[Seamus]

I have psoriasis, usually hits me for a couple of months every other year. I've got a couple questions if anyone is in the same boat:

1) do you try and cover it up when you're out gaming (e.g. long sleeves, pants), or is it better to wear short sleeves to screen out girls who are immediately turned off by it? Right now I'm doing the latter, but I think it's hurt me a bit.

2) Has anyone had success with UVB light treatments? I'm wondering if it's worth it, especially if the psoriasis is going to come back as soon as I stop going.

[Soma]

(10-25-2014 02:22 PM)Seamus Wrote:  

But you know what, fuck it. I'm going to deal with it for the rest of my life anyway, so I might as well just buck up and make the best of it.

No, you won't have to deal with it the rest of your life. That is what physicians and clinical medicine will tell you, because they focus on symptoms and (expensive) treatment, not causes and cures.

(Note: I've never had psoriasis and the following is not medical advice.)

You developed psoriasis because you took antibiotics to heal your strep throat. Antibiotics wiped out a large portion of your gut flora, leading to dysbiosis and permanently deleting bacteria necessary for the correct functioning of the suppressive component of your immune system, specifically a deficiency in regulatory T cells. (70-90% of your immune system is located in your large intestine and closely integrated with your gut flora.) The combination of a malfunctioning overly-aggressive immune system and chronic inflammation led to the autoinflammatory disease of psoriasis. This is fixable.

To understand psoriasis from the biochemical perspective (as opposed to the clinical perspective) start here: Psoriasis, IL-17, Cathelicidin, TLRs, NFkB, Inflammation and Heparin Therapy and then go through the rest of the site, including the author's comments, to understand chronic inflammation, autoimmune diseases, repairing gut flora, anti-inflammatory diet, etc. It's written by a retired ex-Harvard biochemist and is the best reference you will find on understanding health and diet and fixing problems that mainstream medicine is unable to.

As a quick summary of what you'll need to do:
1) Lower inflammation: Eat an anti-inflammatory diet (see Anti-inflammatory Diet) similar to paleo, focused on meat, fish, eggs, leafy vegetables with little sugar (especially fructose) or vegetable oil. Take vitamin D supplements, 5-10K IU/day.
2) Repair gut flora: Eat lots of fermented vegetables, e.g. sauerkraut, kimchi, to restore deleted bacteria. Take probiotic with C. Butyricum, e.g. AOR ProBiotic 3.
3) Suppress immune system: Take resistant starch to promote suppressive component of immune system. Primary lactic acid bacteria L. Plantarum in fermented vegetables is also beneficially temporarily immunomodulating.

You can find a lot more details about the above in http://coolinginflammation.blogspot.com as well as searching around with Google. Start with these 3: Health in Diagrams I - Gut Flora and Diet, Health Diagrams II - Curing Autoimmunity and Allergies, Health Diagrams III - Inflammation from Cell to Tissue.

Good luck.

[Simeon_Strangelight]

Psoariasis is curable or reversible as it will likely resurface if you return to the old ways:

Diet change and some high-quality high-dosage orthomolecular supplements will do the trick.

Sometimes only supplements will be enough, while more often there is a more drastic step of diet change necessary - more plant-based, more raw, lots of juicing, detoxification.

You might want to check out this page first:

http://www.doctoryourself.com/psoriasis.html
http://www.doctoryourself.com/psoriasis2.html

I've seen members of my family being healed of the condition, although conventional medicine states that it is almost incurable. I am not refusing allopathic medicine completely here, but I've had so much experience now especially with the highly scientific orthomolecular medicine, that I don't take it personally when MDs repeat the mantras they are being taught. Their knowledge is restricted and controlled for good reasons.

And you have nothing to lose, as good results can be achieved within weeks, the costs are limited and there are no side-effects. In the links you will find butt-loads of links to studies and books. Also on http://www.orthomolecular.org/ more of this and addresses of local practitioners which appear in growing numbers around the world despite earning less in such practices.

[FilipSRB]

I am also a psoriasis sufferer and am currently trying several suplements and changes in diet for it. One thing I am certain is that it is in fact curable. Lots of testimonials on the internet from people who fought it and won with the changes in their lifestyle. Inform yourself and arm yourself with some patience, and try out different stuff until you find something that works for you.

[Simeon_Strangelight]

(10-25-2014 04:04 PM)FilipSRB Wrote:  

I am also a psoriasis sufferer and am currently trying several suplements and changes in diet for it. One thing I am certain is that it is in fact curable. Lots of testimonials on the internet from people who fought it and won with the changes in their lifestyle. Inform yourself and arm yourself with some patience, and try out different stuff until you find something that works for you.

Most big supplement producers are shit - many are downright criminal, though none really deadly.

Good ones: SWANSON, NOW FOODS, AWESOMESUPPLEMENTS, YOUNGEVITY, MERCOLA, NUTRIVENE...

