Alisha Bridges has lived and thrived with psoriasis for over two decades. She is a blogger and health advocate who strives to inspire others with her story of living with a chronic condition. On Facebook 3 years ago, I remember a woman who took a picture of a man’s arm with psoriasis patches while they were both traveling on the same flight and she posted the picture. Accompanied with the picture were the hurtful words, “This is gross.” However, her distasteful and harsh words did not go without repercussions. The psoriasis community came to the anonymous man’s rescue and flooded...

Alisha Bridges has lived and thrived with psoriasis for over two decades. She is a blogger and health advocate who strives to inspire others with her story of living with a chronic condition. She shares her words of wisdom from her experience with treatment struggles. 

I’ve lived with psoriasis for over two decades. I’ve experienced all the nuances which accompany a chronic illness including finding an effective treatment. One of the biggest challenges for me was using my treatment as directed. I remember the excitement of receiving a new treatment for the first time. It signified hope, a new beginning, and the burning desire to achieve psoriasis free skin. But after about 2 weeks, if I didn’t see what I thought to be reasonable results my motivation to use the treatment began to decrease and eventually the fire I once had quickly went up into smoke.

A research revealed that I wasn’t alone in my frustrations and treatment challenges. There are several reasons why people don’t comply with treatment instructions including: forgets to take dosage, can no longer afford treatment, runs out of medicine before next prescription, becomes fed up with treatment, starts to see improvement so they stop, and questions effectiveness.

We’ve all suffered through sleepless nights from time to time. New parents deal with it for months on end and somehow survive. For those living with a psoriasis skin condition or disease, the sleepless nights can feel endless. It starts with an itch that wakes you up from a sound sleep -- pruritus (yes, there’s actually a word for it). And then comes the scratching, sometimes while sleeping, that keeps you and your partner from ever feeling truly rested. That lack of sleep raises stress hormones in your body that can actually make psoriasis worse. Not to mention, scratching from...