Must treat the cause, not the symptom.

[Lourensdb]

I believe it is time that the medical profession start looking to treat the cause of Psoriasis and not just to treat the symptom.

My wife has be plagued with Psoriasis for some years now. Cream after cream, cortisone injection etc etc and it is just getting worse.

Now booked an appointment with a

internist. Booked a month ago and can only get in in August.

But I will post again and let you know if there is any positive outcome from seeing the internist.

[Hidden]

I think the closest we get to treating the cause is the drugs that target the immune system i.e. DMARDs and biologics.

I understand that there are triggers for those of us who are genetically predisposed to this disease, some of which are possibly lifestyle related. Yet my impression is that once the immune system becomes dysfunctional the problem is very deep-seated (although not necessarily severe in the way it presents), which makes 'simply' changing lifestyle factors such as diet etc. not so much a cure as a management strategy. That is just my impression, gleaned from personal experience, intuition, bits and pieces of rather poorly digested research etc.

I have had an odd experience with psoriasis that may be of interest, though how on earth you'd apply it to your quest I don't know. I had inverse psoriasis for about 20 years and as I recall my armpits were inflamed, often raw, almost 24/7 throughout that time. Then, one day, a big cloud lifted when I realised a really draining personal situation had finally come to a close. And my psoriasis disappeared - completely - no scarring, nothing. But about 10 years later, when my personal circumstances were considerably happier but I was exhausted from trying to survive in a very difficult job, PsA flared up. I think for some of us any long-term stress may be a trigger. But this is all speculation. Thanks anyway for your post 'cos I quite like giving my tin-pot theories an airing!

I suppose, given my experience, I would recommend that your wife thinks carefully about anything in her life that makes her feel totally stumped/exhausted/depressed and whether she can do anything to improve the situation. And then to consider systemic medication if her psoriasis is moderate to severe. And eating well, exercising, enjoying life regardless ... all those things help loads!

[Lourensdb in reply to Hidden]

Thanks for the reply.

Honestly, that is my theory on my wife's psoriasis also. The inflamed armpits, sort of all the soft tissue areas are the most "infected" areas. Besides having had the "usual" scalp little body flaking psoriasis, it just suddenly flared up seriously to a basically whole body infection with the worst at the soft tissue area and, strangely enough in the lymph node areas.

And right at a time that our lives to a very stressful turn. So yes I can relate to the stress idea for this serious flareup.

We basically life a healthy lifestyle - very conscious of our eating habits. The problem is that the stress factor that crept into our life is not going to disappear soon, unless for a miracle - praying for that.

Thank you so much for your input - much appreciated.

[Hidden in reply to Lourensdb]

That's so interesting. At the risk of mentioning the obvious, it's worth trying not to stress about the stress! I often think that when stress is identified as a factor in a disease there's the risk of feeling almost guilty about it, which is (again obviously) so counterproductive.

My rheumatologist, who is a real expert in PsA, casually mentioned re. steroid creams for psoriasis 'oh yes, they don't work do they ....'. Yet presumably they must work for some! Don't they??! When my P flared up, I found the many topical steroid products I tried to be as much good as a chocolate teapot. The best things I've used to manage the condition have been emollients containing urea - balneum cream and heel balm. They make the smallish but uncomfortable patches I still have more bearable. And one particularly nasty patch on my leg did disappear after very conscientious use of balneum cream.

[angelamckenna]

I totally agree with you hun it is internal and down to our immune systems not working properly, its nothing to do with skin in effect its the rapid process of skin cell production hence why it cannot possibly be treat properly from the outside, none of the creams we get palmed of with is ever going to work, if your interested in diet to clear the awful disease, you might like to look up dr berg on youtube he is absolutely fab and there is also a questionaire that he give one time only for free, ita pretty long and take time to do but well worth doing, you fill out the 104 questions and send it back of to dr berg, he breaks the questionaire down and send you back a full report its the best help i have had ever he is amazing help, good luck x

[Lourensdb in reply to angelamckenna]

Thank you very much Angela - will have my wife try Dr. Berg

[DoubleM]

Absolutely stress is a big factor in psoriasis flaring up, my own personal experience is infections and stressful events make mine flare terribly.

I had a bad case of streptococcus (throat infection) 9 years ago and that triggered guttate psoriasis which I feel is even harder to shift than plaques, I've had another bad episode from last year that still hasn't cleared due to going through a redundancy and leaving my job. It's also good to look into diet and I've found being gluten free helps a bit.

[Helena877]

Had psoriasis for 7yrs . It never budged. Then I was diagnosed with another autoimmune disease - Hashimotos. On replacement thyroid hormone my psoriasis has disappeared !

Yes - to treating the cause - I believe like many others that it begins in the gut and that is key to lessing it or putting it into remission.

None of those steroid creams worked for me. At best they "sealed" the soreness but nothing else!

[Helena877]

I am now also gluten free and limit my intake of "nightshade" foods. Tomatoes in particular would flare up my psoriasis and potatoes made me exceptionally tired and achy!

[Seahorse02]

@Laurensdb - TOTALLY AGREE! Having been in constant flare going on 2 years now, I literally have boxes of creams, gels, ointments, foams. The result? The psoriasis - scalp, invert, plaque, nail, genital, palmoplantar pustular - GROWS. All these external creams are like pouring oil on the hood of a car that needs transmission work!!