It is necessary to pick effective ingredients (some use even toxic ones that body does not absorb) and the right dosage. Check out the links - too many people have cured this disease via relatively simple changes - most of those will improve your general health and slow aging too, so there is not really much of a loss here.

[Phoenix]

I wouldn't call myself a 'sufferer', but I do get low-level psoriasis on certain spots on my face from time to time.
Whenever the spots flake up, I hit them a couple of hits of steroid cream, and they fade out again for a while.

Regarding the triggering, I have suspected the following patterns:
- Plenty of sun for sustained periods discourages it (this is probably why the 'UVB treatment' helps you)
- Bad sleep encourages it, as does other stressors

When I spent a week on a beach on holiday, my skin looked bloody amazing. I have photos taken of then which I still use in some profiles because my skin makes my face look downright handsome. All clear and rosy looking (no I wasn't burnt).
When I had a stressful job, the psoriasis on my face was at the maximum, to the point where I would rub it off frequently with a wet cloth. It also occured on my scalp (which became itchy as fuck).

[Soma]

(10-25-2014 05:32 PM)Phoenix Wrote:  

Regarding the triggering, I have suspected the following patterns:
- Plenty of sun for sustained periods discourages it (this is probably why the 'UVB treatment' helps you)
...

When I spent a week on a beach on holiday, my skin looked bloody amazing.

That's the anti-inflammatory effect of the vitamin D produced in your skin from UVB with sun exposure. As Zelcorpion mentioned, Now Foods and Swanson both make very affordable, high quality, high dosage (5-10K+ IU/day) vitamin D supplements that should produce the same effect for you, to be taken with saturated fats for highest absorption. No need for expensive UVB light treatment. Try it out.

[Ensam]

I've had moderate bordering on severe outbreaks. A year ago it was all over my trunk, arms, legs and face. My dermatologist was starting to talk about putting me on systemics but said the side effects might not be pleasant.

I noticed that it was getting worse as I gained weight so this past June I made an overall lifestyle change. I switched my diet over to unprocessed and locally raised food. I ate less, stopped drinking alcohol and started doing light cardio (40 minute walks) in addition to the 4 days a week of lifting I was already doing. Within a few weeks most of my psoriasis had cleared up. It's now completely gone except for a few spots behind my ears. My dermatologist said it was the most dramatic improvement he'd ever seen. I credit it to weight loss, more time in the sun (on the walks) and getting my gut flora fixed. Greek yogurt and pasture raised non-pasteurized eggs for the win.

Vitamin D supplements never did anything for me. I think if you're overweight it just all ends up in your fat and isn't very effective. I also think that it's hard for it to get to the surface of your skin if you take it orally. Sun exposure causes your skin to produce it directly.

Good luck. It's a pain in the ass until it clears up. In the mean time game as you would otherwise. Girls don't really seem to mind that much.

[Soma]

(10-25-2014 06:03 PM)Ensam Wrote:  

Vitamin D supplements never did anything for me. I think if you're overweight it just all ends up in your fat and isn't very effective. I also think that it's hard for it to get to the surface of your skin if you take it orally. Sun exposure causes your skin to produce it directly.

The main problem with vitamin D supplements is that physicians recommend and prescribe a comically small amount despite all evidence that more is completely safe and in fact necessary. As mentioned, one should be taking at least 5000-10000 IU/day whereas physicians commonly recommend a maximum 600 IU/day, which is basically nothing. For a healthy person who's skin is non-inflamed a few minutes of mid-day sun exposure will produce about 20000 IU of vitamin D for the body. Out of curiosity, do you remember how much you were taking?

[Ensam]

I was taking 10,000/day.

[Simeon_Strangelight]

(10-25-2014 06:41 PM)Ensam Wrote:  

I was taking 10,000/day.

That's enough, but rather that is what has been proven effective:

Quote:

OMEGA-3 FISH OILS Around 300 to 1,000 milligrams of EPA daily is frequently recommended.
VEGETABLE JUICE FASTING
ZINC SUPPLEMENTATION A more sensible daily dose of 50 mg to perhaps 100 mg may be maintained for as long as is desired. A good multiple vitamin along with this will provide some balancing copper, as will (believe it or not) the copper water pipes in your home.
VITAMIN SUPPLEMENTATION
The skin is your largest and most visible organ. It is therefore a good indicator of health in general. Vitamin shortages are often indicated by skin problems. Classic clinical deficiencies of riboflavin (B-2), niacin (B-3), vitamin A and vitamin C all result in skin disease. At the very least, psoriasis patients should be urged to take a good multivitamin daily. Everyone knows that it can't hurt, but not everyone knows how much it might help. Additional vitamin A is best taken as non-toxic carotene, which is in vegetable juices mentioned earlier. A B-complex supplement provides a balance of all B-vitamins, ensuring safety. Vitamin C is also non-toxic, even in very large doses. In our overfed but undernourished culture, vegetable juice fasting and dietary supplements make sense to try. There is no medicine on the market as safe as these.

