Managing My Stress With Psoriasis

One of the things I think we all deal with when it comes to psoriasis, is the mental toll it can take on us. It is not something readily talked about, but it should be. I can say that I deal with different emotions when it comes to my psoriasis. The biggest challenge with my mental health when it comes to psoriasis is dealing with anxiety.

Years of living with the psoriasis patches, you would think by now I would be accustomed to showing those patches around others, but I still feel a sense of dread even after all these years. There always seem to be something impacting my mental state which can cause flares with my psoriasis. Over the last month, it seems like it’s been a one, two punch to deal with causing bodily stress which affects my mental health.

Parenting my sons while being mindful of my mental health

I have two sons. Both are grown and have families of their own. Most of the time they are doing good and need little support from me. However, over the last month they have needed quite a bit of support from me. They both have been faced with their dad being released from prison. The dad has been trying to communicate with both of them. However, due to the reason he was incarcerated, neither of them want to have any communication with him. They call me each time he tries to reach out.

Not only do I have to deal with how they are feeling, I also must deal with my own feelings concerning my ex-husband. There is a lot of baggage there. It’s stressful in so many ways. However, I will never turn them down in listening to them.

How I deal with stress

Along with what my sons have been dealing with my husband lost a close friend. It’s not been an easy thing to process for my husband. He has been all over the place emotionally which I truly understand. However, it has put added stress on me on top of everything else. Don’t get me wrong, it has been a bit of blow to me as well. My husband can’t see that. One thing about us psoriatics we tend to put everyone else’s feelings ahead of our own. The stress I feel trying to navigate his mood swings is going to cause my psoriasis to flare.

When I get really stressed, I already know what will happen. Stress is a big trigger for me when it comes to my psoriasis flaring. One of the things that seems to help my stress level is listening to music. A song entitled “Cry For Help” by Daughtry came on. It spoke to me in volumes. Sometimes when things get heavy and really stresses you out the best thing to do is cry for help. I am blessed in that I got a great support system around me. I have those that I can reach out to that will drop everything and listen if I am struggling. However, sometimes you just need to talk to someone who doesn’t know anything about you. There is nothing wrong with that. I implore you if you fill like you are struggling with your mental health “Cry For Help.” You will be glad you did.