Psoriasis All of My Life
by cocallag
(USA)
I have had psoriasis for so long that I don't think it had a name back when I was a kid. I first had it on my foreleg when I was six or seven or maybe earlier. I scratched it so much over time that it left a scar there that is visible still at age 64.
I lived in tropical climates, Panama & Guam, for six years of my childhood, that’s where I remember the maddening itching, and scratching that produced bleeding. I remember a purple medication that was applied to me called something like, ‘gingin violet.’ The site was then dressed with a piece of stretchy bandage so that I wouldn’t scratch it but I did, anyway.
Over the years, psoriasis has cropped up in various places on my body including elbows, my side, hands, feet, and the sides of my nose. I cannot remember ever being without at least one itchy site. It has also worsened over time and I've been thinking "tropic." When I moved from VA to FL 13 years ago my psoriasis worsened again like when I lived in Panama & Guam.
I have it just as badly now as then on my hands and feet; left foot is the worst. The areas on my palms are large, the skin is thick, and the lines on my palms and fingers crack open spontaneously, without scratching. My hands are always either itchy or sore from scratching. I prefer sore because it feels better than the itching.
The skin on the sole of my left foot is thick and sometimes bleeds, even without scratching, leaving spots all over my tile floor that I don’t notice until later. The disease seems to run in cycles from better to bleeding over a period of a few days and then starts all over again.
Needless to say, it is embarrassing. I have a habit of hiding my hands. But, people notice the psoriasis when I'm unguarded and ask me 'What's wrong?'
I have, also needless to say, tried every treatment available from countless dermatologists over the years, to no avail. I have been told that there is no cure but something that helps when I'm sore and bleeding is to use my prescription Clobetasol Propionate Ointment USP, 0.05% and wear surgeon's gloves to bed overnight.
For my foot I use the ointment and then wrap the sole of my foot with saran wrap. I then slip on a footie to hold it in place overnight.
I am okay with the way I treat my hands and foot overnight. Most of the time they feel much better the next morning with no pain at all. However, I have never found anything at all to ease the itching and would be ecstatic to learn of something that works that I haven’t tried for this.
Does anyone have any other ideas that control psoriasis? I really like to know how others cope with it.
Thanks,
Cocallag
