Psoriasis (young people)
Impacts of psoriasis on exercise, social life and hobbies
Psoriasis can impact on exercise, socialising and hobbies in ways such as:
- symptoms stopping people taking part in sports or other activities
- avoiding activities which might irritate/trigger the skin
- not wanting to go out because of feeling self-conscious
- finding time to fit in treatments around hobbies as well as other activities like studies and/or work
- being unable to do things because of side effects, like nausea and headaches with some systemic non-biological medicines
- the cost of prescribed treatments and shop-bought products meaning people couldn’t afford to spend money on social activities
Some people felt they needed to cancel social activities when their psoriasis flared-up, was on visible parts of their body or if they felt low about it. Yet, many people tried to limit how much psoriasis affected their social life and the activities they enjoy. Simon’s advice is don’t “start excluding yourself from social situations”. Some pointed out that activities like yoga can help them relax and worry less about their psoriasis, which might reduce flare-ups. Lola doesn’t like exercise but says “even just going for a walk, I feel so much better afterwards”. Louie goes to football matches as it helps him ‘forget’ about his psoriasis when he’s enjoying spending time with other people.
Hannah talks about how the emotional impacts of psoriasis affected her friendships and social life, including dropping out of plans.
Hannah talks about how the emotional impacts of psoriasis affected her friendships and social life, including dropping out of plans.
Some people said psoriasis affected their ability to take part in exercise and sports. Activities which trigger or irritate the condition were often avoided. Zara worried about picking up an infection on her feet when going swimming or walking. She had to give up a lot of sports which put pressure on her feet. Other people changed their sport to one that had less effect on their psoriasis.
Swimming was often talked about. Chlorine in the pool water irritated some people’s psoriasis, though not for Louis. Megan finds that chlorine water hurts but thinks it “kills all the bacteria”. Steven says salt water helps his skin.
Louis stopped playing rugby when he had psoriasis and took up swimming instead.
Louis stopped playing rugby when he had psoriasis and took up swimming instead.
Zara enjoys sports but is limited by having psoriasis on her feet.
Zara enjoys sports but is limited by having psoriasis on her feet.
And were there other forms of sport that you found easier to do or enjoyable?
I always struggled with football because I didn’t have any nails so kicking the ball when taking a shot or something I found, it found it quite difficult and very painful so eventually I did give that up. cricket is easier I think than badminton because its, you get a rest period so if you’re fielding the ball isn’t always at you and you're bowling I mean if a bowl is speed a fast bowl then it’s more difficult but a spin ball’s not too bad because I’m not putting so much pressure on my feet. Yeh it was just that, that rest period made it easier although I can’t, I do struggle to stand still for a long period of time.
Right.
Just my feet ache and then I start, I kind of start walking about and they still ache and I just get fidgety and get itchy and, you know something’s happening and they’re getting bad and you can’t do anything about it.Lisa thinks there’s a lack of understanding about psoriasis, which adds to the emotional impact. She had a bad experience at a swimming pool.
Lisa thinks there’s a lack of understanding about psoriasis, which adds to the emotional impact. She had a bad experience at a swimming pool.
Probably when I started secondary school. Although my friends were they, they knew, cos they, they’d known me for a while. They didn’t really mind. Cos they just looked past it. But I sort of never liked to get changed in front of them for PE and the-, I don’t think the PE teachers quite understood so they were just like, “Yeah, everyone’s gotta get changed in one place.” And especially when I went swimming in primary school and secondary school, they- I didn’t feel like I wanted to do it. So often I would write notes saying, “My mum said that I can’t do it today.” And try and get out of it that way.
Did that work or-?
Yeah, most of the time. But it meant that I couldn’t swim, so yeah. And then I tried to learn how to swim when I got a bit older. But then, you’d go to a swimming pool with a swimming costume and all of your skin would be showing pretty much. And then, you’d have the lifeguards come up to you and be like, “Are you safe to go in the water?” So, it’s just like ‘why bother?’
How would you deal with that situation if somebody like the lifeguard asked you that?
I just tried explaining, cos I was with my dad anyway, so he helped explain that it was safe. It’s not contagious. Cos I don’t think people know that it’s not contagious.
Psoriasis can affect many leisure activities, including hobbies and socialising with friends and family such as: going out (to clubs and bars); concerts; walks; drawing/painting; volunteering with a youth group; theatre/acting; dance; army cadets; going to football matches; creative writing; and travelling/going on holiday.
As with exercise and sport, sometimes psoriasis symptoms made it physically uncomfortable or tricky to do some activities. Lucy says she would be self-conscious about taking part in a food workshop because of skin flaking. Some activities involve several triggers combining, such as nights out which might include going to warm clubs, becoming sweaty with dancing and drinking alcohol. Russell cuts out bread from his diet to help his psoriasis, but finds it difficult to resist when he gets home after a night out and wants a toastie. Lucy couldn’t drink alcohol whilst taking methotrexate which affected her social life at university. When her psoriasis was particularly bad one summer, Megan didn’t want to play outside because she worried about damaging her skin and triggering more psoriasis plaques to develop.
In other situations, social activities and hobbies were affected because the person’s confidence was knocked by psoriasis. Damini found it hard to make eye contact when she felt self-conscious about psoriasis on her face. Simon thinks there are times when he seems “distant and aloof” because he’s been worrying about his appearance.
Lucy says her psoriasis sometimes negatively impacts her social life.
Lucy says her psoriasis sometimes negatively impacts her social life.
Going out to socialise can require planning ahead. This includes finding time to do topical treatments and, for some, to apply make-up to the face and/or body. Some said they had to wait for creams they used daily to absorb. Others planned to their treatments a few days/weeks in advance of a big social event. Some people said social activities disrupted their routines and so they would forget or hold off from doing topical treatments.
Hannah didn’t tell her friends about having psoriasis for several years. She tried to keep her psoriasis hidden while at university, which meant it took her longer to get ready before going out.
Hannah didn’t tell her friends about having psoriasis for several years. She tried to keep her psoriasis hidden while at university, which meant it took her longer to get ready before going out.
How did you feel about that sort of hiding it and not being able to speak to anybody about it?
Yeah it was, it was difficult and it was frustrating like I said earlier about having to spend so much longer getting ready. Those kind of things frustrated me because you want, you, there was no like spontaneity. You couldn't just decide ‘I'm gonna go out and I'm gonna see this person’. You had to really think about it, you had to really think about what you were gonna wear. Because I was still in that stage where I didn't want anyone to know that I had it, so I had to work really hard to make it look like I didn't have it. So you're kind of in that cycle where-, if I'd been honest maybe I wouldn't have had to spend so long getting ready because it, you know, if you could see a bit it wouldn't matter. But it, it's just one of those things of a skin condition where you just, you find it unattractive and you're always going to find it unattractive. You're never gonna wake up one day and think ‘psoriasis actually looks really great’. Like you're always gonna find it unattractive and want to kind of, like suppress it as much as possible so that people don't notice.
Psoriasis affected holidays and trips away for some people. Many thought holidays to warm and sunny climates helped their psoriasis clear up. Some people had visited famous water sites like the Dead Sea and Lourdes. Damini saw an alternative therapy practitioner when visiting family in India. Zara and Steven said they were less self-conscious when on holiday because “these people aren’t really going to see me again”. Going on holiday with friends could be a worry though – Hannah didn’t want her friends to see her skin in a swimming costume. Sofia mentioned about taking psoriasis treatments abroad (such as steroid creams), for which there are restrictions on flights about carrying liquids/creams and medication. Lisa lived abroad for six months and wasn’t able to continue systemic non-biological medicines without regular blood tests. People on biological injections for psoriasis can’t have live vaccines which are important when travelling to some parts of the world.
Steven talks about his visit to the Dead Sea.
Steven talks about his visit to the Dead Sea.
Completely just part of a trip that I was doing. I was out there for three weeks and part of it was Dead Sea. And I was like ‘oh, that could be quite good’. And we were in for about half an hour. Cos you can’t be in too long. It was even less than that. Got the mud involved, it was great fun. You float, you can like, people reading like newspapers, like floating in the sea. And it stung a little bit, actually. Someone said to me, “Have you been to the toilet recently, going to sting”. I was like, ‘okay. I wonder how this is gonna take it’, a little bit. It was quite good at the time, so it wasn’t such a worry. But once you’re in and you’re like used to it and it stops stinging, it was fine. And then got showered off and it was a little bit, there was improvement. It’s kind of one of those things, I think if I’d gone back again the next day or a bit later on and done it again, would I have seen more improvement, I don’t know. But, the Dead Sea stuff, like the Dead Sea salts I’ve put in the bath before and that’s helped a bit, definitely.
I think it was before the camera was running, you said that you were potentially considering about going back?
I’m thinking it. Mainly because I’ve got friends out there and I thought like I could do a little like, let’s go on holiday and see friends and skin and yay. Nothing has been solidly like thought about, I’ve been thinking about going out there for years again. So it’s just like, it might happen. I don’t know. It’s not dragging me there at the moment. I’ll see how this treatment goes, obviously. I might end up going out there and not going to the Dead Sea or going to the Dead Sea just for going to the Dead Sea for the day and it makes your skin softer. That’s lovely. But it has been something that I’ve thought about, definitely. Hannah can’t have live vaccines whilst on biological injections, impacting on where she can travel in the world.
Hannah can’t have live vaccines whilst on biological injections, impacting on where she can travel in the world.
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