Hi all,
Brand new member here, thought this would be the best place to get information from anyone willing to give it. I'm 22, male and I started developing psoriasis about a year ago. It started off as one tiny red patch on my torso and I thought it was a small rash or more seriously something potentially cancerous as I'd just returned from holiday where I was exposed to a lot of sun. Anyway, unfortunately it's developed as I now have it covering one elbow and multiple dots of it around my body and forehead. It's extremely hard to deal with but as I know it's not the worst case in the world, I always say to myself it could be worse.
After doing a lot of research on it on the internet and talking to various family members I discovered that my grandfather had psoriasis, so that explained the genetic source, but it didn't end there. My mum had eczema and asthma from when she was a little girl to well into her 20's, and then developed arthritis in her hips and shoulders in her 40's. Now in her late 50's she's developed crones disease in her bowel which resulted in her having to undergo a serious operation to remove part of her inflamed bowel and is now on immuneo-suppressive drugs. Her sister, my aunt, died of a similar bowel problem back in 2007 (partially due to medical negligence of which a lawsuit is developing) and my other aunt has been in and out of hospital with stomach problems (having had half of her intestine removed at age 15) her whole life.
I've heard that between 20-30% of psoriasis suffers are at high risk of developing psoriatic Arthritis, and naturally this terrifies me. Having gone from a fairly confidant, positive and care free teenager to now being extremely self-conscious, not wanting to go swimming, take my top off in any situation or even wear a t-shirt, I finally got round to accepting the daily grind off applying creams and such, but the thought of living a life where I’m at high risk of developing much more severe problems leaves me feeling extremely depressed, genetically inferior and helpless. I’m a musician, a guitarist / pianist and I’m also an exercise nut and as if feeling physically abnormal wasn’t bad enough, the thought of developing arthritis in my fingers / legs / anywhere before I’m classified ‘old’ would just quite literally be the end of me.
What I don’t understand is, if human beings are an evolutionary result of natural selection and survival of the fittest, how do things like psoriasis and autoimmune diseases exist to begin with? I’m a firm believer that things like cancer are a result of modern living; introducing man made chemically concocted foods into our diets, breathing in daily toxins, work stress and emotional stress, but why psoriasis? Surely in our ancestry if someone was to develop psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis then their chances of surviving / escaping predators / passing on their genes would be significantly cut down? I don’t understand psoriasis or genetics enough to know the answer, but it’s causing a major low point in my life at the moment and it’s got me extremely worried and upset.
If anybody has any help, information or advice I’d be very grateful to hear it.
Thanks for reading.
