Psoriasis, Psoriatic Arthritis, & Crohn’s Are My Wedding Crashers

Since 2012, psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, and Crohn’s disease have taken the wheel for most functions of my life. I’ve never intended for that to happen, but I won’t sugar coat it either — life is hard when you’re dealing with one of these diseases, let alone all three. So, we’ve made some modifications with how we are going about hosting our wedding. I've also made some concessions with how I can accommodate my body because it’s a jerk.

I kid... kind of.

Making concessions to my wedding plans

First, we made the decision to do our wedding and reception over the course of a long weekend. The ceremony is to take place on a Friday before sunset, and the reception on Saturday at mid-day. We took into consideration my struggles with fatigue and joint pain, as well as the times that my Crohn’s disease seems to behave.

My fiancée has just rolled with the punches. Meanwhile, I’m wracked with guilt that I’ve taken up too much of our friends’ and family members’ time. The pro to that con is that if people can’t make one part of the wedding weekend, they can make the other.

Hooray for the glass half full, right?

Choosing a wedding dress that accommodates my multiple conditions

Second, I had to choose a dress that would accommodate Crohn’s and psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis. I needed a dress that would be easy to maneuver should Crohn’s harken for my attention. I also needed something that wasn’t too heavy on my aching joints. Another requirement for the dress was that it couldn’t create a disruption on my skin, and it had to hide the visible portions of my psoriasis that never quite fully go away. When it comes to my hair and scalp plaques, I’m just hoping for the best.

Unwelcome wedding crashers

As I type this, we are a little less than 6 days out from the ceremony. I’m trying to ignore the psoriatic aches and burning that I’ve solidly felt on a daily basis for the last six years. Despite the precautions we’ve taken to mitigate each disease’s symptoms, it truly feels like these inflammatory diseases are wedding crashers. They aren’t the fun kind that you clink glasses and take pictures with, either. They’re the kind that you’re constantly trying to navigate around while trying to mitigate risk.

I did my final dress fitting yesterday. It fit, so that’s great. Hah! But the sleeves I’ve added to hide remnants of psoriasis have beading on them that look so lovely, especially when they catch the light. However, I fear if I make one wrong move the beading will scrape or irritate my skin and cause an entirely new disruption.

Knowing I can't prepare for everything

I know if my skin erupts there are things that we can do to help cover spots up. Or I can let my immune system show off all that it is capable of accomplishing. I haven’t decided what route I’m going to take if that happens, yet, but it is nice to know there are options available.

In general, I'd like to say I’m not worried. Especially since we’ve made so many adjustments to our wedding weekend.

However, the truth is, my anxiety has anxiety.

Has your psoriasis crashed a big important event you’ve been looking forward to attending? Let’s talk about it.