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Stress not diet?

Hi everyone,
I just found this group and I have so many questions šŸ˜
Does anyone else seem to have flares even though your diet hasnā€™t changed but your stress levels have?
I stopped smoking over a year ago and my skin seemed to get worse.... REALLY worse. Iā€™ve had it all my life (53 now) but went through the worst time in my life in 2014 and had a really
BAD flare and then it got better and has gotten bad again recently. I lost my medical but never really saw a dr for this anyways just lived with it but pain lately is bad.
I have family members who have it and they are on injections for it but I watched my dad take insulin shots every morning just to survive so I just felt I canā€™t do it for something like this.... May sound weird to some.
Also has anyone been put on disability because of it ?

  1. Hi , welcome to the community!!

    I can say that for me personally, stress is a huge thing. My diet doesn't appear to affect my psoriasis but stress really does make it quite angry. It sounds like you're going through a stressful time at the moment 🙁 Are you getting support from anyone with this?

    Congratulations on quitting smoking! That is a huge achievement. Whilst I don't have experience with this myself, I have heard many people say that when they stopped smoking their psoriasis got worse for an extended period of time. I can't imagine how frustrating it must be to go through all of that! Of course, there are others who have reported experiencing the complete opposite, too.

    I'm hoping that some others with personal experience with this will chime in and share with you too. Let us know if you have any further questions. It's great to have you here!

    - Catherine, Community Moderator

    1. Hi , thanks for reaching out! I'm glad you found this community 😀 To answer your first question, stress is a big trigger for many of us with psoriasis! This has been well studied, so it's definitely not in your head. If your skin is getting really bad I would definitely get an appointment with a Dermatologist. Injections may seem a little extreme for you (totally understand!) but topicals and light therapy are two other options. Are there any home remedies or natural alternatives you're considering? And yes, severe psoriasis is an eligible condition on a disability application. Hope some community members can chime in with their experiences too!
      -Victoria, Community Moderator

      1. Thank you for the welcome šŸ˜Š
        A dermo is out of the question for me as I have had to get insurance with a high deductible. Praying that changes soon.
        I had tried a tanning bed a number of years ago when I had a flare up (not near as bad as what I have now) and no matter what I did I broke out in bad rash and welts(sp?) afterwards.
        I also went through a period of time that anything cold did the same to my skin ....ac in the car which I use no matter the weather would hit my fingers and cause intense intense itching and red welts. Carried something canā€™t remember what in the grocery store from the frozen section and had a horrible rash and welts almost instantly.
        But all of this went away after a few months.
        The worst for me is in my ears .... not very lady like but have itched and peeled so badly I end up with a headache or infection would give anything for something that would clear that up completely.
        Right now I have the worst pain from break out on my thighs canā€™t stand to even wear pj bottoms. I thought maybe it got worse because we had to go from living in Orange County CA to the high desert of CA above Palm Springs so I thought maybe weather ... though the reason for the move also brought on a bad flare up 3 yrs ago when we lost our home of 40yrs. I care 24/7 for my Mom and sheā€™s 90....was 87 when we lost everything to multiple counts of mortgage fraud and bank and attorney fraud.
        Trying to put behind us just really hard.

        1. Hi. I have been living with severe plaque psoriasis since 2013 and been on 5 different medications and still no relief. I just started Xeljanz for my arthritis which is somewhat working. My recent flare I know was due to stress which stinks because who doesnā€™t have stress in their life. My salvation is oatmeal baths and rest

          1. , I too love oatmeal baths! Because you mentioned you have arthritis, please feel free to check out our sister site too: Psoriatic-Arthritis.com . Hope today isn't a stressful one for you!
            -Victoria, Community Moderatr

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