Over the last few days, I've been feeling more like myself, energetically - i.e., coming out of a slump where my body couldn't recover properly from the flu b/c I was on Humira, an immunosuppressant drug for psoriasis.

OK, I work pretty hard at perpetuating a positive attitude. But right now, I'm using this space to vent briefly on the confounding paradox that is my immune system.

The Humira partially cleared my skin, but not enough to make it woth feeling frequently sick and immunosuppressed. Today as I was out riding my bike and feeling so grateful to be able to be active again (even if I'm not 100%), I noticed some red spots on leg areas that had been temporarily clear. It's truly amazing, perplexing, etc... Feeling good overal = bad skin, and vice-versa. Do I succumb to chronic fatigue, and get a partial relief from the itching and depression and extremely high maintenance of applying topical steroids to a thousand spots with a Q-tip, or have energy, but accept the burden of maintenance? -- And be more unhappy/frustrated about the painful and ugly psoriasis symptoms?

For right now I've chosen having energy (not to mention avoiding the risks associated with Humira - cancer, lymphona, questionable safety during pregnancy, etc.). This means I still go to the dermatologist's office three times a week - yes, three times - for UV light treatment. I don't know yet whether this will be enough to maintain my sanity, but I'm hopeful! Now if I could fenagle a way through our beastly healthcare system, to get a light box for home - and save hours every week!

...Speaking of healthcare, Cigna is currently giving me flak about the UV light treatment, using whatever language they can imagine to make it so I have to pay a co-pay. Three treatments = $60 per week! This is not realistic, or justifiable. You go to the doctor's office, stand in a tight UV chamber for a couple minutes, and leave (without seeing a doctor). For whatever reason, the derm's billing service has a weird policy of billing UV treatment under a doctor's name - but it's a doctor I've never even heard of, who works in an entirely different office. Cigna has twisted this around to mean that it's still an "office visit" of some kind.

According to the National Psoriasis Foundation, UV treatment is to be billed as a "non-elective maintenane therapy" and covered 100% by insurance companies.

And so I embark on my 10th or so phone call about this issue....