I’ve experienced a steady anxiety about Skyrizi the last few weeks. My expectations changed after I injected the second dose at week 4. With the next injection at 16 weeks, I figured the medication already in me must do the work.

A graph from the Skyrizi website show the percentage of those taking the medication reaching ninety percent improvement tapering off by week 16. For once I want to be part of that three out of four who get fantastic results from a psoriasis medication.

I Want It Gone Now

In my head I know I need to practice patience when it comes to psoriasis. Few medications work as quickly and effectively as I want. I want something like a Tylenol or Benadryl that starts working within the hour. What I typically get with these drugs is more waiting with less than stellar results at the end of months of waiting.

I don’t easily admit my impatience. I see myself as a veteran of these psoriasis wars—I’ve seen it all, and nothing surprises me. Expect little. Set the bar low to the ground. Manage expectations. All these platitudes mean well, but do little to curb the appetite that’s grown for something, anything, to truly knock down my psoriasis. The fact remains I’m no different than anybody with a severe chronic condition—I want it gone now.

Alas, it just doesn’t work that way (if it works at all). I want the rabbit, but many treatments act more like the turtle. Slow and steady wins the race, Aesop’s fable declares. But what if the turtle never makes it to the finish line?

Here are some photos comparing when I started Skyrizi and about six weeks later: