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Hello everyone,
I hope that it is okay here to write in English. I am from the USA and I moved to Germany in March 2022. I live here with my husband (he is German) and we have a dog, but no children. I first got psoriasis in 2018. I had no idea what it was and it quickly spread all over my body. A biopsy at the time confirmed psoriasis. I don't know anyone in my family that has it.
When I flared in 2018 it lasted for 3 years. In the beginning, I was prescribed creams and also did UVB therapy. The creams didn't work for me in the long-term as the spots would always come back once I stopped applying it and UVB never helped either. My doctor then suggested biologics, but I was too afraid of them at the time so I declined. I then just lived with it. I covered it up as much as I could and tried to eat really healthy and took vitamin D and K etc.
In July 2021 I a weird allergic reaction to something that made my skin break out in hives for two months. However, when the hives cleared, so did my psoriasis. I enjoyed being in remission for those 8 months. Shortly after moving to Germany last year I started to notice I was coming out of remission. I was taking German courses at the time and as the psoriasis got worse and worse it became harder for me to concentrate on my courses.
My psoriasis is now the worst it has ever been. I am fortunate that most of it are in places that I can cover, but I do have a few spots (smaller ones) on my face and hairline. My arms are almost completely covered, legs are maybe 40% covered and my back has a few spots as well. I finally decided in March that I need to see a dermatologist again, so I did some research online and found a practice near me that prescribes systemic medications for moderate to severe psoriasis. I am really hoping to start on a biologic because I feel at this point the benefits outweigh the risks.
I am very fortunate that I have a husband who supports me and advocates for me, but I really want to be able to integrate and work again. I am tired of hiding away because of my skin. I have m dermatology appointment in 5 days and I really want to get started on systemic therapy. I was wondering if anyone has any tips for me for my first visit here with the dermatologist? Also, is it ever possible to go directly to biologics (Cosentyx) without taking pills (MTX, Fumaderm, etc) here in Germany? From looking around it seems that people tend to have more side effects to the pills than to biologics.
Thanks for taking the time to read this.
Lindsey