My story and getting to the bottom of this

Posted Sun 19 Feb 2023 13.22 by chameleonic

Hello fellow psoriasis sufferers, I am a female from the UK and I basically want to vent. This is a long post, so if you make it to the end, I thank you in advance. I just need to get all this off my chest. I am going to just write freely and I would love for some of you to comment your experiences down below if any of this resonates with you. I got my first patch of psoriasis on my knee when I was around 7 years old. It was a fairly small patch and didn't bother me a great deal. It did crack and bleed. It would come and go. I went to the doctors and they prescribed me steroid cream which I found didn't really help. And this really put me off seeking medical help for it. Then in highschool around age 14 I started getting it on the palms of my hands. Again, it didn't bother me greatly. It wasn't too severe. I don't remember it cracking or bleeding during these years. I remember it itching a lot. When I left school and started college I developed a patch on the side of my face next to my eye. I used to cover it with my hair but I remember it being very very sore. It used to crack and bleed. When I left college (a few months after starting) it went and (TOUCH WOOD) it has never returned. The psoriasis on my hands remained, but I don't remember it bothering me until my early 20's. The first memories I have of it cracking and bleeding are probably around age 20-21. Then aged 22, I started to get it on my feet. Again, at this point it wasn't that bad on my feet, a bit like the patches on my hands it didn't bother me too much, but the patches on my hands started getting worse. They started cracking and bleeding. It would get worse and then better, but when worse I would have huge, bloody cracks on my hands. But I always observed that they eventually got better on their own so I never sought medical help. So gradually through my 20's the flareups were worse and worse. People would tell me to go to the doctors but I refused, thinking they would only give me stingy cream that wouldn't help. And I've also always believed it's to do with my mind. These outbreaks have got worse and worse throughout my life and have occasionally left me unable to do things but I've just got on with it until it went away. But now, sitting here, I'm currently experiencing the worst outbreak I've ever had. I can't walk. I'm in almost constant pain. Doing anything that involves my hands and feet feels impossible and just hurts, a lot. I'm sure you all know the struggle. Everything is hard. Making a cup of tea, washing, cooking, cleaning. I can near touch type so I'm just about able to write this with little discomfort and so far today on my hands it seems a little better than it was, but even holding my phone, holding a pen, it starts cracking and bleeding. It's so thick and stiff so it's really limiting my movement which is making my joints hurt. Don't even get me started on my feet. I can't walk. I have big, thick cuts all over my feet. It is so painful. I tried to cook the other day and couldn't as I nearly fainted from pain. So I'm also losing weight, but I don't mind that as I need to. I work from home at the moment luckily so that's not an issue but I'm not leaving the house cause of the walking issue and don't think I'll be able to properly grip the steering wheel of my car. I haven't tried. It's also on my scalp, on the back of my neck and in my ears, as well as on one of my nails, which I've never had before. It's not severe there, just very itchy. So after a few weeks of living with it at this level, I finally went to the doctors. She prescribed me antibiotics and 'zeroderm' which is basically e45 cream - soft parrafin and liquid parrafin, which I'd already been using along with a boots psoriasis cream and aloe vera gel. She wouldn't prescribe me steroids because the last time I had them for a chest infection I had a suspected allergic reaction to them - I came out in huge red blotches all over my skin, which is odd as I'd had the same medication 6 months prior and had no such reaction. She also prescribed me an ointment for my scalp. I am to do this for 2 weeks and then go back if it hasn't improved. I am not taking the antibiotics as I do not think I have an infection and I know that they wreak havoc on your healthy gut bacteria and the last thing I want to do it