I was thinking that maybe this blog is nothing more than an outlet for my complaining. Grumpy man syndrome… but if it was then it would contain no benefit for either the reader or myself. I realise that there is a quantifiable benefit, in both mental and physical health by writing down the journey and explaining the steps taken so far.
Moisturiser
This is a critical step in the process, a good and consistent moisturising routine several times a day is a fact of life if you have Psoriasis. It does the following:
- Repeated moisturising each day softens the hardened skin.
- It reduced cracked skin (and therefore bleeding). It can take some time to get to this place but stick with it. I have no cracked skin anymore.
- It helps to loosen the plaques and in conjunction with a treatment cream, it can slow plaque formation.
- It reduces the itch and takes the edge off the pain.
I got lazy with the moisturising for a few weeks and what do you think happened??
The plaques started to form again, the hardened skin started to appear and the steroids stopped working in places. So if you want a topical steroid to work, you have to maintain the moisturising routine. There is no way around this, if the skin is not softened with a moisturiser, your pushing an uphill battle.
Luckily it only took a few days to reestablish the routine and everything is back on track. And here’s the proof:
A few comments on the above images, you can see that there is no plaque formation anymore on the picture on the right, notice how translucent the patch is becoming, that’s new heathy skin forming. Remember skin takes 25-40 days to replace the cells.
Again you can see there is no plaque formation on the image on the right (above) and its slowly becoming translucent.
This is one of the huge patches and you can see how rough an angry it used to be, compared to now. I expect this patch will slowly breakup. You can probably make out the translucent patches that will become normal skin in another few months.
Three months of progress
You might say “meh” or “is that all” but remember:
- It was only a few short blogs ago that I said I could not sit for 30 minutes, due to the pain and irritation.
- I was shedding plaques non stop and spending all my time with my trusty Dyson hand hoover – I got mine bundled free with a new Dyson hoover.
- I was battling to sleep due to the irritation.
- I also said that Psoriasis took years to develop, so it’s not going away any time soon, it will take time.
- I documented on the “creams and mistakes” page that we expect instant results, but with Psoriasis, we need to set realistic expectations, that it will subside over months, not weeks or days.
That some achieve great success, is proof to all that others can achieve it as well.
Abraham Lincoln
The proof is clearly demonstrated in the photos…..
- Yes the psoriasis is still there, no doubt about that but the changes are massive.
- Pain and itch were a 8/10 at the start of this journey, they are now a 3/10.
- The irritation is still there but it’s not affecting my sleep, or my mood as much (as I write this, I did stop to scratch my forearm, but it’s mild and not shedding anymore)
- I have no cracked skin and no bleeding from skin separation.
- I can sit without pain or irritation.
- I feel good and it a joy not to have the constant irritation and pain as the main focus. I like the fact that I can sometimes forget I have it.
- Psoriasis is not on my mind, however that’s where I need to be mindful to maintain the routine, so I can continue with the progress and try to get into remission.
The diet blog and last weeks blog discussed that I need to start to focus more on the triggers and try to identify the foods that work and the foods that don’t.
We have gone organic in the house, its a simple step and some might say “ohh why do that, sure its expensive”
Well a half dozen organic eggs is marginally more expensive than the non-organic products and I’ll do some comparisons with you all to show that its not a big cost to remove the consumption of “pesticides” from your food. All told so far the difference in a weeks groceries is 10-20 Euro at the most.. But enough on that for now its all about taking stock and three months in and its working.
If you know someone with Psoriasis, share the blog. Its important to give empathy to anyone suffering any chronic illness and to share a story.
a problem shared is a problem halved
Katie M. John
So for this week, keep at it. Psoriasis Heath Online 7th Nov 2021
Psoriasis health 