Biggins

Does anyone here suffer with this annoying skin condition? Can you reccomend any tried and tested treatment methods?

I have developed it over the last 12 months on my scalp, elbows, under my fingernails and toenails and in the crack of my ****!! ouch!! The areas on my scalp and elbows are approx. 3-4cm round and appear red and flaky as the skin regenerates, the scalp and **** do itch like buggery though. The nails are interesting as they become opaque and lift up quite considerably as the psoriasis grows underneath them. It will take a good couple of months for each nail to grow out back to normal.

I have been to my GP and been prescribed the usual tar based shampoo and cream which is f**king awfull to use so have consequentally ceased applying it. The best cure would be plenty of sunlight to the affected bodyparts and frequent bathing in the sea, as this almost clears it up during a fortnight summer holiday. From scouring the net, it would seem that Psoriasis is brought on by stress which is sadly unavoidable in my job (business owner).

Any hints and tips on how to control things would be appreciated.

ProperCharlie

my sister suffered from this for several years. AFAICR it cleared up when she went onto a dairy free diet. stress is also supposed to be a factor, so best quit work and go live on a carribean island.

SiPie

Agree with proper Charlie that stress is the biggest contributor...

My boss is stressed ouit his head and his hands are that flakey it looks like his digits are going to fall off..

He's tried everything but won't listen to people tellin him that it's stress that's at the root of it

Good luck anyway

Puff The Magic Wagon!

iTrader: (2)

I've had it for about 10 years & tbh I don't think about it that often. I get "plate" psoraisis all over the place & sometimes I use a cream such as E45 on my face/edge scalp & a always use shampoo called Alphosyl. Dovonex cream (prescribed) was very good when it got a bit bad last year - non-steriod based - & sometimes it killed the patches dead, sometime not. No good for the face strangely as it brings it out in a rash, but everywhere else seemingly excellent.

Best stuff I ever had was Psorigon, but it was so crammed full of steriods, it got quickly banned! I've not tried it's replacement but that is steriod free. I've still got some in a tub & use it (sparingly) on my face when interviews & that coming up

It might be stress re-lated but theres quite a bit of research that goes to show that diet/alcohol can be to blame as well.

Puff The Magic Wagon!

iTrader: (2)

Regarding the stress bit, my psoraisis was no worse when I was a full on bike controller covering 5/600 jobs a day under extreme pressure than it is now, when I'm not working at all

Need to find a link between stress & dry skin?

Dougster

Reflexology can help I'm told.

Drunken Bungle Whore

I've had it on and off for about 12 years - and it's def linked to stress!!

Apart from the tar and the carribean there are lots of diet ideas to help. Many of them are really extreme, but eating oily fish is a good start - all the omega bits. Last time I had a bout I got stuck into the mackerel and it really helped.

Try going into Google and searching on things like Psoriasis Natural Foods. In some health food places you can also get bath salts - it's not quite as good as going to the Dead Sea, but it's an awful lot closer!

Good luck!

Fosters

whilst i know nothing about psoriasis, I get bad eczema and I use Unguentum cream. very thick, but it aleviates the itchiness within 5 minutes! v expensive tho.

marky1

Well this sounds very gay but I would recommend going on a sunbed once or twice a week for a few weeks and seeing how it works. I had an outbreak of guttade psorisis (SP??!) and it seemed to sort it out after about 4 weeks. Certainly worth giving it a go to see how it works, and certainly much more comfortable than that jelly cream they give out which is a nightmare to have on overnight

good luck

mark

MooseRacer

It is worth having an allergy check as this is a common aggravator, along with stress.

Mrs Moose uses Exorex coal tar lotion when hers flares up. It stinks.

Ratman

I find this works for eczema, not sure about psoriasis.

Bathe in porridge oats. Fresh ones each time, 'cos they start to smell quickly!

Just pour some in a sieve, shake off the excess dust, then run the hot water through them like you're sparging your grist.

Ratman

blair

LoL !!

Please tell me you don't make beer from whats left - yech.

Mind you - I bet it has a bit of body to it !

Daryl

Try DiproSalic at first, you should see a dramatic improvement in a few days, then apply Dovonex until the Psoriasis is gone. Dovonex comes in a cream or ointment for the skin and liquid for the scalp. Some patches seem slow to react, but after about 4-8 weeks it should have gone completely.

