6 months since I left corporate work

I tell everyone that I am a lowly paid employee now. The consolation is I do have a bit more time to think about the next phase in life. Also my skin seems to have improved.. So stress is really a culprit huh? But I love my old job! The excitement of being with the big boys running a tiny part of a large corporation. At the end of the day, which is more important? I'm doing this for us, for now. Are you ready for a career pause?

I am stress-free, why is my skin not improving?

What is your 2011 wish?

   I wish for my psoriasis to clear up, especially the legs so that I can wear shorts and skirts without needing to wear leggings and pantyhoses to cover up.

   Currently my legs looks like the world map, with speckles of countries and islands everywhere :(

Skin improvement post Phuket

   Sometimes you just don't know what makes the skin improve or flare up. As for me, it's been 7 weeks post Phuket (with the massive flare due to sunburn), I've started applying Elomet ointment daily for a week, and I had some bird nest here and there.

   Skin seems to be improving again, especially the arms. Fingers crossed this keeps up as I just bought a new dress for an important wedding coming up this weekend! I'm broke :(

  Those of you who have the extra money to spare, perhaps birdnest can be your next option? Not sure if it actually helps the psoriasis but my face certainly looks more radiant and fresh!

  Keep your spirit up, don't less psoriasis bring you down. After all, you are not alone :)

xoxo pat

Sun is bad for my skin!

   I've recently returned from a trip to Phuket with my other half and his staff. The food, hotel Amari and island hopping are all great! Have you ever tried 'sea walking'? It's a little touristy but if you're not a diver, this is quite fun. Basically you are brought to the bottom of the ocean and you get to walk around and feed some fish. :) Here are some random shots of Phuket.

A storm is coming! View from hotel.

Coral Island

Tsunami sign board in Patong

   The not so good part, even though I put on plenty of sunscreen and didn't baked myself, I came back with massive sunburn and psoriasis flared really badly! It's been 3 weeks now and still no signs of improvement :(

   Future trips should be to cold country. I will avoid sun.
  

6 months Post Wedding

Hello everyone,

There were moments of ups and downs this past 6 months, and I got a massive wake up call about life and control. Despite being a deciplined and structured person most of my life, a lesson learnt recently taught me that some things are beyond my control, despite my deepest wants and prayers.

Family is a pillar of strength, without them I would not have been out of this situation so quickly. Thank you for all the love... (Those who don't know, appreciate if you don't ask me what happened.)

Now this is initially a blog about my skin so i SHOULD talk a little about it. *drumroll*...... My skin has cleared! 90%! I took some photos but can't find my cable to upload to the computer. Will try soon. Are your eyes perking up wondering what the great secret is?!

Here is the photo of clear skin!

If you have watched Kungfu Panda (which I did again for the 5th time 2 weeks back), you will remember this line "There is no secret to the secret ingredient soup. You just need to believe there is!"

So I have not been taking any supplements, did not go vegetarian and did not apply steroids cream. All I did was changed my shower gel from the pharmacy/supermarket-bought ones to a homemade preservative free bar of soap. It's less than RM15 and last me a month (depending on how often I bathed). Perhaps this is not the reason for the clearing up, perhaps almost hitting the big 3-0 and the hormones have changed? My husband thinks I'm less stress but I think that is not really true. Whatever it is, I BELIEVE the soap made a difference so fingers crossed that this will good skin will continue!

To all my psoriasis friends out there, keep the spirit up. Try not to let it bother you too much. If people stare at you when you scratch you scalp just tell them, "When you're hungry you eat, when it is itchy I scratch. It's human response".

In the mean time, despite putting on some weight the past few months, I will attempt to buy some shorts and flaunt my normal skin before it disappears. Made me realised that for the past 3 years I have been wearing only long pants to cover up. I can't find a decent pair of shorts in my cupboard.

Not knowing when I will write again, food for thought to all. Have you given some thoughts to what really makes you happy?

Married with psoriasis

Dear all,

Sorry for the long silence. It has been a tiring and taxing month of February with a new job and planning for the wedding. Somehow managed to go through the whole thing and now I can't believe it's all over!

I have stopped OLIVENOL for a while now. Not on purpose, just due to lack of time and initiative to go and get special priced stocks from their office. Do I see a difference? Well it's hard to pinpoint... As we all know, psoriasis is really a strange thing. My hands are ok, friends commented it looks better (than my worst flare), legs are worse off but I cover up with long pants.

Just an advise to all, don't think too much about it. Live with it as part of you, then you won't feel depressed and sad about it. I have it for 10 years now and I still was a pretty bride last weekend! :)