How are you doing today? I want to talk about psoriasis again and how the impacts of Covid-19 and lockdown has impacted my skin. If you had told me this time last year that we were just months away from a pandemic and our lives would be completely different I'd probably be in disbelief. But when I watched what happened in China, then Italy and the rest of the world including where I am in the UK it became all too realistic and the consequences are a bit worrying. Being stuck at home has had it's ups and downs for me and I'm sure many people feel the same. I also understand how bad these consequences are such as redundancy, getting ill, or losing loved ones. My psoriasis isn't exactly on a list of priorities right now but it's good to talk about it. So, here are some thoughts or more like situations and realisations I've had through these past few months.
Number 1
I kind of thought with all this time at home I would have more time to keep to a strict skincare regime. Ohhh boy was I wrong about that. There would be times where I'd have a good couple of weeks keeping up with it and then I'd go days of just not bothering. I think that was partly down to mental health where some days I just wanted my skin to be better and other days where it was the last thing on my list to care about. I also think the moisturiser that I was using from the doctor started to make my skin worse. One of the joys of psoriasis, it's trial and error and even when something works at first it can stop working further down the line. I stopped using it and just used my Body Shop coconut moisturiser and my skin has massively improved.
Number 2
With the weather getting better and that we were still allowed to go out for daily exercise and plus I have a dog so he needs walked a few times a day I thought "hey, the sun will help" yet it didn't help at all. The sun normally does help but I guess the stress and anxiety of what was going on around us outweighed the benefits. Also with the sun comes an awful lot of heat which I hate. Autumn for life. Heat means clothes stick, rub and just irritate the living days out of my skin and it also means a lack of sleep which can also trigger a flare. Seriously, I can not wait for the cooler weather to get here.
Number 3
As I wasn't going anywhere I thought it doesn't matter what shampoo or conditioner I use just now because nobody will really be seeing me or my hair. I bought some of Tesco's own cheaper shampoo and conditioner forgetting why I stopped using some brands in the past. My scalp was not thankful for the switch to cheaper brands at all. If my hair isn't being looked after then neither is my scalp. I was wondering for weeks why my scalp which hadn't been this bad in 10 years was all of a sudden flaring up so bad. I realised and quickly changed what I was using and my scalp started to heal. Still has a bit to go but it's better than what it was. I nearly cried a couple of times with how sore my hairline had become.
Number 4
With a pandemic comes new protocols and behaviour to try and keep not just ourselves safe but those around us too. Washing hands. This was more at the start before places started closing. The massive emphasis that was put on washing our hands. My hands were a mess. Red all over and just sore that I didn't want anything touching the back of my hands for a while. Thankfully my hands are no longer in that state but I am definitely worried that now everything has opened again and using some shops hand sanitisers are a bit too harsh for sensitive skin.
Here are some articles I came across discussing the subject of psoriasis during covid and the third link is just a great wee resource for the psoriasis community.
Do you have psoriasis? Has lockdown and Covid-19 made an impact on your skin? What have you found that has helped or worsened it? Just remember that on top of life itself which can be tough we are living in such an unpredictable and crazy time and if you're psoriasis is flaring then don't be too hard on yourself. I know sometimes there's days where we can get down about it but it's normal. Anyways thanks for reading. :)
Pictures used are from Unsplash
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