Psoriasis for life? So what!

• My left arm (09.01.18)

Psoriasis is an immune-mediated disease that causes raised, red, scaly patches to appear on the skin. It typically affects the outside of the elbows, knees or scalp, though it can appear on any location. Some people report that psoriasis is itchy, burns and stings. - www.psoriasis.org

It is not a contagious disease. Will not "jangkit" if you touch me or vice versa.

Have had this since I started working at 21 years old, although it wasn't this extreme. I still could wear short skirts and sleeveless tops without a care as the patches were small, like 5 sen coins. As work got more stressful, patches start to get bigger and sort of like connected to each other. It has never disrupted my work, curricular , social, or even love life. I accepted it and moved on.

However after about a decade of having this disease, it has spread to my joints and this is called psoriatric athritis. It causes my joints to swell and slowly disfigure my digits. It is now affecting my toes, bottom of feet, knees and fingers. I never expected that the simplest thing such as opening door knobs, wearing socks and even a bra can be such a difficult task when your thumb and forefinger joints are swollen. Not nice guys.

As you can see from this 👆photo, my middle finger is super bent and I am unable to straighten it at all. I managed to save the rest of my digits and joints by taking fish oil supplements - which I read on a dialogue about psoriasis. I'm still taking it and pain is greatly reduced when I'm consistently taking it. Of course there are days I forget 😂😂😂

Doctors have deduced that this finger cannot be saved at all but they will try to save my other digits from this painful situation.

So instead of wallowing in despair or playing the damsel in distress, I laugh and joke about it (especially that superbent middle finger!). My friends get kinda grossed out when I tell them the many ways how it can be used LOL

What I'm saying is : if you take it too emotionally negative, then life can be kinda on the downside for you. If you take it emotionally positive, then nothing can bring you down. Yes we have bad days, but the good days outnumber the bad.

Just #BeProud of yourself. Who needs somebody to tell us when we can do it ourselves?

• photo taken from internet

Don't feel bad for us; sympathy doesn't help. Being a sincere friend helps instead.

Thanks for reading my ramblings. #steemit #psoriasismalaysia #sabah