Whatever it was, it seems a simple cure . . .

               I’ve put off writing this column because I’m no expert, and certainly no doctor, but it happened to me.  It’s no made-up story, and I wish someone had told me about it a few years ago.  So I write.
               My Dad had psoriases  and so, even as a child I was aware of that skin disorder.  Dry flakey, itchy  skin, and I think there must be dozens of varieties of that inherited disease. It’s a dang nuisance and one not at all attractive to see.  And itchy.
               So, when I saw it begin to appear on my skin, I rushed to a dermatologist as fast as possible and since then have tried and been prescribed I suppose every salve, lotion or nostrum people can think of and had some good results, but no control over it at all.  Dang, and one gets used to wearing long sleeves and never bare legged.
               It’s in your genes I read and  believed it.  Dad, one of my siblings, and now me.
               But then I heard the silliest idea ever, that of Vaseline, good old fashioned Vaseline that was in our parent’s Medicine Chest for cuts and bruises and also in mine, too.
               So, as nothing else really helped, I picked up the jar of that old fashioned all-use stuff and began rubbing it into my elbows, arms, legs and where ever.  Night and morning to begin with, and was surprised to see that, no, it did not mess up my bed linen, or blouses or stockings. 
                As I rubbed it in, my skin absorbed it like a blotter, a sponge, and I was scared to admit it, but the scales on my elbows were not as dry as before.  And, to put it bluntly,  my arms and leg and all else are now entirely free from that curse.
               I use the Vaseline, now, about once a week, and my skin is clear.  No dreadful itching, no blotches, no scales.
 
               I honestly don’t know, I am no doctor, whether my psoriases is cured, abated or it was something else, but whatever.  All I know is I can wear short sleeves with no flinching, and have no itching at all.
               Now, just maybe,  (How am I to know????)  just maybe I never had psoriases.  Maybe I began eating something that took it away.  Maybe it has a ‘life cycle’ that comes and goes.  Maybe I just imagined it (ho-ho-ho) and now it’s gone, But . . .
               It is gone.  And the only thing different I have done, is use Vaseline.  It didn’t happen over night, but once I started using that common salve, the change was constant, and now I seldom think about it, except to glance at my arms, say TYG, and go my way.
                So, don’t think I’m some medic who stumbled upon some wonderful salve, for I’m not.  But someone told me about it, as if a big secret.  But I tried it, for me  it worked, and I pass it along.  Maybe it’ll come back with a vengeance, but so far . . . . . and it’s been about three months now . . . I am free of it.
               I hesitate to even write of it, but, I’m a gutsy woman and there just might be someone ‘out there’ who, like my Dad, and me, know what it is.  Good luck.