Feeling my lowest.

Posted Sat 23 Feb 2019 17.39 by Gracie19

I’m 20 years old and I’ve now been suffering from guttate psoriasis for a year now however I’m unsure as weather it’s actually just guttate anymore, as it’s on parts of my body it wasn’t before and the leasions are much lager then when the guttate outbreaks first started. My first out break started in in the middle of summer last year, it hasn’t cleared up completely since my first out break, it’s started all over my stomach and my hips and thighs, I went to the doctor shortly after the first out break and was diagnosed With guttate Psoriasis, at that point in time I was just relieved to have a diagnosis because I was terrified about what was going on with my body I certainly didn’t have a clue how life-changing this whole thing is. I was prescribed lotion called dovebet. After the outbreak id been suffering from for just about a month at this point The lotion appeared to work miracles my stomach almost completely cleared up however at this point in time my knees started to develop lesions a lot larger than the ones on my stomach, I just continued to apply the lotion and treated it like my stomach, I continued using this lotion for about three more months There was a point where my skin seemed like it was healing, after a while it just appeared to stop working. I could honestly just wake up and then it would be a bad week my skin would have a meltdown as the months have gone on I’ve developed it pretty much from head to toe now it covers 50% of my body at all times at least, I still get stomach breaks out most likely after a cold but now my legs and arms seem to suffer more, my legs and my arms haven’t healed at all since summer I have been to the doctor again and they just prescribed me more lotions they smell awful and don’t seem to work for me at all, I know that a lot of people on here would’ve suffered with psoriasis a lot longer than me I still feel like I lack a lot of knowledge about the whole condition because I just focused on the lotion the doctor gave me. I can honestly say I’m at my lowest right now I don’t feel like many people can understand me, I don’t know anyone personally that suffers with it like me it’s affecting me so much to the point where it affects my job as a care assistant, I feel embarrassed. It keeps me awake at night because it feels like my skin is on fire I physically can’t stop myself from itching I’m fully aware of how I’m making it worse it’s on the bottom of my feet and the palm of my hands, I feel like it’s taking over my life completely, if anyone has any tips or recommendations/ advice i’d really appreciate it, I feel like I’m suffering with hating my self so much that I’m destroying all relationships around me cause I can’t seem to deal with my own emotions. I want to be free of this prison my psoriasis is creating my life

Posted Sat 23 Feb 2019 19.31 by anneshrew (edited Sat 23 Feb 2019 19.33 by anneshrew)

Hey Gracie, Your story is very very similar to mine, so I know how you feel :( I also was first diagnosed with Guttate psoriasis when I had my first ever outbreak when I was about 10y/o - it was multiple dots of red patches literally all over my body/scalp, some were medium size and some were small. I also used dovobet gel and it got rid of nearly all of them - the only ones I was left with were small patches on each knee, and both of elbows. I'm 21 now. And those patches I had left have been growing in size ever since (they are now bigger than my knee caps). And now I have new ones - both knuckles, inside my ears and random dots in other places.. Psoriasis starts from the inside - it is an autoimmune condition that causes us to create too many skin cells - hence the build up of the red plaques. And unfortunately we will always have it since there is no cure. The only thing we can do is treat our symptoms. I've been doing a lot of research of psoriasis since I'm doing it for a uni project. I don't know everything/how accurate this is so you might want to double check these facts: But I read that: - guttate prosirais commonly evolves into plaque psoriasis - so that's what I think I have now. - it is common for treatments that once worked to stop working - maybe your body has got used to the dovobet/creams the doctor has giving you? - Stress is said to be a flare up factor - could this contribute to why yours got worse? - It has been claimed that diet can affect the symptoms - for example, alcohol and diary are said to inflame psoriasis plaques. - Sun helps - (from experience when I went on holiday for one week, some of my plaques were gone and I hadn't changed anything else apart from get a tan) BUT using sunbeds come with their own risk so please be careful and do more research before you consider this! Also, I can't remember exactly what the treatment for dovobet was - but I remember something like apply for 4 weeks then have a 2 week break so just make sure you're following the directions given to you by your DR. BTW I think these lotions/creams that the doctor prescribes usually have a steriod in them which is designed to thin the skin of these plaques down - which is why creams that are aimed to moisturize exema and other skin conditions will never work on psoriasis, Just incase you want to try a new cream (you can actually get some from boots but they are expensive) make sure you get one that is aimed specifically for psoraisis! good luck, I wish you all the best :)

Posted Sat 23 Feb 2019 19.43 by anneshrew

Also, I have also had low points in life about the condition to.. it is so hard and I totally understand it how much impact it can have on everyday life. I know it's getting you down - but with the nature of psoriasis and how it flares up and down, I'm hopeful that it won't be long before things start to improve :) And definitely don't be down about feeling like you're the only one because there are alot of people on this site who can relate, you aren't alone!

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