As PTMW says, steroid based creams work for a while, but the Psoriasis seems to build up a resistance to it. Dovonex is a miracle cure as far as I am concerned

OllyK

Give the faith healer's a call while your at it

OllyK

SiPie - please get your facts straight.

I am not narrow minded, read the research (what there is of it) and come to my own conclusion.

As for spiritualists - quite the oposite, I was very much of the opinion that they are con artists. I did however, at the time state that I am sufficently open minded to change my opinion if somebody can proof that these people can perform under scientific double blind conditions, I'm still waiting for that proof, and I still will be the day I die, I am pretty confident of that. The same applies to Reflexology, acupuncture, faith healing and a whole load of other quackery. No scientific evidence (independant, there is plenty from foundations set up by the purvayors of quackery to try and give credence to the con) yet supports that any of these have a significant medical benefit. Yes I am sure you can find freak anecdotal cases where somebody swears blinf that acupuncture cured them of "cancer", but until you show me the medical records prior to the treatement and I have spoken to the doctors involved and validated that that person really has no longer got "cancer" I will remain skeptical.

OllyK

SiPie - a statement retraction perchance?

Ken 275

Mometasone Fuorate (trade name : Elocon, which is steroid based) should do the business in the short term. Try to avoid stress (not easy) and esp alcohol. These dilate the blood vessels in the skin and can lead to an increased metabolic rate, which can make the Psoriasis worse.

Dunno about diet, but can't do any harm if you're sensible about it.

Try not to dry out your skin with ordinary soaps and change your bed linen frequently. I have heard that you can have holidays abroad where you can encounter fish which will eat bits off you which can help along with the UV, de-stress etc. Food for thought, arf.

Hope you crack it mate.

carl

Aren't there "doctor fish" or some special type of shrimp that are supposed to cure psoriasis?

StickyMicky

stress gets blamed for anything that doctors dont have a clue about

"ohh doctor my arm has fell off"

"hmm this will be due to stress"

Mice_Elf

If swimming in the sea helps, how about purchasing some good quality sea salt and bathing at home in it?

I have friends who have eczema and psiorasis and they swear by a cream called Dream Cream, available from Lush : http://www.lush.co.uk. (Click on Products, Skincare and it's near the bottom.) Apparently it's very good.

Mice_Elf

From the Lush website :

Dream Cream

269 240g £7.95

Ingredients: Oat Milk (Avena sativa), Rose Water (Rosa centifolia), Olive Oil (Olea europaea), Cocoa Butter(Theobroma cacao), Glycerine, Stearic Acid, Triethanolamine, Tincture of Benzoin (Styrax benzoin), Rose Absolute (Rosa centifolia), Chamomile Oil (Anthemis nobilis), Tea Tree Oil (Melaleuca alternifolia), Lavender Oil (Lavendula hybrida), Cetearyl Alcohol, Perfume, Methylparaben, Propylparaben.

Those of us with skin that gives us severe problems sometimes (or all of the time) could spend our lives dreaming of a beautiful, clear, trouble free epidermis. We try many beauty creams and pharmaceuticals, you name it, we've used it, but still our bothersome skin won't behave. Give Dream Cream a try; we get loads of letters about how well it works (see below). Why? Because it is made with every calming plant we can get our hands on: oats have been used on the skin as far back as Celtic times, softening rose water, calming lavender and chamomile, olive oil to moisturise and loads more (see above). The scent sometimes takes a bit of getting used to as it's not your average floral thing, more of a herbal approach. Get some. There's no point in having a dream unless you're going to have a decent crack at making it come true.

'I work as a jeweller and my hands live a very hard life, plus the fact I suffer with eczema. Well that was before I started using Dream Cream.' Sakura

'I have suffered from eczema for as long as I can remember and after using a number of steroid creams and moisturisers, was introduced to your products by a friend. At first I was wary but tried a number of your products. Almost all of them have been excellent on my skin but best of all is Dream Cream. Please can you tell me if you will always make this or if it will go off the shelves to be replaced by another product. It is such a relief to find something so good after searching for about 11 years that it would be awful if I was to discover that it was going to be discontinued at any point. Also the Alkmaar soap is fantastic! Well done in producing such fantastic products.
Thanks'
Sarah Blackburn

StickyMicky

sounds like sum porno lube mate

Mice_Elf

No, it's just a moisturiser... What you use it for is up to you, though!

