My journey with psoriasis

25 Oct 2022

By Yazeed Adams

My name is Yazeed Adams and this is my journey with psoriasis.

It all started when my father got diagnosed age 60 that he has psoriasis after which he started getting plague psoriasis in between his joints. This was all new to me and my family as nobody knew or even heard of psoriasis back then. We knew of nobody who suffered with psoriasis from my father’s side. When this all happened, I was in my early teens and I never knew a skin disease could do so much damage to a person psychological and physically. My father developed psoriasis soon after he retired. He quickly developed severe psoriasis which covered 90 percent of his body and he was hospitalized many times. I witnessed first-hand what a debilitating disease this could be and how it affected him psychologically. My father was put on methotrexate tablets which eventually caused his organs to fail.

He died as a result of multiple organ failure. Sad to say, this was due to medical negligence as his liver function was not properly monitored.

1 year after his passing I developed guttate psoriasis which covered my entire body soon after my 21st birthday. I guess life decided to give me a 21st Gift. It quickly progressed into plaque psoriasis which covered 80 percent of my body. I am now 45. During the intervening years I learnt to deal with it and started researching, noting what triggered my psoriasis. I went through the usual trial and errors with regards to what creams work and what don’t. I was hospitalized once before, and I never ever wanted to go through that again. I eventually found some relief in following a spiritual and healthy lifestyle. Over the years my psoriasis did progress to pustular but I did find that the healing procedure was much quicker. I am a firm believer that this disease can be beaten, and you can live a normal life if you manage your spiritual and mental health well. These 2 go hand in hand. I believe I have changed my life by becoming closer to God who is the ultimate giver of life and health. Over the years I found much relief in the simpler things. I found sleeping with clothes drenched in Vaseline help keep my skin hydrated during the difficult times of dryness and scaling. I consume a mixture of turmeric mixed with black pepper or cayenne pepper first thing in the morning and last thing before sleeping which helps enormously with managing pain and healing. These are the tips I would advise all my fellow sufferers to follow. Do what works for you and know deep down you can beat this. God tests his greatest warriors in many ways. Stay strong and stay blessed.

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