Hi Emilyvic and welcome to the forum! Thanks for sharing your story with us. You'll find lots of friendly and understanding folk here who know exactly what you're going through.
I really feel for you cos that's about the same age when I developed psoriasis, also while I was living abroad, and I started to lose all self-confidence, didn't want to go out, always covering up (even in the middle of summer!) and started displaying symptoms of social anxiety.
To answer your question, I'm afraid the sad truth, and what we have all had to discover, is that there is no cure and it is a lifelong condition that we have to live with - until the day a cure is found. However, there are various treatments for psoriasis that can help to control it, and some people have even had their psoriasis completely cleared. To be completely honest with you, you will have to be patient and you will have to be strong, and try and find a treatment that works for you - I cannot tell you what you can do to make it go fast. There are no 'miracle cures'.
Firstly, if you haven't already done so, you should be seeing a hospital consultant dermatologist. If it's all over your body, as you say, then your GP should have no issues in making a referral. If the GP doesn't offer to do this, you must ask for one. The various treatment creams/lotions will normally not be suitable if you have severe psoriasis and extensive coverage all over your body because there is a limit to how much you can use because of the potential side effects, particularly for the steroid-based creams.
In your condition, the treatments that will be offered to you to try will probably be UVB/UVA light treatment, various oral systemics (tablets/capsules) such as acitretin, cyclospirin, methotretxate, and if none of those work, the newer biologics, which are injections. Some might not work for you and some might cause undesirable side effects, so it's a matter of finding one that is suitable for you. This can be extremely annoying and frustrating, especially if you have to try several different treatments over months or years, but hopefully you'll find something soon that works for you.
Right now, what you can do to relieve some of the pain and discomfort is to make sure that you moisturise regularly. This will make things a bit more bearable and prevent cracking and bleeding and relieve some of the itching to an extent. Also, replacing your soap or shower creams with an emollient or soap substitute. This is the advice from the Psoriasis Association:
Do I need to moisturise my skin?Yes yes yes! Moisturisers make the skin feel much more comfortable by decreasing the dryness, scaling, soreness and itching. A moisturising lotion can be cooling to itchy and sore skin, and is absorbed very quickly so is ideal for use in the day time. A moisturising cream or ointment is generally a better moisturiser, but can take longer to absorb into the skin. Rubbing a cream into your skin is not the only way to replace lost moisture, try using an emollient or soap substitute to wash, shower and shave with.I use Dermol 500 lotion to wash and shower with, and use Dermol Cream to moisturise with. You can get these on repeat prescription from your GP, which will be cheaper than buying from the pharmacy (normally about 10 quid a bottle) and even cheaper if your GP is happy to put two on a prescription. The benefit, in my opinion, of the Dermol products is that they are also anti-microbial, which I think is a good idea if your skin is cracking and bleeding, and therefore at risk of infection.
Other than that, I would suggest cutting back on or cutting out alcohol, and trying to eat more healthily in general (more fruits and veg).
Also, don't make the mistake I did and try to cope with this on your own. I did for over 10 years - until very recently - and that was a mistake. It's good that you've found this forum and that you're asking for help, and people here will certainly try to help, but also do confide in your family and friends. You might think that they won't understand but you might be surprised at how understanding and supportive people can be.
For more information on the condition and treatments, have a look at the Psoriasis Association website. Here's their FAQs page:
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LoginWell, hope this helps. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask.
