Maintenance, If you can't cure it, what can you do?

I'm not gonna lie, I happen to be very fortunate that MOST of the places I have psoriasis are concealable. This is not the case for some people. The most common places it shows up are the elbows, knees and head. Fortunately I only have it on my head and a few spots on my back and a place on my shin. I still have friends ask me what happened to my forehead(I usually wear a hat or bandanna), that I hang out with all the time. Psoriasis is such a catch-22 pain in the ass because it looks like death, so you wanna cover it up, but it only gets (slightly) better by being in the open and able to breath (and get some sunlight). I used to work as a city worker at a big park down the street, and one night taking out the trash in the dark I was jogging to hurry up and finish before I got off and ran right into the corner of this big machine called a Sweeper, that picks up leaves and dead grass.

The Sweeper!

I cut my shin open all the way to the bone. Had to go to the ER and get 12 stitches. It was pretty awesome. Except that now I have a patch of psoriasis on my shin the size of a baseball. I've been just putting neosporin on it and covering it with a gauze when I go out because I just don't like people staring at it like they think an alien is gonna pop out at any moment or something. haha

"Psoriasis is a chronic immune-mediated genetic disease whose symptoms appear on the skin, and -for those with the associated arthritic condition- in the joints. Chronic means continual. Symptoms may go away, but the underlying disease causing the symptoms remains and so they may return. And in fact, many psoriatics experience ebbs and flows in symptoms; in response to treatment but also for no apparent reason. Because the cause of the symptoms remains, chronic also means incurable, making it wise to be suspicious of claims to actually cure psoriasis. However incurable doesn't mean there is nothing to be done, so you learn to live with it. For most people, symptoms can be controlled to create an effective cure, even if not a permanent one."

http://www.psoriasisfaq.com/

All that right there, is what I WISH I could just spew out when someone asks what psoriasis is, but instead all that comes out is this wishy-washy half ass explanation of this genetic skin disorder bla bla it never goes away bla bla It doesn't hurt bla bla just skin that grows really fast bla bla. Aaaand that doesn't really explain much other than make me look like some careless diseased slacker that doesn't care that a part of his leg looks like it's rotting or something.

So like most things in life I just turn it into something awesome, and tell them that I was wrestling pit vipers in Cairo and got bit hahah or I was saving a box of kittens from a grizzly bear and barely got away haha that one always get's em! I find that people just except it easier that way. Nobody really wants to hear me talk about skin disease, and most people with the balls to ask what happened feel like a dick when they see their question visibly made someone uncomfortable and I don't wanna make anyone feel uncomfortable when they are just being curious.

Ok so what do I use daily right now to help minimize the hideous sight of my psoriasis? Well it's summertime right now and I've been trying to get as much sun as possible. Sunlight is literally a freaking god-send for people with psoriasis! I floated the river two days in a row and I am amazed at how much it makes a difference. I also used to use Dr. Bronner’s Peppermint Soap, but i'm out of it right now. It usually costs around 11 bucks and I get it at Trader Joe's, but you can get it online or on Ebay or somethin. It's funny all that tiny letters on the bottle is a bunch of religious scripture garbage, but I don't care the stuff works, and it tingles in that good way where you know it's doing something. Just DON'T let it get in your eyes!! It's like MACE! At the store they had it in a shelf with this sign that said "Great for washing dogs" I was like WTF and went and told the cashier to take that off because that's just fucked up your dog can't tell you it burns like a mother fucker when it gets in your eyes, so yeah don't wash your poor dog with this stuff. I'd let it soak in for about 10 minutes then I could just rub all the flakes right off and my psoriasis would then just look like inflamed red patches. (those with psoriasis know this stage) I never go out in public when my psoriasis is all crackly or lifted I wouldn't let someone see me like that ever. Psoriasis has been a pretty bad pain in the ass in terms of meeting women because I have all these stone-solid rules about what I will and won't let even my closest friends see. Even my mom rarely sees it at it's worst because I'd just be embarrassed. I see some people who have learned to live with it and just go with the flow and don't give a shit and I commend those people, but I just can't do it. That's why I'm so gung-ho at figuring out how to fix my psoriasis when I only have a small portion or % of psoriasis cover compared to some people. I'm still young and these are some damn good years I'm trying to have, so I won't let psoriasis get in the way of me meeting some awesome chick. I can already think of multiple occasions where I refused to follow up on dates or connections just because I was having a bad flare up. I just won't do it man, no way. Anyways, I digress. After the shower I use usually any silky lotion like eucerin that will last a while and just apply that liberally. Sometimes it's not enough though, so I have lotion in my truck and backpack and usually keep it pretty close by.