I guess I should start at the beginning. I have had Psoriasis since I was about 18 years old. I remember how it first showed up as really flaky dandruff on my head. Then it just went away. In my 20s, it came back and I had it really bad on my legs, but generally everywhere else was fine. That wasn’t too bad because you could just wear pants. You see for me, I was EXTREMELY embarrassed by it.

Now in the last year, my flare up had been so bad, that around 80% of my body was covered by Psoriasis. My face, legs, arms, chest, back…man it was pretty damn bad. Not only was my skin so dry that it would crack and bleed, but I also had it in my joints. It’s kind of like having arthritis where I would find it hard to just grip things. Also, sometimes my feet and hands would cramp up a lot.

So what is Psoriasis? According to psoriasis.org “Psoriasis is an autoimmune disease that causes raised, red, scaly patches to appear on the skin. Now it’s IMPORTANT to note that, “Psoriasis is not contagious. It is not something you can “catch” or that others can catch from you. Psoriasis lesions are not infectious.” So basically what it means is that my immune system is on overdrive. Where a person loses x amount of skin per day, mine is like 10x that.

Now the only way I’ve been able to suppress or hide my Psoriasis through the years has been through drugs. And for me the only medicine that ever worked were injections (Enbrel and Stelara). These very costly injections are auto-immune suppressors. It’s same drug is given to organ transplant patients so that the body doesn’t reject the organ. Basically what it did was slow down my immune system to prevent the skin from scaling. And the injections also helped with my joints.

What didn’t work for me: Pills, creams, oils, acupuncture, UV light treatment, Chinese herbs and praying for my soul…

And why did it just flare up now? Stress…for me, my P flare ups have always been about stress. Number 2, alcohol, I had been drinking a fair bit recently over the holiday periods and I also know that one of my other triggers is alcohol.

So how did I beat this bitch?! You’ll have to read the next blog about how the TRULY AWESOME peeps at Santosa Wellness Center helped me and my skin…and wait til you see THOSE pictures!!!

Here’s a taste:

Oh ya…and I lost 6.5kgs/14.3lbs in a week!!!

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Thanks for giving it a read.