Living through the itch

Growing up I have always had some issues with self confidence. I like to think that I have found a way to be more comfortable with myself as I have gotten older but some days are harder than others. For as long as I can remember I have suffered from red, itchy, flakey skin on different areas of my body. Never before have I thought of it as anything more than an irritation but now that I am getting older, and it is getting worse, I am accepting the fact that I have a disease. Usually I have young children questioning what is on my knees or my feet but the past few weeks more and more adults have been concerned and I realize it is more noticeable now than ever before. I suffer from psoriasis, an immune disease that causes my skin to grow faster in some areas. I have never been one to cover it up, I wear shorts and capris along with flip flops, but more and more I am feeling like I need to hide myself. There is no cure and no understanding of why it occurs, it isn't contagious and no treatments I have used seems to help any. I sit here, itching out of control, trying not to scratch to the point of drawing blood and I have been reading up on people that suffer even worse than I do and I am in tears. While I suffer from a moderate case, which covers more than 3% of my body, there are those that have to deal with the pain over a majority of their body and down into their joints causes arthritis, I can only hope my flare up stay in the moderate zone and progress no farther. I never thought I would ever put anything like this out there for the world to see, but here I am, over coming the embarrassment and living through the itch.