My psoriasis journey began with a sleeping bag and a strep throat. When I was eight years old my parents bought a sleeping bag from the department store but didn’t wash it before I slept in it. The manufacturing chemicals appeared to have triggered my psoriasis to first break out. A few months later a strep throat infection left me listless on my bed with a high fever. Soon after psoriasis exploded on my skin like a wildfire ignited in the middle of a dry field of brush. 

Psoriasis has been an unwelcome part of my life ever since. The journey, at times, wearied me to the point of wanting to give up. I remember that similar feeling when I hiked thirteen miles on switchbacks in Yosemite National Park to the top of Half Dome and back to the valley floor. My brother and I didn’t have enough water or the right shoes for that hike. I look back and see moments with psoriasis when I didn’t feel I had the resources, support, energy, or will power to continue on this long journey.

I think of the time when my classmates bullied and teased me on the Woodside Elementary school playground when they learned I had plaques on my skin. Or when, as a college student, I drove forty minutes each way to phototherapy appointments in Sacramento. It’s still painful to think about how I needed to stay awake on the freeway after long days of classes. Or when psoriasis covered 95% of my body as a young minister trying to be a functional husband and father to three children who needed their dad to be more present. During those dark years treatment after treatment failed, and the thought of another one leaving me in tears.

My psoriasis did improve eventually with the innovation of biologic medications twenty years ago. The early ones didn't work that well for me, but the most recent two have calmed the inflammation to where I have a moderate amount of psoriasis.

With greater freedom from psoriasis I went back to school for a professional degree. Writing papers for classes rekindled my love for expressing myself in print. I applied to be a health blogger on a website called HealthTalk, which would give me a way to share my psoriasis story with others living with psoriasis. “The Itch to Beat Psoriasis,” now hosted by Everyday Health, is in its sixteenth year. 

The blog opened the door for me to become a patient advocate and advisor. I’ve partnered with various industry groups and companies in their educational campaigns, and I’ve become an active member of the National Psoriasis Foundation’s patient advocacy team. 

Giving back through writing and advocacy efforts provides me a sense of mission and purpose with my psoriasis when before I only felt despair. Being part of an online group like the Inspire Psoriasis Community gives me a sense of belonging. It also gives me another opportunity to support others who are going through challenges with psoriasis similar to mine. 

My psoriasis journey started with a sleeping bag and an unfortunate bacterial infection. The winding path through failed and effective treatments, emotional trauma and healing, and social anxiety and inclusion is the path that brought me to where they also shaped who I am. 

Climbing up Yosemite’s Half Dome and back in a day remains as one of my fondest achievements. Persevering through a lifetime with psoriasis might just be the greatest. I still don’t welcome psoriasis on my life journey, but if it must come along then I’ll continue striving to live life to the fullest. The view at the top is always worth it.

To connect with Howard, add him as a friend on Inspire.