My Story, My Diagnosis: Toni's Story
Toni was eight when she was diagnosed with psoriasis. Two decades later achy joints lead to a psoriatic arthritis diagnosis. Determined to enjoy life with her family, she started biologics, injectable drugs that give her relief from both conditions.
Transcript
When I was eight years old, my scalp started itching,
and it wouldn't stop. So we went to the dermatologist and discovered that I had psoriasis.
Psoriasis is when your body is constantly sloughing off skin cells. It's itchy. It's painful.
Over 50% of my torso was covered in psoriasis. And I'd had a lower self-esteem because I was always afraid somebody would find out that I had it.
My dad also had psoriasis. He had it in huge patches all over his arms. It prevented him from doing a lot in life.
So when I was a kid and first diagnosed, I remember being sad that I also had it. And it probably wasn't till I had my own kids that I just
thought, I don't care what I look like. I'm not going to miss this time with my kids. Over the last year or two, my joints started aching.
And I realized, I think I have arthritis. So I followed back up with my dermatologist, and that's when I got the diagnosis
of psoriatic arthritis in addition to having psoriasis. It definitely was time to talk about biologics
and my dermatologist had actually been speaking to me about them for probably three or four years. So I knew what they were.
Never in my life did I think I would do that to myself. Every time I do it, I still get scared.
But it has provided so much relief for me. It's a completely different life for me, and I never would have guessed that.
For the first time in 20-something years, it was just-- it was almost too good to be true in a sense. I don't have any side effects, and I'm grateful for that.
And I'm also grateful that it seems to be helping my joints and my psoriasis.
psoriasis
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