Vitamin D at doses of 5000IU to 6000IU or better enough sun exposure is a given. That alone will not affect this enough. Higher doses of vitamin D are a bit problematic - intake requires also more vitamin K2 via extra supplementation or plenty of green vegetables - if you juice, there is no problem.

Frankly that is just the usual orthomolecular program except for slightly higher doses of zinc and more recommended juicing than usual. I take all of this daily and more.

[Ensam]

I really think the effectiveness of vitamin D is related to your bodyfat percentage. Even sunlight didn't really help me until I dropped weight. So maybe vitamin D supplementation would be more effective now that I'm down in a healthy body fat range (<18%). I was up around 25-28% body fat when the outbreak was at its worse. Of course now that I'm down at a healthier weight it's my skin has cleared up so it's a moot point.

[Seamus]

Some really solid info in here, much appreciated. I've followed the links and started to implement some changes in my diet/lifestyle. I'm already in very good shape, but I've started experimenting with the anti-inflammatory diet and vitamin D supplementation, so hopefully I'll see some progress. I do unfortunately have a very stressful job, but there's not much I can do about that at the moment.

I am having a hard time reconciling how doom and gloom the dermatologist was when he diagnosed me ("this is incurable, you'll have it for life, nothing you can do") with some of the success stories I've read. Maybe it's that while I'll always have the underlying "disease", certain lifestyle changes will allow me to drastically reduce/eliminate the surface-level symptoms

[MidWest]

I have mild psoriasis and get spots on my face from time to time as well. And I can also develop a bad case of dandruff.
I use Hydrocortison cream for it.




So what I do is take a shower and wash my face at night. I put the cream on the infected spots and even on my head for when I get dandruff. I can then usually feel the burn. I go to bed.

In the morning take a shower again and repeat at night. Usually it goes away after a day or two.

What sucks is that it comes back again and you don't know when usually for me maybe every two weeks or so. I don't think there is a cure for it but its manageable. Hope this helps.

[WEDO]

(10-25-2014 02:22 PM)Seamus Wrote:  

2) Has anyone had success with UVB light treatments? I've started with them, but I have to go 3x a week, and they're really out of the way, so I'm wondering if it's worth it. Especially if the psoriasis is going to come back as soon as I stop going.

Thanks!

I have had a few outbreaks in my life when I was under a lot of stress.

A simple tanning bed worked wonders for me or in the summer just hang out on the beach if possible.

[The_CEO]

(11-03-2014 02:08 PM)Seamus Wrote:  

Some really solid info in here, much appreciated. I've followed the links and started to implement some changes in my diet/lifestyle. I'm already in very good shape, but I've started experimenting with the anti-inflammatory diet and vitamin D supplementation, so hopefully I'll see some progress. I do unfortunately have a very stressful job, but there's not much I can do about that at the moment.

I am having a hard time reconciling how doom and gloom the dermatologist was when he diagnosed me ("this is incurable, you'll have it for life, nothing you can do") with some of the success stories I've read. Maybe it's that while I'll always have the underlying "disease", certain lifestyle changes will allow me to drastically reduce/eliminate the surface-level symptoms

While you are getting great suggestions here, beware as you research remedies off the forum that there are scum bags (modern day snake oil salesman) who pedal "cures" for people with chronic illnesses.
If you search, cure for (insert chronic illness), you will find many sites like these.
Never stop experimenting to find out what works and you might also find resources from a forum with others with your condition. Good luck!

[Wrec]

I am going to summon this thread.
I am a psoriasis sufferer for life.
I have tested basically everything, there are only two things that work for me
1. Dr. Michaels
http://www.docsimon.com/article/dr-micha...ntment-50g
2. Cannabis cream - homemade from potent cannabis - legal in my country.

I am cycling method 1 and 2 each month and i am fine now.
Hope this helps.

[the chef]

take bovine colostrum and see if it helps.

[Kaizen]

It might be a pain getting to the UV treatments but it's the only way to know if it is a good treatment option for you.

It can have a remittive effect and even more so with guttate psoriasis (although the fact you have had it 6 months suggests this may become chronic)

Do you insurance for medications? There are extremely effective treatments available (enbrel, so forth) but you need coverage.

[redbeard]

Besides paleo diet, low stress, tanning, lots of sleep, probiotics, the following OTC products help immensely. Both are highly praised on inspire.com, the psoriasis board.

1. Desitin - found in the baby section, this diaper rash cream works wonders. Make sure you get the extra strength, purple box, which contains 40% zinc oxide. Watch out this stuff will stain clothes. Testimonials here.



2. 100% Vegetable Glycerin - This is a moisturizer, and is actually found in most lotions in small amounts. There are testimonials of glycerin working all over the internet but it only works in people who stick with it, 2 or 3 applications a day for at least a month. This 100% version will moisture the fuck out of your sores and will not stain clothes unlike coconut oil or other remedies. NOW has a formula that's sold at Whole Foods and on Amazon.