I am 56, and I have had psoriasis since I was 29. It started with an itchy scalp and almost overnight I woke up with spots all over my body. Day by day, it got worse, and a year after my first spot, 90 per cent of my body was covered with scales.
It has made my life hell. Over the years I tried every sort of treatment, from lotions and potions to light therapy and, for the most part, nothing worked. My skin was cracked and sore all the time. As soon as I got into the car in the morning, the skin on my back would split and I used to have to bring three or four shirts to work to change into, as each one would be stained with blood or the emollient cream I had used to cover myself in throughout the day.
I had to buy shoes that were too big for my feet because I couldn’t let them touch off anything or they would crack and bleed. I felt so dirty all the time because no matter how many times I showered, my skin just kept renewing itself and shedding all over the place.
Constant pain
I was constantly in pain with it and while it is hard to describe what it feels like, I would say to anyone who has ever had a whittle or a blister: try multiplying that feeling by about 10,000 and applying that to every corner of your body and you might have some inkling of what people with psoriasis go through every day.
I have heard people, including doctors, say that the condition isn’t life threatening, but I would argue with that as there have been times over the years when I haven’t cared whether I lived or died because my quality of life was so bad.
I have had to quit jobs because it got to the point where I couldn’t leave the house because I was so self-conscious and uncomfortable. I even had it in my fingernails, and had to wear clothes that covered me from head to toe.
But, fortunately for me, my life has been transformed. I agreed to go on a drug trial at Tallaght hospital with a consultant dermatologist, Anne Marie Tobin, and I am now completely free of psoriasis. I have a monthly injection which has eradicated every inch of the scales from my skin, and for the first time in almost 30 years I can live a normal life.
Psoriasis is an absolute curse of a condition which, for the most part, sees people suffering in silence as there doesn’t seem to be enough knowledge or help available. I would advise anyone who has this awful illness to persevere and not give up looking for the right medication. I didn’t, and thankfully I am now able to live again.
For information about psoriasis, see the Irish Skin Foundation iti.ms/1ESNZNM