Learning To Be Kinder To Yourself When You Have Psoriasis

Psoriasis and blame go hand-in-hand, particularly in the early stages when you’re just diagnosed. You may blame yourself or feel frustrated with yourself that you have this condition, it’s going to be lifelong and will probably mean plenty of trips to see your medical team.

So it’s important as you begin to learn to live with the illness, to learn ways to be kinder to yourself as this will be paramount to both your physical and mental well-being.

I spent so much time hating psoriasis instead of accepting it

I was diagnosed with psoriasis many years ago now and I spent so much of that time disliking the condition rather than accepting it and doing the best I could with the very visible, red blotches.

I don’t blame myself for those years I lost because I just think well, I struggled, and wishing the condition would go away was central to that.

Now I am a lot older, I have a few ways of better managing the condition and I will share some of these. Please be aware that I am not a medical professional, and do not claim to be. These things are just the ways in which I help myself which I hope are useful to you.

Ways I help myself while living with psoriasis

The first and most important thing to being kinder to yourself is to research, research, and research. Look up psoriasis on the internet, join associations committed to learning more about the illness, and form communities with other sufferers. At the beginning of my journey, I hardly knew anyone with psoriasis but now I know lots of people, thanks to putting myself out there and making it known that I have this condition.

The second thing to do is attend all your medical appointments and to go to them with questions. This feeds into research, but have a look at the treatments available, look on this website at what contributors have posted and go to your medical team with questions about what is out there. There are some great treatments for psoriasis but you may not know about them because they’re not always highly publicised; do it yourself and ask people.

The third thing to do is a daily positive affirmation. I try and stand in front of the mirror each morning and just be grateful for what I have. If psoriasis is making me feel down on a particular day, I will just reaffirm to myself that it’s OK to not be feeling happy at this moment in time, but that the feeling will pass and life will get better.

The fourth thing - and what I think it’s one of the most important - is to try and be open about your condition to friends and family members; people you trust. I’ve mentioned this in blogs I’ve previously written but just chat through how you’re feeling. It is difficult. I know it is. But if your condition is affecting you particularly badly chat to a friend or family member or someone else who is willing to listen and that you trust.

It's a journey

Ultimately, being kinder to yourself with psoriasis is a journey. You won’t be there straight away and you’ll go through good times and bad times depending on where you are at in that journey. As your psoriasis gets better, you probably will too, but as it gets worse, you may also.

Learning to accept the longevity of this condition and that it’s a part of you will make you forget the bad bits and appreciate the good.