MY PSORIASIS first started when I was 24 and living in France. I developed itchy red dots all over my body. The doctors thought I was allergic to a new kitten we had, but all the allergy tests came back negative.
When they told me it was psoriasis I didn't know what it was. I was put on a treatment of creams, cold tar baths and mercury baths. They didn't really work.
Over time the condition got worse and all the dots joined together and formed large plaques. It was very painful, hot and itchy.
By the time I was pregnant with my first child, five years on, half of my body was covered in plaques. I wore long trousers and long sleeves to cover it up. I was still in denial and thought it would eventually go away. I couldn't get my own head around my psoriasis so I certainly wasn't able to talk to anyone else about it.
It was only when I came back to live in Ireland that I started to read up about the condition. I stopped fighting and learned to accept that I had to live with it. So much of my energy had been spent fighting it, hiding it and not talking about it.
Things were easier when I started talking about my psoriasis. I came to terms with the fact that it was not curable and realised I had to learn how to manage it. It was painful to accept that I had to live with it for life, difficult to accept that I had psoriasis - end of story.
Psoriasis is a vicious cycle. The worse it gets, the more stressed you get, which just exacerbates the condition. You can't remove stress from your life totally, but I modified my life.
I found that once I started trying to manage it rather than deny it, it caused less stress.
A turning point for me was getting in contact with the Psoriasis Association of Ireland four years ago. I am now secretary of the organisation.
It was amazing to be in a room filled with people who were going through the same thing as me. I thought I was the only one, but there are 100,000 people in Ireland with psoriasis. One in three of those will develop psoriatic arthritis, which is similar to rheumatoid arthritis.
I was one of those one in three. I developed psoriatic arthritis six years ago. At first it was aches and pains and swelling at the joints. When my psoriasis flared up so did my arthritis.
At one stage I had to be hospitalised. I couldn't function. My feet and legs were so badly affect with the psoriasis I couldn't walk. The treatment I received in hospital really helped, but once discharged, the psoriasis returned.
In 2004, my psoriasis was at its worst. About 90 per cent of my body was affected. I had exhausted every cream in the book. Light therapy gave temporary relief, but the psoriasis always came back. My arthritis was bad and I was completely confined to my house and wheelchair bound.
I started taking new biological drugs for my condition. Biological drugs surround the genes and starve them into a form of remission. I tried two different drugs and they didn't work. One of the drugs made my conditions much worse.
Then in 2005 I started taking humira, which has really helped me. I inject myself with the drug once a week. Over six to eight weeks my psoriasis began to improve and my mobility returned. My condition is 80 per cent improved now and I haven't looked back.
One of the side-effects of these drugs is liver problems and TB. I have regular blood checks to keep a look out for these side effects. The drugs are relatively new. They have only been in use for about 10 years so we don't know the long-term effects, but they are not a big cause of concern for me because the alternative was far worse. I was too young and my two children, Samy and Hana, were too young. I needed to be able to function.
Don't suffer in silence is my advice to anyone with psoriasis. Talk to your GP and get referred to a dermatologist. It's not about how much of your body is covered, it's about how much the condition impacts on your life. Psoriasis sufferers need to learn to live side by side with the condition - to make friends with it.
Psoriasis: causes, types and treatments
Psoriasis is a chronic, disfiguring, inflammatory and non-contagious disease of the skin which affects about 100,000 people in Ireland.
Many people think of psoriasis as an unpleasant skin condition, but it is a chronic immune disorder, which should be taken seriously, according to the Psoriasis Association of Ireland.
Genetic and environmental factors are involved in the cause of the condition, according to Dr Colin Buckley, consultant dermatologist, from Waterford Regional Hospital.
Trauma, infection, stress and certain medications can precipitate the first appearance of psoriasis, or exacerbate the existing disease.
There are many different types of psoriasis. Eight out of 10 sufferers will develop plaque psoriasis, which involves red scaly and often itchy plaques.
Other types include guttate psoriasis, characterised by small dot-like lesions, pustular psoriasis which is characterised by weeping lesions and intense scaling, inverse psoriasis, which involves intense inflammation and erythrodermic psoriasis, which is characterised by intense shedding and redness of the skin.
Psoriasis can significantly impact on sufferers' quality of life and adversely affect relationships and employment prospects.
Treatments for the condition range from over-the-counter moisturisers, soap substitutes and tar products to steroid creams, light therapy and biological drugs.
Up to 30 per cent of patients with psoriasis develop joint problems, which can add significantly to the suffering of patients.
Half of those with psoriasis do not seek medical help, but there are many effective treatment options for all patients with the distressing condition, according to the Psoriasis Association of Ireland.
• The organisation is currently carrying out a study in an effort to find out the effect psoriasis has on people. To participate see www.psoriasisuncovered.ie (answers are totally anonymous)
• For information about support groups see www.psoriasisireland.ie
• If you have had a health experience - good or bad - that you would like to talk about, please contact: healthsupplement @irishtimes.com