A Young Wife’s Tale

The week of September 12-18, National Chronic Invisible Illness Awareness Week, David started getting red welts or hives on his torso. Just a few at first, and I initially thought it was the psoriasis. I immediately went into panic mode, assuming the Humira had stopped working on his Psoriatic Arthritis, and that he was going to start having the terrible flares that leave him bedridden again. David quickly figured out it wasn’t psoriasis. He took Benadryl, and the hives went away.

The next day they came back, only worse. He saw our family doctor who gave him some allergy medicine. I make our laundry detergent and cleaning products, and nothing new had been introduced. David wasn’t using any new shampoos or soap.

This went on for days. Allergy medicine would clear up his skin, but the welts kept coming back. Then one afternoon while I was at my part-time administrative assistant job, David started having trouble breathing. The allergic reaction was making his throat close up.

David and I had the opportunity to watch a new movie “I’m Just Like You – Children With Psoriasis” tonight, and it was wonderful!

The film follows the lives of five families dealing with Psoriasis, an auto-immune disease that affects more than seven million Americans. We appreciated hearing the stories of young people struggling with psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis just like David. Some of the children had parents with the disease. It was great hearing their perspectives.

This was originally posted on April 25, 2009. It was the second blog post I wrote. It’s amazing to see how far we’ve come. And to know David’s arthritis could be this bad again.

My husband, David has Psoriatic Arthritis. He was diagnosed a year ago, at age 23. He’s only ever had mild psoriasis on his scalp. We actually didn’t know it was psoriasis until the rheumatologist told us. David has a family history of rheumatoid arthritis, so we were relieved to know he does not have the rheumatoid factor, although I recently learned that it could develop into rheumatoid arthritis.

Each April, in honor of National Volunteer Month, the National Psoriasis Foundation recognizes it’s thousands of volunteers – people who work each day to help further the mission of the Psoriasis Foundation: to find a cure for psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis and to eliminate their devastating effects through research, advocacy and education. Our volunteer network is thousands strong and working in infinite ways to help people with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis lead healthy, fulfilling lives and hope for a future without their disease.

Volunteering can be an intimidating idea, but it’s not always a matter of giving hours and hours each week; sometimes it’s the smallest action that has the biggest impact. Writing a letter to your member of Congress asking for support of psoriasis legislation could be the difference between getting a bill passed in Congress or not. Speaking to your child’s class about psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis could prevent a child from being bullied because of their skin. Sharing your story on the TalkPsoriasis message board could be the encouragement another person needs to seek treatment.

Check out the videos I did for Health Central on psoriasis. This on is about Psoriasis in the Workplace and this one is about Personal Struggles while Living with Psoriasis. David is still doing well. I see my urologist again on Monday for my interstitial cystitis. We’re busy preparing for the move back to Texas! [...]