that. She didn't even say I had an infection... just prescribed me anti-biotics. I am not suggesting anyone go against a doctors advice, but I'm not going to take antibiotics unless I have an infection. So it has gradually been getting worse since about November or December but has left me unable to walk for about a month now. This outbreak has come seemingly out of nowhere so, with the doctor being fairly useless so far... I am trying to figure out what has caused this, and this post is part of that. I've always believed that my psoriasis was caused by something internal, as in emotional, rather than physical. There are certainly physical factors, but I have seen my psoriasis flare up severely and then pretty much disappear overnight in the past with no physical trigger. It seems to be the result of certain types of stress. For example, the patch on my face which I'd say was the most distress I've experienced through psoriasis other than this outbreak, happened when I was very very unhappy and again, going through depression, sadness and a lot of anger and unresolved/suppressed emotions. I am the type of person who can suffer greatly but will do anything I can to hide that suffering as I don't want people to see me as weak or 'overly emotional'. I would rather be perceived as a cold hearted psychopath than weak or emotional, or vulnerable. I try to hide vulnerability. But at the same time I LONG to be seen. And I have a feeling that this is something all sufferers of psoriasis experience. Could be wrong, but on some level, I think there's something to it. It's like our skin reveals our suffering, because of our contradictory emotions. On one hand we want to fully suppress it, on the other, we long for our pain to be seen and understood by others. Side note: I have been chronically emotionally invalidated emotionally my entire life. Just guessing, but I bet some of you can relate. So without going into too much detail and revealing loads of personal info about myself (which I'm probably going to end up doing anyway...), I'm going to try to explore that here and as I said, if anyone would like to comment with experiences I'd be interested to hear. I'm really trying to get to the bottom of this cause this is making me miserable as hell. I am unable to do anything, it is incredibly depressing. And with no end in sight, I don't know what to do. How long will I be unable to walk properly? The doctor asked me if anything has happened in my personal life around the time when it got worse. I just paused and thought about all the mounting mental and emotional stress that I just get on with. I said yes, there's loads. I said that I also wanted to be re-referred for therapy, as there was no point in going into the details there and then. I said I have been feeling chronically numb and empty. Unable to feel joy or sadness, and that it can be torturous. I have a history of depression and anxiety and emotional difficulties, but recently I've just been unable to feel anything at all. I spoke the word 'trauma' and as soon as I did, I switched from seemingly upbeat to panicking and crying. I explained it's all compartmentalised. I pushed it all back in and disconnected from it again. So yeah, it's clear, there's a lot of stress here and unresolved emotions. And, this is just a hypothesis, but I think that is a common factor in psoriasis sufferers - unresolved or suppressed emotions. Or invalidating ourselves. Pushing things down. I also think there's some kind of self-blame, guilt and shame connected to it. But I'm not sure. Again, feel free to comment your experiences or if you agree/disagree with this. I am also living with a person who is very stressful to live with. Not going to go into detail but this person suffers mental illness and it is a big burden on me. They have been suffering more lately. So that is also almost certainly a factor. The other thing, which I'm reluctant to say but seems all the more reason I should probably say it... My Dad died just over a year ago. At first I dealt with it I would say very well.. too well. Then after a couple of months, I just blocked it all out. I'd had enough. I had a lot of unresolved issues with him. Still do. I love him very very much. But there are a hell of lot of unresolved emotional issues. Anger at him, self-blame, frustration, and I just do not want to deal with it at all. I have stopped