Be the Voice of Psoriasis! The More Voice The Louder We'll be!

I first started seeing signs of psoriasis at the age of 23. I had just moved back to MI from Florida after 2 years. When I moved back it was in the middle of the cold dry MI winter. My nice Florida tan started to fade and I started to notice patches on my arms and legs, I freaked the freak out!

I kept getting misdiagnosed

I had no idea what was going on with my skin and when it first started showing it spread FAST! I didn't know anything about psoriasis and doctors kept diagnosing me with a bunch of different things; ringworm, rash from my soap, rash from my detergent, I changed all those and tried different medications but it just kept getting worse.

My body was 90 percent covered in psoriasis

Psoriasis wasn't as well known as it is now but I did my research and ended up self-diagnosing my psoriasis. I went to a dermatologist that specialized in psoriasis and she confirmed that that was what it was. So I started my fun-filled journey of regimens, creams, steroids, all that fun stuff trying to find what worked for me. By this time, my psoriasis covered about 90% of my body, I fell into a deep depression and didn't want to be around anyone, which I'm sure is pretty familiar to other sufferings from psoriasis.

I decided to make a change!

After a few months of feeling sorry for myself, I decided I wouldn't let this affect my whole life and started doing something about it! I found that things like exercise, changing the foods I ate, watching my stress level, mixed with some topical creams helped the most. I didn't/don't like taking pills and especially didn't like steroids.

By spring my psoriasis started to clear up and was only about 40% of my body, luckily in places I could easily cover i.e my torso, chest. upper legs and arms...it really likes the middle of my body lol
I started to feel comfortable in my skin again even though it was still visible depending on what I was wearing. My friends and family started asking questions and I felt like a broken record explaining it to EVERYONE I saw.

Spreading psoriasis awareness

Getting into summer I started to feel down again because it was shorts, tanks, and bathing suit weather. I decided that no silly skin patches were going to keep me from wearing my favorite summer clothes or bathing suits (I love summer lol). I remember the first time I wore shorts out to a restaurant, on a date even. I had one large patch on my right leg, my date might have noticed but if he did he didn't say anything. We sat out on the patio and started drinking/making friends when all of a sudden out of nowhere some drunk lady yells across the patio "OH MY SWEETIE WHAT'S THAT ON YOUR LEG!?" which in turn made everyone in the restaurant turn and stare at my leg. This was my first public explanation of my psoriasis.

I can't count how many times I've had to explain to complete strangers what was going on with my skin even to this day but it doesn't upset me, not one bit. I'm not ashamed of my psoriasis and I take the opportunity to talk and educate people about the condition and I'm happy to do it! I have like 100 million stories I could tell you about my psoriasis but I'm sure you all have just as many.

I'll always be an advocate for psoriasis

I made it my mini-mission in life to be the voice of psoriasis as much as I could if not for me, for those who couldn't or weren't ready to themselves. It's surprising how many people are unfamiliar with psoriasis even to this day. The first day I saw a commercial for psoriasis was crazy I freaked out like a fan girl! I was so happy to see that there was national recognition and support for this condition that affects so many and now a PSORIASIS AWARENESS MONTH!?! Uh yeaaaaa go us lol I'm just so happy to see that there is help and a supportive community for people struggling with this debilitating, painful, sometimes embarrassing, and scary disease.

I hope someone out there who may be struggling or unaware that they have psoriasis finds this support group and is able to get help and advice from there fellow psoriasis babes and buds ;) I'm happy to share tips/trick, stories, advice, support or even just a listening ear to anyone who may need it, just let me know! Mwah!