Olivia rennartz - alnovat ambassador
_“Hi, I’m Olivia and I’ve had psoriasis on my hands and feet since March 2020. In a relatively short, but very intensive time, I have learned a lot about my psoriasis and I hope that other people can benefit from my experiences and know that they are not alone.”_
HOW DID YOU FIRST COME INTO CONTACT WITH ALNOVAT?
I am in all the psoriasis groups on Facebook, including the Farbenhaut group. That’s where I read about Alnovat for the first time and requested a sample. As I only used it for a very short time (because it was a small tube), I did not have any success at first. A short while later, I also read about the long-term test in the Farbenhaut group and that’s when I became an Alnovat fan.
What other treatment options have you already tried?
Lots: cortisone ointments and sprays (from my family doctor). In fact, it feels like I've tried every ointment there is: urea ointments, vitamin B12 ointments, shea butter, cocoa butter, hemp seed oil, Dead Sea salt ointments and at least 20 others.
I have also taken lots of nutritional supplements:
evening primrose oil, vitamin D, vitamin C, zinc, and MSM powder.
I visited a traditional healer who mixed a special tea for me and also prescribed various probiotic products to help support a healthy digestive system.
I have also done acupuncture, which helped a bit, and osteopathic treatments, which were also noticeably helpful.
During acute phases, I have also done daily healing mud wraps and would often bathe in salt water.
HOW AND WHEN DOES YOUR PSORIASIS AFFECT YOUR EVERYDAY LIFE?
When I have a bad flare-up, my feet are covered in small, itchy blisters and my skin is extremely scaly. It’s so painful that I can’t wear socks or shoes, and in fact every step really hurts. For a time, I barely moved because it was all so painful. It's the same for my hands when I have a flare-up, every movement hurts. When that happens, I can’t even open a bottle, for example My skin flakes so badly that the scales are just everywhere, no matter how often I vacuum. It was very unpleasant for me and the people I live with.
Cooking, for example, was also difficult. Firstly because I was in pain and secondly because parts of my hands were bloody and had open wounds, so it was better if I didn’t go near anything that was to be eaten afterwards. I have always applied ointment very thickly, which meant I couldn't do much or touch many things.
How do other people deal with your psoriasis/how would you like them to behave?
Lots of people see a rash that looks rather “disgusting”, but still the condition is often dismissed as “not really that bad”. Few people understand that I’m really in a huge amount of pain, am physically very limited, and that all this stress has a big impact on my mental health. I wish that the disease would be taken seriously and that my condition would also be taken seriously. I would like that to be the case for my friends, but especially for my doctors as well. In the medical field, I would like a more holistic view and not this one-size-fits-all approach with cortisone.
What has been the worst experience with your psoriasis?
The worst experience was the helplessness and powerlessness that I felt during bad flare-ups. I felt absolutely incapable and simply didn’t know what I should do. My dermatologist would always just fob me off with cortisone, even though it only ever made my skin worse. The feeling of being alone and the fear that I would never be healthy again, or have relief from the symptoms, was the worst. And the strangest thing was actually how the illness itself began. It happened overnight. I suddenly had “pus-filled spots” on my feet and didn’t know what was wrong.
What has been the best experience with your psoriasis?
Quite honestly? I have genuinely not had any good experiences with my psoriasis. Except perhaps the moments when I could see and feel that it was getting less. For example, during the Alnovat long-term test or after the osteopathic treatments.
It did me a lot of good when my rheumatologist spent an hour thoroughly examining me and showed empathy for the situation that I was in because of my condition. That made me feel seen, but it was not a good experience nonetheless.
What tip can you give other psoriasis sufferers if they are going through a difficult/stressful time (i.e. due to a severe flare-up)?
I would recommend for everyone to reflect very carefully on what their psoriasis could mean, and whether it might be an expression of life circumstances that we are not satisfied with. I think the best way to do that is through psychotherapy. A severe flare-up doesn’t just mean the physical symptoms, it also results in a “vicious cycle” because the pain and physical stresses impact your mental health, which in turn means that a lot of stress stands in the way of your recovery.
Moreover, it helps me to take a break from my day-to-day life and get out into nature/the countryside. I live in the city and I’ve noticed that my skin immediately improves during a flare-up if, for example, when I’m in a forest, or help on the farm for the day, drive to the sea, or come into contact with nature in some other way.
You should find people who understand your suffering, who see your pain and distress and take it seriously, and you should talk about the stresses and hard times you're going through. And have empathy for yourself (that is difficult to do, I know the dislike and sometimes even self-hatred for my psoriasis and thus also for myself).
Do you have a tip - that you haven’t read anywhere before - that you would like to share?
Actually, I haven’t read anywhere that osteopathy can help. My osteopath was very understanding and I think just the fact that the sessions were all about me and my skin helped. Awareness and a sympathetic ear, people who take it seriously, that’s important. And get out into nature. Seriously it helps! Even though it’s not exactly an insider tip and we’ve all heard it a hundred times before.
How do you care for your skin and psoriasis?
On my skin I only use fragrance-free products without any irritating ingredients. I’m currently only caring for my psoriasis with Alnovat 2x daily. That’s a huge relief. Before, I was using one ointment or another at least 15 times a day.
What do you hope for in the future with your psoriasis?
To be honest, I wish that it gets even better, completely disappears, and never comes back. I would like real and long-lasting healing without medications and preferably also without daily creaming.
What are your hopes for the psoriasis community as a whole?
For all psoriasis sufferers I wish a cure and better awareness of this condition, also on the part of medical professionals and researchers. I would like holistic advice for psoriasis sufferers and for soothing ointments, such as Alnovat, to be covered by health insurance. Psoriasis is an unbelievably expensive condition that most people simply cannot afford. I would also like all psoriasis sufferers to have hope that they can experience relief and improvement in their symptoms. I find these statements about psoriasis being incurable very destructive. Maybe there isn’t a miracle cure, but there are lots of factors that can lead to improvement.
PROFILE:
NAME: Olivia Rennertz
AGE: 28
OCCUPATION: Student (Education Sciences and Gender Studies),
qualified teacher
AFFECTED AREAS: Palms and feet (especially the soles and heels of my feet) and the “inside” of various joints
TYPE OF PSORIASIS: pustular psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis,
FAMILY MEMBERS WITH PSORIASIS: Nobody, although some family members have rheumatism
HOW LONG YOU’VE HAD PSORIASIS: since March 2020
MY MOTIVATION: Primarily because in the long-term test, Alnovat really helped me. Since then I haven’t had any bad flare-ups, and my hands are practically symptom-free. My feet are still affected, but they have also improved a lot. At first I couldn’t really imagine what being an “ambassador” really meant, so the biggest incentive was getting a year’s supply of Alnovat because the ointment is quite expensive, unfortunately. But now I also find the idea of removing the taboo around psoriasis and sharing my experiences with other psoriasis sufferers really good and I’m excited about it.