talking to his side of my family, whom I have never really spoken to or been close to. It's complicated. They live overseas. But they have shown me a lot of love. So, I've never visited his grave. I haven't dealt with anything. I just stopped dealing with it. I think I just got to the point where, his illness (he died of cancer) had caused me so much stress, and HE had caused me so much stress prior to even being diagnosed that after he died, I could finally just have a break. That probably sounds cold hearted and selfish. The reason I mention this is because, November of 2022 is when this severe outbreak happened. November was the first anniversary of his death. I didn't mark it in any way. To be honest, it annoys me a lot that I even have to deal with it. I don't want to. And yet, if that is the cause, I am suffering anyway with this awful psoriasis. Enough about that. So the other thing is, I feel I am spiritually suffering. I quit my awful job in early 2022 and have been freelance self-employed ever since but I feel I'm lacking purpose. Clearly I have a hell of a lot of issues I need to deal with. I haven't mentioned the half of it. But as you can tell, I'm in very much of a 'just get on with it' mindset. What else can I do? I always think, well there's so many people who have it worse than me. My problems are petty in comparison. When actually I have dealt with a hell of a lot. But I just don't see the point in sitting around getting upset about it. What is that going to achieve? (Except perhaps healing my psoriasis...) But on the other side of this attitude there is IMMENSE unresolved frustration and anger and when I say immense I mean immense. But that is the problem I guess, as I said, I just don't see the point in getting frustrated and angry for no reason as all it will achieve is just making me even more frustrated and angry... Other potential triggers/causes could be: - November/December time is when the bird flu outbreak caused the supermarkets to have an egg shortage. I was eating eggs on average twice weekly, sometimes more but stopped. I have just started eating eggs again this week. - Christmas/Winter: I hate winter, I hate Christmas. I literally dread it. Sometimes it goes by in a blur and I don't remember it at all. - Some kind of subconscious self-sabotage? I don't know why but there is part of me that thinks somewhere in my mind I want to be unable to walk because if I am unable to walk and do things, it means I get to rest and take the pressure off myself... It is hard to explain, especially because ALL I want to do is be able to walk! Run! Be active! I'm desperate! But I do have the depression and anxiety which can make that hard, so perhaps the psoriasis is a way of me not being active... It is a way for my anxiety and depression to be physically seen so that I don't have to feel as bad on myself for having anxiety and depression... I don't know if that makes sense but somehow it does... Prior to this last week I was basically in bed every chance I could get with severe depression and tiredness and had been since January, but this has flipped around and now I am very alert and awake but still struggling to feel emotions. Whatever the case, it's clearly time to start dealing with the psoriasis, as well as my other mental health issues and unprocessed emotions, so I consider this the first step. I have never had it this bad before. My body literally burns from within. Note: I have a fear of being invalidated/misunderstood. Right now, anticipating posting this, I feel worried about being judged. All I know is I need to get rid of this and live my life. But clearly, before I can do that, my issues need addressing. I am sharing this in the hope that others will somehow be able to relate to it, so that we can identify what is causing our issues internally and resolve them. I want to be free of this. You might not relate to specific things I have said, but perhaps on some level? I really believe psoriasis has to do with fear of expression/suppression of emotions. I have no choice but to deal with this. So here I am. Also, things I am currently doing to try to combat this are: Taking vitamin D and omega 3 supplement Taking a multivitamin Taking folic acid Applying 'zeroderm' and aloevera Eating an organic diet with loads of vegetables and very little meat Eating blueberries Drinking lots of natural spring water

