I am in the middle of what is probably the worst flare up I’ve had in ten years. I’m getting little patches of it on my hands and feet which I’ve never had before and my skin makes me resemble a flesh coloured leopard. I’m not feeling very happy about it.
Stress, not psoriasis, is my nemesis. Its subtle and sly, whispering as I try to go to sleep and slips away in the night. As I look at my skin, covered in the bright red patches that are growing larger by the day and more numerous, I know stress is in there somewhere. Stress. A feeling so fleeting yet permanent that its impossible to pin down. Like a Joker, as soon as I think I’ve found it, its behind me laughingly putting more patches on my back. Every flare up I have had always comes at times when I have been most stressed usually because of the pressure I put on myself more than anything else.
“You need to relax”. There is nothing so stressful as consciously trying to relax.
I took a holiday recently and went with the sole aim of relaxing. Walking up hills and along waterfalls that really were beautiful and the fresh air filling my lungs and gently brushing the few bits of skin I dared show to other holiday makers. My thoughts most days were: Do I feel relaxed? I’m scheduled to feel relaxed so I really should. Why isn’t my skin clearing up if I’m relaxed? It’s itchy so its clearly not getting better. Why isn’t it getting better? It’s because I’m not relaxing properly. I need to be better at relaxing. I need to concentrate on feeling relaxed. Why aren’t you capable of relaxing? It’s not that hard. BE RELAXED. NOW.
I’m almost certain my psoriasis got worse that week.
My enemy, Stress, like all the clichés ever written in comic books and thrillers, is really just me. I’m fighting with myself and my skin is a reminder that I’m not winning. I don’t consciously feel stressed but its getting worse so I must be. The vicious circle and the reason it keeps getting worse is that stress brings psoriasis, seeing the psoriasis upsets me and makes me stressed, I consciously try to not be stressed, which makes me feel stressed so the psoriasis continues to get worse.
I’ve had to admit to myself that this isn’t a circle I am likely to break any time soon. Having not had any formal treatment for my psoriasis for nearly a decade I’m being referred to a dermatologist. I’ll keep you all updated on how it goes.
Brilliant post. I am one of the 2.2% of the population tha suffer from adult night terrors. In fact I am writing this as I sit in the waiting room of my doctors as they have become cery frequent shain after a few months respite.
Stress is one of the biggest causes of flare ups. Having night terrors nightly sometimes twice a night, is frankly exhausting and also distressing for my husband to witness.
Similar to you I don’t consciously feel stressed but I guess this is my mind and body’s way of releasing the pressure. Again similar to you I’ve never had formal medical treatment although I have undertaken hypnosis, meditation and other mind and body treatments, all of which have helped but none completely eradicated the problem.
Let’s see what the doctor has to say.
Good luck with the dermatologist. I look forward to hearing about an improvement for you. And thank you for raising the topic of the enemy within. We all have one, it just manifests itself in different ways.
on August 8, 2012 at 10:44 am Ali GoddingHi Jenny,
So sorry to hear you are having a bad time of it. I agree with your stress cycle. When you need to relax you get stressed because you cant relax which makes you more stressed and your skin worse.
I hope it improves soon and you get lots of help from your dermatologist.
on August 8, 2012 at 8:53 pm CaraI’ve read other sufferers have solved their problem with Borage Oil (starflower), I do not speak from experience however, but give it a try! Hope it helps.
on March 19, 2013 at 2:37 pm hope2012