To the Psoriasis I've Lived With for the Last 28 Years

Dear psoriasis,

Hate you. Sorry, not sorry. I thought we had a good thing going. I spent the last 28 years primarily ignoring you, and you me. Sometimes, I might have complained about you to the few people outside of my family who knew about you and occasionally visited a few doctors to try and make you leave. But mostly, I just went through my life hiding you when I had to, with you coming and going as you pleased.

And that seemed to work out pretty OK for us both. I never charged you rent, and you always had a place to live with lots of yummy scalp food to chew on. Up until quite recently, I could cover you with my thick hair or layers of concealer, and you would throw obnoxious, but relatively short-lived hissy fits before going on your merry way.

That said, I don’t appreciate your emergence on my face, since this wasn’t part of our rental agreement. The polka dots speckling my eyebrows and the somewhat pimply breakout of psoriasis on my chin and neck aren’t welcome.

Thanks for trying to hide in the freckles, though. Whoot, I love looking like I’m 13 again. But not even inflaming my face was enough. Nope, now you’re causing constant pain. From swollen, purple joints in my fingers to popping and cracking joints whenever I make even the smallest of movements to hips that just won’t stay in place, my body is teeming with you. And now you have destroyed my back! The pain robs me of my sleep, confines me to just a few pairs of shoes to alleviate the back pain, steals all the hard-earned flexibility in my legs and turns my strong core into a sad and weak mess.

Thanks to you, I am completely overrun with psoriatic arthritis, just one more exciting addition to the psoriasis of the last 28 years.

Here’s looking at you, jerk. With at least one referral pending from my neurologist and pain management injections on the horizon, I want to thank you for hammering one more nail into my coffin. And even though this chronic condition is much less insidious and much more controllable, I’m tired of constantly having to battle for health. I deserve a real shot, and I will have my life back. You might have taken one round, but I’m going to win this war.

Psoriatic arthritis, you can screw off. Your lease is up.

With love,

The Girl Who Kicked Your Butt

Lead photo source: Getty Images