Posted Sun 19 Feb 2023 17.20 by OhNo_NotAgain? (edited Sun 19 Feb 2023 17.20 by OhNo_NotAgain?)

chameleonic: I would strongly suggest that you call the Psoriasis Association (details at the bottom of this page). Email: mail@psoriasis-association.org.uk Telephone: 01604 251 620 WhatsApp: 07387716439 They will talk to you in confidence, and might be able to help you. I have seen them respond to some posts here offering this. I wish you all the very best.

Posted Thu 23 Feb 2023 21.41 by JeremyG

Thank you for sharing your story, I hope that you get all the help that you need. I cant really offer much guidance or advice but I wanted to reply to wish you all the best. Stay strong and I hope that you are feeling better soon.

Posted Thu 6 Apr 2023 20.26 by chameleonic

So I thought I would log on and provide an update to this post. I'm not sure if anyone is interested at all, but I will treat this thread as a kind of diary for myself and my recovery and perhaps it will turn out to be a success story. I'm laughing at myself. I managed to read it all but boy did I vent! To the people that replied, JeremyG and OhNo_NotAgain, I can only thank you for even attempting to get through that text... and of course for your well wishes. At the time of writing I was so on edge, the pain was driving me absolutely insane. It was making me feel how I'd imagine someone feels when they are being physically and psychologically tortured. In fact, coming on here and re-reading has made me realise just how much of an improvement I have experienced since then as I had forgotten how bad it was! After I wrote that post it did get even worse. It got to the point I literally couldn't even stand up without first soaking my feet and then applying zeroderm in a super-thick layer. I saw several Doctors, they prescribed me different things and then one prescribed me a potent steroid which has helped tremendously. I was actually feeling a bit down in the dumps about it, hence logging on, but after reading this I can see how much I have improved. I also did take the antibiotic course. So in general, I'm a lot better, however, the scalp psoriasis got a lot worse so I've begun applying the Betacap I've been prescribed to get rid of it. Not going to lie, I didn't apply it at first as it was so mild on my scalp, but it's not now. It's thick and everywhere... but I'm optimistic.. The other thing is, I've also come out in guttate psoriasis on my arms, legs and torso... Brilliant. It's quite itchy. I've never had guttate psoriasis before. I'm going to go back to the doctors next week for an overall checkup regarding it all. But another thing I've been doing is applying apple cider vinegar and that seems to do a really good job. It stings like HELL and I have to apply zeroderm afterwards to prevent it from overdrying, but it definitely does something, so I'm going to continue with that and the steroids and now the Betacap. My hands I am happy to say are almost back to 'normal'. They are how they've always been. Psoriasis remains but it's at the normal level for me. My feet are not. They improved. Then when I stopped the steroids for 2 days they got worse again so I'm now applying the steroid cream once per day. I still can't walk normally yet. Sometimes I have trouble standing at all. But for the most part, it is a LOT better. I'm a lot more generally mobile than I was. I've not been consistent with the vitamins. I ran out of vitamin D about a week or 2 ago. Got some more today. So my plan from today is - apply apple cider vinegar and steroid cream to hands and feet once a day, along with zeroderm. - apply Betacap once per day - take vitamin d - take a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar in water I'll update now and then. Perhaps tomorrow, perhaps in a week, or perhaps a month. Thanks for the suggestion of calling the psoriasis association OhNo. I can understand why you'd suggest that given how unstable I sounded at the time... I'm much better now so for now I think I'll leave it but thank you for providing those details, it's good to know that that is available. Here's to recovery!

Posted Fri 7 Apr 2023 13.07 by OhNo_NotAgain? (edited Sat 8 Apr 2023 14.42 by OhNo_NotAgain?)

Hi Chameleonic, I am pleased to gear that you feel that you are seeing progress. I did not feel that you were unstable, but if someone feels so down and/or confused about a way forward with their psoriasis then I think to speak to someone know;ledgeable can be helpful to assist in getting your concerns ordered and make a plan to adress. I have been lucky over the years (I started with plaque psoriais the day after my 22nd birthday in 1980), with GPs apart from the first one at univesrity who diagnosed chicken-pox, but did refer me to a dermatologist as soon as it became obvious that it was not responding and in those days I only waited a week or so for the dermatologist appointment. My psoriasis responded well to coal-tar treatments swimming in the sea and sunlight (my fiorst few years after university were spent working in SE Asia). My psoriaisis had subsided greatly over the years but in 2018 I came out in guttate psoriasis around 6 weeks after a total hip replacement. I had guessed that it was psoriasis, but my GP immediately identified it as guttate psoriaisis. The itching was more intense than anything I had experienced. I have various lotions, some more effective than others, and my GP advised that guttate often goes away after 6 months or so. Mine began to fade after 6 months and almost completely disappeared by 8 months. I wish you good luck and all the best.

