I know that I’ll have psoriasis my whole life

I had very severe psoriasis at the time and left trails of white flakes of skin wherever I went. It was quite embarrassing. But the worst thing was the itching. When I got dressed I would scratch myself all over my body until the skin was raw and started bleeding. That was pretty much a normal part of my daily routine.

My psoriasis wasn’t actually a problem at school to start off with. But then things got worse as I grew older, and I had trouble concentrating. My grades got worse then too. That was partly due to problems in my family. But I remember that the itching really distracted me from my schoolwork. It was particularly bad when I had to study for exams.

My skin really bothered me, even if I had friends and was accepted as one of the gang. I still went swimming and out into the sun, despite having psoriasis. I didn’t get the feeling that many people avoided me or anything. My parents were more of a problem because they fussed over me so much – sometimes too much.

The treatments that helped the most were my daily skin care routine and my stays at health resorts. I stayed at the Dead Sea four times. My skin was always great after that and I felt like I had been reborn. But scratching had become such a habit that it was hard to stop. Unfortunately, the improvement after staying at the health resorts didn’t last very long – perhaps about half a year, then my psoriasis came back.

I use lotions containing urea as part of my skin care routine. My skin is a lot better nowadays. It’s less flaky and hardly itches anymore.

My skin care routine takes up quite a lot of time every day, but I don’t mind because I know that it really helps. It keeps my skin moisturized, the flakes of skin are loose and I can remove them quite easily with my hands. Cold water and cold showers help to relieve the itching too.

Stress doesn’t affect my skin as much nowadays. What I eat has more of an influence: spicy food isn’t great and the itching can get worse if I drink alcohol, particularly wine.

When I was 20 years old, I had treatment with a fumaric acid ester. That didn’t help much. I stopped the treatment after half a year. The next time I stayed at a health resort, they adjusted the dose and then it worked well for about a year. But then my blood levels got worse and I had to stop the treatment again.

I also tried out light therapy but that hardly worked at all. Combining light therapy and salt water helped more. During my various stays at health resorts, I bathed in salt water and then had light therapy. That was always really effective.

I once went to a health resort to try to change my diet, but that didn’t help much. After that, I didn’t do anything new for a long time. Then I tried out various homeopathic treatments at some point, but nothing worked over the long term.

My skin is generally a lot better now and it hardly itches anymore. It’s less flaky than it used to be, and fewer areas of skin are affected. The psoriasis is no longer all over my arm, just in certain places.

One thing I’ve noticed is that the time of year makes a difference. In the colder months of the year my skin is flakier, and in the summer the patches are only slightly pink and not at all flaky. Wearing short sleeves in the sun helps too.

Having psoriasis has hardly affected my everyday life in terms of social contacts. A lot of the people I come across already know what psoriasis is or know someone who has it. I have still had some negative experiences, though. But they were few and far between.

When I was a child, I had swimming lessons in an indoor swimming pool. Surprisingly, it was the younger children who said hurtful things. They said I shouldn’t go into the water because I’ll pass it on to other people. That upset me at the time, even though I knew they didn’t know what they were talking about.

One thing that really bothered me was media reports that raised false hopes. They often talked about treatments that could cure psoriasis, as if by magic. That was a very simplistic view of things. The reports weren’t based on solid medical proof. It was all about trying to sell products. I know that I’ll have psoriasis my whole life. Sometimes it’s better, sometimes it’s worse. It comes and goes in phases. You have to be more realistic about it.

The support group really helped me. I led a group myself as well. What helped me the most as a group leader was being active while at the same time learning more about useful contacts in the health sector. We went swimming together in a public indoor swimming pool every two weeks. I enjoyed going into the water with the others. People who have psoriasis often withdraw from society and hide away, especially if they have clearly visible patches. We notice that in the support groups too: A lot of people don’t come to the meetings or don’t make use of the available support options.

I’ve learned to cope better with my psoriasis over time. I’m more relaxed about it now – perhaps thanks to my age and life experience. If I have a flare-up and have to scratch myself a lot, then that’s just how it is. I’ve come to accept that as a normal part of my life, even if it still bothers me every now and then. It’s not a big deal to me anymore.