Stress - a psoriasis trigger

Yep.. As if stress is not bad enough on our minds and bodies ... it is worse on our psoriasis!

Just google how stress affects our bodies and the list goes on and on.. from headaches, chest pain, fatigue to muscle tension, sleep problems and so much more...

It makes us anxious, overwhelmed, irritable, sad, depressed angry ..oh and our psoriasis flares up and bleeds and hurts and makes our stress even worse.

So what can we do? Life is tough. There is work and bills to pay and responsibilities and family to take care of.

Before my body was covered in psoriasis I would spoil myself with an hour of massage - it was heaven. All the stresses of the day would simply dissipate. Sometimes I would get a pedicure - loving the foot massage and the warm water soak. Both of these stress releases were taken from me when my skin became 75% covered in red, scaly plaques.

As for relationships - thats more stress. Covering our bodies, hiding our marked skin, lights off, feeling embarrassed - ashamed.

During the twenty-five years as a psoriasis sufferer I used food as my stress reliever... turning into a yo-yo dieter. The more stressed I became, the fatter I became and the worse my psoriasis became.

It is all very well to say "exercise". It is a proven stress reliever... but somehow a lemon meringue pie and a good movie would win out.

It is when we are the most stressed that we must be our own best friend. Be kind to ourselves. Remind ourselves that we are not alone in our psoriasis bodies.. Over 125 million psoriasis sufferers are living life with this disease. And now many of us are learning to heal our psoriasis without drugs, without all the side effects of medication. We have discovered a healthy way to eliminate the effects of this disfiguring disease. Psoriasis grows in an acidic body - it is all about learning what foods help maintain a healthy pH balance.

And, guess what? A side effect of eating the right foods transforms our bodies into the "hey, I look healthy and slender and fantastic" category!

I finally conquered this disease. I conquered the stress of the disease. By learning what foods affected my psoriasis it gave me a purpose, a goal.

Today I am psoriasis free. My skin is clear. My body is healthy. My weight remains the same - it doesn't fluctuate.

We can't eliminate all of life's stresses, but we can take control of our bodies. We can get more sleep, eat less acidic foods such as sugar, dairy, coffee, black tea and alcohol and eat more herbs and vegetables and healthy avocado and olive oils and replace the junk-food salts with alkaline Himalayan salt and take walks in the sunshine and breathe fresh air and squeeze fresh lemon juice into our daily drinking water. And take regular relaxing baths with a scoop of baking soda and a soft gel capsule of evening primrose oil - your skin and mind will love it.

Somehow when we look and feel great all the other stresses seem much more manageable.

Happy Healing