Posted Sat 8 Apr 2023 14.13 by chameleonic

Hi OhNo_NotAgain, yes absolutely, it was really useful thank you. I actually think I'm going to give them a call as this morning I've become really down again. Yes there is an improvement but it's been months of me not being able to move around normally and I'm starting to become really anxious and afraid and depressed about how long this is going to last. I'm trying to remain optimistic but in the mean time it is restricting my life so much. I can't do anything at all and even just self care right now is so so difficult and there is noone to look after me so my life has become incredibly hard. That's good that you have been lucky with receiving treatments. If my GP does not help me on Tuesday or refer me to a dermatologist I am going to hit the roof frankly because this is not a liveable life. The thing that is bothering me most is I don't know how much longer I will be in this state where I can't do things. Am I going to have to adjust my whole life around this? I am wishing, hoping and praying it will just go away again but it's never been this bad. I've been seeing coal-tar pop up a lot recently, I think I might give that a try! YES the itching is immense! I haven't been diagnosed with guttate yet, I've self diagnosed but I'm 99% sure that's what it is. Good to know that it should be gone within 6 months! Sooner the better of course but just knowing that makes me feel a little better! All the best to you and thank you for your advice it's much appreciated!

Posted Fri 14 Apr 2023 10.04 by freecat2k@yahoo.co.uk

I’m truly saddened by your GP being slow to help you and hope this has now resulted in a dermatologist referral. I recognise some of my own experience in what you are going through. My psoriasis has improved in part with better topical treatment and good HRT…. Beware this took a lot of time to get sorted as my GP encouraged me to get on with it. Keep on keeping on .

Posted Fri 14 Apr 2023 16.08 by Tracyjane

Hi, I’m not sure if you are on the menopause but if you are as the lady above just mentioned I’ve noticed that since if been on hrt my psoriasis has nearly cleared. I’m not sure if it’s connected but I’m not complaining x

Posted Fri 14 Apr 2023 18.01 by gr4nts

Hi. Let me make a disclaimer - I am neither qualified nor deemed competent to comment other than as a fellow human with psoriasis. I could not agree more about depression and emotions affecting us. Indeed, Proverbs (Generally accepted as wise sayings) ... “A joyful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones.” I have noticed the greatest advancement of my psoriasis has been during periods of depression which happen almost exclusively in winter for me. I have developed my own personal tools to help my emotions stay chirpy when the sh** hits the fan. Having said that, should the colour ever disappear from my life I would seek help instantly. At the moment - Spring is here and with it opportunity. All that aside, if it is true that 70% of our immunity comes from the gut which seemingly most of the healing/medical professionals agree upon - then the chances are the core issues for autoimmune problems such as psoriasis can be substantially improved by tailoring our gut. - easier said than done! GPs I believe are under a lot of pressure to NOT refer you to a consultant so don't take any nonsense from them! I have it on good authority that a powerful tool is to take someone along with you and let them be outraged by the GPs lack of action! - I shall be trying this next time I go :) I sincerely hope you found your GP receptive. My recent outbreak of guttate psoriasis looks terrible but as already discussed - it will go :) I sincerely pray you get help and support and that you find some hope for improvement. Thank you for sharing what many of us feel more often than we'd care to admit

