Tuesday, July 12, 2011

In the beginning........

Dr., "Kara you have psoriasis, here are some brochures for a support group that I think will help you." Those were the words that changed my life. I was twelve when I was first diagnosed with psoriasis, how awful some girls think going though puberty is bad try going through puberty while having psoriasis, talk about awful. Junior High and High School weren't too bad I would get little flares but nothing I couldn't deal with and it flared during the winter so I could always hide it with jeans and long sleeve shirts. Although shopping during those years wasn't fun because I could only buy light colored clothes due to the snow storm that appeared on my shoulders after I moved my head to much! Next was college and coming into my own. Little did I know that college meant stress and stress meant more flares. While in college I meant a fantastic doctor who was very educated on psoriasis he put me on Enbrel. I can about assure you that my roommates and I were the only people on campus who had beer and Enbrel on the same shelf. The Enbrel worked well for a little while and then it stopped working like so many of the drugs before. Once off the Enbrel there were a host of other drugs some lead to infertility others cancer so I decided to just live with what I was given and just keep covering up. The dating life in college wasn't bad but I was very cautious because I couldn't let anyone see the real me. After college I moved to the big city and finely found my prince charming not that I didn't kiss a few frogs along the way and get some weird looks!! I meant Eric at a bar, the place my mom told me I would never meet a nice guy, shows what she knows!!! I am convinced that the only reason I had enough guts to talk to him was because I had been drinking! Eric is tall, well built, and super handsome, like I said I had a few drinks!! We talked all night that night and I was completely comfortable around him but I still was scared that this handsome man would run for the hills with my imperfection. I decided that I would wait and tell him until he got a chance to know the real me and not the psoriasis because lets be real honest psoriasis deserves its own introduction.  When I finally told him he was very understanding and I think half relieved because I had come at him so seriously he thought I was going to break up with him!  Eric and I have been married for almost three years now and are more strong then ever.  I am finely at a point in my life where I am tired of covering up and I want to start living. I am going to start living naked with psoriasis. Of course I don't mean naked for real then I might scare people with more than just my psoriasis. I hope that this blog helps other people with psoriasis to do the same. Let  people stare let them ask questions it is the only way to educate the world and allow ourselves to be who we are truly meant to be.