so tender to touch and a bright red color, almost like fire.

A look at our history with chronic illness

I have been the one in my marriage who has always needed the care of my mate. My husband has been super healthy, barring a cold or something like that, our whole marriage. My psoriasis started about 1 year before we met.

He married me knowing I have psoriasis. In all our years—17 now—I have always had active psoriasis patches. I have never been clear, even while on different treatments. He has never complained, even when he sees flakes on the floor. If anything, I am always the one to complain. It hurts, it is ugly, it bleeds, and it itches incredibly bad all the time.

Why I am experiencing high stress now

In May 2023, my husband took a bad fall in the mud in our backyard. That fall resulted in a torn rotator cuff in his arm. The tear was bad enough that it required surgery to repair it. At the end of June 2023, he had the surgery.

Suddenly, I became the caregiver. He was in a massive sling for 6 weeks and had physical therapy after that. 3 months later, he is progressing well. However, since his doctor would not release him to return to work, he lost his job.

With job loss comes no more health insurance. It is so late in the year now that no insurance means no doctors. He will not be fully released until December 2023, so we are stuck.

Relying on topicals as our only current option

Even though I could get us insurance on the Health Insurance Marketplace, it still means meeting deductibles all over again. Since we are nearing the end of September, it really makes no sense to do that. To say I am stressed about what can happen in that amount of time with my psoriasis is an understatement.

Right now, my skin is flaring because of the stress. I am dealing with huge, ugly flakes. The only recourse I have right now is to fall back on topicals I have in stock.

Do I like it? No. It is a huge pain to put topicals on when they have never done anything good for me. Still, I guess I should be happy that I even have that as an option. All I can say is I am looking forward to the day a cure for psoriasis comes along. Until then, I am sure there will be more flares to weather.