Posted Tue 18 Apr 2023 16.26 by WindowOfTheSoul

Thank you so much for posting this discussion, when I read it, I burst into tears, it could literally have been written by me. I too now believe that my psoriasis is manifesting because of issues with suppressed emotions. I have been looking into this the last few weeks which is how I stumbled across this thread, and have started the journey to identify how to help myself. My psoriasis started about 6 years ago, it came in with a bang, and has never given me a moments peace since. I have done everything the GP has suggested, the strongest steroid cream worked quite well at first, but over the years its ability to help in any way has long since gone. I now feel like a caged prisoner being tortured every minute of my life. It is primarily on my lower legs with smaller patches on my elbows, and one right in the centre of my forehead. The entirety of my legs from the ankle to the knee are covered, both of them, and are swollen and burn with a heat and pain that makes me beg in the wee hours of the night to have my legs amputated. I can’t sleep for the pain, I now no longer share a bed with my husband because I can’t bear the weight of a sheet on my legs, I sleep on the couch with my legs exposed to strong fans trying to cool them down. The lack of sleep is making my life even more of a misery and ruining my ability to work. But now the realisation that this might be a mind body issue is giving me finally some hope that I can control this myself, and that I can heal myself! The suppression of anger and emotion is so curious because that is the exact problem in my life. I am married to the sweetest most gentle loving man, but his parents are monsters. They controlled my husbands life, dictating to him his choices in everything from his infancy and whenever his parents are around, he regresses back to acting like a 4 year old who is terrified of the consequences of him not obeying his maniacal parents. When I met him he was still living with his mother, “looking after her”, he was 40 years old and had never even had a girlfriend because his parents wouldn’t allow him. He made a stand and left their home to be with me, but he still lets them try to control our lives. Our wedding was a shambles because of the fight they caused because he wanted to marry, when our son was born, and only a few minutes old, my husband phoned his mother to tell her he was a father for the first time in his 40’s, and I could hear her screams of rage through the phone telling him he had betrayed her by marrying me and that the child couldn’t possibly be his because they knew he didn’t have it in him to be a “proper man”. So the first few minutes of my sons life was blighted by the most awful fight that got up in the delivery room because I asked why does he let her ruin everything? My husband is so damaged mentally, but the most loving gentle human, but he won’t allow me to defend myself. He just keeps saying “just let it go, that’s what they are like, don’t let it bother you”. But it does bother me, and I am not allowed to tell these people what I think of them. The torrent of abuse is all one sided, it comes in, and all my husband says to them is “thank you for letting me know”, when they are calling him terrible things, undeserved things, but his response of shutting down and NEVER answering back, is clearly making me very ill. There was one line in your post that made me sit back in my chair and completely re-evaluate my life, nobody had ever voiced my own thoughts more clearly than you did in that moment, it was the line… “It's like our skin reveals our suffering, because of our contradictory emotions. On one hand we want to fully suppress it, on the other, we long for our pain to be seen and understood by others.” And that was the moment I realised I might be doing this to myself to get my husband to see “just how much pain I am suffering” I get so much sympathy from him, he tries so hard to care for me and make the pain go away, but his way is by being kind and loving, But I feel he is being cruel because he keeps inflicting these people on me and won’t protect me from them. He won’t cut them out of his life as they are his parents, he sees their flaws, but believes he must continue to love them DESPITE their behaviour, all the while I am seething inside and literally wanting to scratch his mothers eyes out, instead, I say nothing and I am scratching my own legs to shreds. I bought a new book called Unlearn your Pain by Dr Howard Schubiner where he believes the mind can bring so many illnesses and diseases to ourselves by our own thought processes and gives a 28 day plan of work where we can get out all the emotions that we have shoved down. I started it a few night ago and it is looking like it backs up exactly what you suppose, and what I am finally realising may be true for me too. I wish you every success on your journey, I could feel your pain and frustration jumping of the page, and it made more sense to me than you could every possibly imagine! So thank you for your bravery in raising this idea in this forum!

Posted Mon 8 May 2023 15.12 by briancromack
Hands, feet, legs, elbows, scalp, back, psoriatic arthritis

Hi - read your entire thread. YOU ARE NOT ALONE. We are all here as sufferers. We will talk and help you. *Please keep talking/sharing* - it honestly does help. Take care, Brian

Posted Tue 9 May 2023 15.18 by KVS

Thanks for sharing. Although not nearly as bad as your situation, I've been dealing with psorises of genitals which has been very annoying and uncomfortable to say the least. Although it sounds crazy, I'm seeing many people with psoriases cure their problems by going on a strict carnivore diet...you may want to join the carnivore diet groups on Facebook just to widen your perspective. I live with a vegan so believe me it's a tough sell but I'm getting desperate and so far any diet I have tried has not worked. Best of luck.

