Psoriasis Blog

Here’s the detail:
Started with large-ish red bump on top of right second toe (has since subsided, leaving red mark everywhere the bump grew to), day later a small blister-like bump on side of right middle toe. Within two weeks, three small blister-like bumps clustered together on side of left second toe (a week later, had mostly grown together), one on top of left middle toe. All slightly tender to touch, do not itch. Tried opening two small ones, only a tiny amount of clear fluid discharged. General practicioner & rheumatologist could not identify, have been on antibiotics and using Lotrimin forŅ-6 days with no change. First appeared mid/late Dec., coincided with start of mild joint/muscle pain, esp. in fingers, and in the last few days what feels like intermittent “growing pains”, mostly in legs, a little in arms (may not be related, history of rheumatoid arthritis in the family.) No recent trauma, exposure to extreme temps, poss. allergens, new shoes, etc. No other rash-like symptoms on body, no history of psoriasis, etc. Can not find anything similar online. Waiting on results of blood tests from rheumatologist, if that shows nothing and the antibiotics haven’t done anything within the 10 days, I’ll be making an appt’ w/a dermatologist, but…I’m impatient :-p

If I were a dog, I’d be an Afghan Hound. My hair is so thin and fine that I can wrap a child’s hair-tie around my ponytail 3 times. It’s *that* fine. I have to be careful about what products I use because of psoriasis, which also means I only wash my hair every other day and can only rinse it in between in the summer when it gets really hot and sweaty.

I wanted to grow my hair longer than my best friend (I envied her since Kindergarten!) and we are fast approaching *gulp* 50. I finally “won”, so it’s time to think about what to do with my hair again.

All of the websites I look at seem to have hairstyles for people who want to spend time on their hair. My idea of spending time on my hair is washing, towel drying, and combing it. Job done. Due to arthritis I can’t use curlers or curling irons, and clips can even sometimes be a challenge in a flare.

I guess I’m more or less looking for websites that have hairstyles for people my age. I see a lot of hairstyles I *like*, but they are all on women half my age, and the last thing I want to do is to end up looking like I’m trying to recapture my youth (which is what I fear I already do).
Thanks for the spam… didn’t help me a bit : – (
Believe me… the wig has been considered! The only thing I hear is that it can aggravate my psoriasis more by trapping the heat and moisture next to my scalp and making it itch more. I would really like to have a wig of long, thick curls. I would even settle for thick at this point! I used to be mad at my brother for having such thick hair, but I am extracting the ultimate revenge… I still have all my hair >: – )!

The topic of the essay was to address a problem concerning American society of particular concern to you, and to propose one or more positive solutions.

“The Big ‘C’”: A Different Meaning to Me
The machine beeped noisily as it slowly turned on. The nightly routine had now begun— the bags had been opened, the solution was warming, and the tubing was priming. Five minutes later, the monstrous mechanism that sat on the nightstand read, “Connect yourself”. And I watched from afar as my mother, donning a mask, joined the tube on the machine with the tube coming out of her stomach.
Drain 1 of 4…Fill 1 of 4…Dwell 1 of 4…Drain 2 of 4…the cycle repeated over and over again, for eight hours straight, until an obnoxious tone startled those who had since fallen asleep. My mother’s dialysis was finally over…until tomorrow night. And this had become her life; relying on a machine to stay alive.
“The big ‘C’”…when used medically, the phrase almost universally brings to mind the word “cancer”. Cancer is a horrific disease in itself. My grandmother died from it. But to me, the phrase brings to mind “chronic kidney failure”. It’s a disease my mother suffers from; one she had contracted months before it was ever diagnosed, yet she hadn’t known it.
The symptoms were easy to attribute to other, more common ailments. The back pain—part of getting older. The bad taste in her mouth—needing to brush her teeth more. The feeling tired all the time—working too much. She had no idea that her kidneys were being destroyed by an invisible attacker.
The point here? There was little literature about her condition readily available to her. Sure, you would find information about kidney disease at any decent nephrologist’s office. But at the time my mother needed it most, it wasn’t somewhere she could see it in everyday life.
Last year, I saw advertisements for cancer screenings, sleep aids, arthritis medications, pain relievers, cold and flu medications, erectile dysfunction, overactive bladder, depression, high cholesterol medications, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s disease, just to name a few. There was nothing about kidney failure. Not a word.
The progression of my mother’s condition could have been slowed significantly. If someone, a year ago, had sat her down and told her that her kidneys were wasting away, she could have done something about it. She could have changed her diet, gotten more exercise, and taken medication. But she never got the chance.
WebMD has an application called the “symptom checker”, which allows you to input the problem you’re having and view the possible causes. While this feeds the worries of many hypochondriacs, perhaps it wouldn’t hurt if the American Kidney Foundation ran an advertisement (or infomercial) on television every now and then explaining the symptoms of kidney disease. Maybe a page or two about it in a popular magazine wouldn’t be a bad thing, either.
The diseases that are the most treatable are the ones people can see. For example, Americans go to the dermatologist if they see psoriasis developing on their skin. They go to the dentist if their gums appear inflamed. But many irreversible conditions are silent enemies, with very few or easily dismissed symptoms. Using “snail mail” or e-mail to spread information about these silent enemies would be a good thing as well. Although many would dismiss it as junk mail or spam, it may catch someone’s eye just as it sails into the trash. It may save a life.
The thesis of my argument isn’t confined simply to renal failure. I know of kidney disease only through personal experience with it. There are so many conditions that affect Americans daily that you and I have never even heard of. But without the literature, there’s no hope of us ever knowing about them. Spreading the word is the best people like me can do, but it seems to not happen often. I have learned more about the workings of the kidneys and their dysfunction in the last six months than I ever thought I would know. I have told more people about my mother’s story than I can count. Hopefully, it will make a difference to someone, someday.
It’s too late for my mother. That machine on her bedside will be working tonight and every night thereafter. But in all honesty, it doesn’t upset us anymore. We now have the opportunity to spare someone else from what we went through. However, I hope that a community (such as the American Kidney Foundation) with more public outreach than I could ever dream of having takes the suggestions of people like my mother and I and tries to save someone from any virtually unknown disease. Someone. Anyone. Because that’s all that really matters.

Please be constructive if you have criticism. What do you think of it? Ten points to most thorough answer!