Big C

Oilatum works well on my the boy. Some poured on in the bath and it clears up immediately.

C

Biggins

Fantastic info. guys, thanks very much.

Some very good ideas and recommendations, just need to decide which to try 1st. As I stated earlier, I have tried a GP prescribed shampoo and cream which did start to improve things. I just couldn't stand the thought of continual use as part of my grooming regime as is smelt dreadfull. Bed clothes would smell of it, hair would smell even after several rinses. I think I will try UV light i.e. sunbeds 1st as me and the missus regularly use the gym which has beds. I have started taking one a day multivits. + omega 3 cod liver oil capsules which shoud start to improve things. I will also get hold of some of this Dream Cream from the Bodyshop which sounds slightly more fragrant. Hopefully after a few weeks I should start to see results.

The dietry and allergies intrigues me as I know of several people who have enjoyed balanced health and then all of a sudden they suffer problems. These have turned out to be Wheat intolerance, Nut allergy & Dairy etc. so might look into this one. One things for certain though, if they say i'm allergic to alcohol, people better start to call me flaky for the rest of my days as this is somethng I will NOT give up.

Thanks again.

jason4656

when i lived in Thailand, my friend got really stressed out and he suffered with this for ages, he tried so many creams was really ****ed off with it all, but then we found this hospital that did UV treatment, it cleared up in no time at all, im sure they must do it in the uk, his was quite bad condition, and few trips there under this sun bed type light worked wonders it might be worth looking into

Richard Work

Chances are they didn't really have balanced health. Poor diet (lack of nutrition) is a slow burner and because it effects everything people miss the signs. Reaching the point of critical mass may take years and all the while you feel fairly normal.

The problem is that we only think of poor diet in terms of people starving in Africa/Romania etc. In the west the nutritional content of food is reduced from what it was a few years ago - pesticides/herbicides/green harvesting/additives etc. The body is only programmed to work one way and if it doesn't get the right nutrition something will eventually go wrong....

Its like if I run my STi on normal unleaded - yes it looks the same and smells the same but it ain't and I shouldn't be surprised when I don't get the same performance and then something breaks down! At least with a car you get a manual.

I would definitely start looking at diet if I were you, when you start digging its amazing the sort of benefits it can have!

Best of luck

Richard

messiah

I've had eczema since birth (not totally unrelated to psoriasis) and the biggest difference to me has been washing powder - only use the non-bio stuff. My skin has been loads better since my clothes stopped getting washed in the bio type.

Switching to non-bio has helped 2 others when I've suggested it, 1 has cleared up completely and another (an 8 month old) is almost clear too.

I think the main thing is not to scratch when it itches - if you must do something just rub it as then you won't break the skin and make it worse.

Don't have hot baths.

This might sound a bit wierd, but I can smell something that's going to trigger my eczema - and it's usually cheapo creams, going on holiday costs me a fortune 'cos I can only use stuff like Clinique, Vichy and all those other designer brands - although after last summer I'll be swearing by that P20 stuff you can get out of airports! Before I buy anything that goes onto the skin I take the top off in the shop and smell it, some of them smell a bit harse or bitter (boots soltan, amber solaire) which is the ones I cant use but others smell really creamy (Vichy) and I'm OK with those, it works with shampoo's too - I only use the the neutrogenia stuff now.

Ask your GP if you can have allergy tests - You'll be in hospital for a week or so, but it might be worth it for the long run...

hope this helps.

Mice_Elf

It's from Lush, not the BodyShop.

Daryl

Biggins - hope all that stuff you are going to try works for you. The sunbed should help, but I really don't think those other treatments will help much. They may stop your skin getting dry, but they wont get rid of the Psoriasis. I've suffered from Psoriasis for 35 years and Dovonex is the only thing I've found that really works. It also doesn't have any smell at all. I'm not having a go, just trying to give you some advice that I think will really help you