Posted Thu 18 May 2023 11.59 by ElleB

Greetings fellow psoriasis sufferers. It'll be forty years next month since I was diagnosed with psoriasis aged 7. The following year I spent seven weeks in hospital. Around twenty years ago I realised that healthy eating helps my skin and stress makes it worse. I've had an interest in psychology since university but my only qualification in this area is level 2 introduction to counselling skills, a 10 week evening class I undertook 17 years ago to help me support clients when I became self employed. I'm qualified to chartered level in my profession. In early 2021 I came across Pete Walker's books about Complex PTSD and it was a light bulb moment. Further reading online revealed Parentification (child / parent role reversal) which made so much sense - I realised why I'd been conditioned to experience narcissistic abuse for decades without realising it (I'd learnt about narcissism, narcissistic abuse etc in 2015 - Drew Keys' book Narcissists Exposed is an easy to read concise introduction). In early 2022 I obtained a copy of my GP medical records which included correspondence from the children's hospital confirming my diagnosis in Jun 83. This was a revelation as it was consistent with the timing of a relative's terminal illness. Around this time I also came across The Link Between Skin Conditions and PTSD on PTSD UK's website, which refers to psoriasis. During the summer of 2022 I engaged the services of a Chartered Clinical Psychologist and our work has included Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprocessing (EMDR) and psychoanalysis. My psoriasis is slowly disappearing. I've also recently started attending restorative yoga classes (recommended palliative care by Stephanie Foo in her book What My Bones Know - a memoir of healing from complex trauma). Restorative yoga is a gentle version of yoga undertaken lying down. I've attended three sessions so far and am surprised that after each session of gentle stretches I feel like I've had a head, neck and shoulder massage. Gabor Mate's book When The Body Says No is also worth reading. Although it doesn't specifically mention psoriasis, the nearest auto-immune condition mentioned is arthritis, it's a real eye opener. I'm rapidly reaching the conclusion that whilst the medical profession traditionally treats psoriasis from a dermatological / palliative / symptom relief perspective, the curative effect of this is limited. I'm now viewing my psoriasis as a symptom of an underlying issue, and the condition of my skin as a barometer of my wellbeing. I'm receiving support from: Psychologist Nutritional therapist Menopause specialist Yoga teacher My advice is to never give up asking, learning, searching etc.

Posted Thu 31 Aug 2023 09.16 by Trimmms

Hi! I'll tell you my story in case it helps. But before, I couldn't agree more with the fact that psoriasis is cause by some kind of unresolved trauma/emotional distress. I feel very identified with ElleB's story - having suffered myself from a narcissistic parenting, leaving me with PTSD, and having consumed a lot of books and information from different psychologists, and trauma experts, like Gabor Mate himself, the creators of PNL, Marisa Peer... It's an endless list, actually. I got my first psoriasis patches around 2 years ago. At that time, I was having a pretty heavy emotional distress and I didn't even know that what I was having was psoriasis. I started seeing a psychologist for the emotional reasons, not psoriasis. But, this psychologist was different to others. She had a degree in psychology and got her official psychologist number in order (sorry, I'm not English native and I don't know the actual term for this), but she had trained herself in many, many, many more alternative therapies like breathing therapies, chinese medicine, and others, and she was able to tell me the direct emotional relation to the position of my patches. It went something like this: - Oh, I see. The patch of the throat is related to not being able to express yourself verbally, the ones on the elbows are related to (not) feeling supported, and the one at the back of your neck is related to... I actually, can't remember what she told me for that one. But I was shocked! As soon as I heard the previous two correlations, it clicked for me. I immediately felt the correlation was so accurate to what I was living/feeling at that time! (that's maybe why I don't remember the last one). We didn't do any es m specific work on it since it was very, very mild, and the actual work was more on a CBT level asking with breathing work and other alternative therapies. But after simply being aware of the correlation, two of the patches went away and never returned. The ones on the elbows are kinda the permanent ones as they come and go, but I believe, its emotional correlation (not feeling supported) is the most difficult for me to (dis)solve Now, I've got different patches like on two of my nails, the back of my head, and inside my ears, but I'm not working with that psychologist anymore, since I ran out of money and we had already solved the main issue I went to see her for. But this clearly showed me the relationship of the psoriasis to our emotions and that the only way to get rid of it is by addressing what's going on emotionally for each of us. Of course, there are things that help like corticoid creams (at least for me), healthy lifestyle and nutrition (I've done a lot on these, too) and I completely agree with ElleB that "

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