After decades of having to use a coal tar shampoo every 3 days or suffer severe itching, flaking, and red spots that bled, I now can go weeks and sometimes months without using any special shampoo and only occasionally using a 3% salicylic acid shampoo. The coal tar shampoo stunk and had to be followed by a pleasant smelling shampoo but the salicylic acid shampoo doesn't seem to have any scent at all.
I still follow it with a pleasantly scented shampoo of my choosing. I also had to wash my eyebrows in the coal tar stuff...ewww! And I remember rubbing it across my cheeks so I wouldn't break out there. I didn't 't want to have itchy eyebrows or cheeks.
The stigma for me was to be seen scratching and having flakes flying around from the area I was scratching. How embarrassing!! I rarely let that happen, though, it was too bad a feeling...I made sure I shampooed every third day, if not sooner! Often sooner due to exercising and going to the beach or pool, etc. And now? I rarely have to even think about psoriasis at all. Who knew?
I hope this happens to everybody reading this who has psoriasis!
Written by
BonnieSue
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Good to know your Psoriasis is in remission and the shampoo treatment has worked for you. Just be aware that maybe it’s just a remission instead of ‘disappearance’. Keep it under control and it’s likely going to be away forever. Fingers crossed!
On a side note: have you been officially diagnosed? I only ask because my current Dermatologist is questioning why Psoriasis diagnosis!
My doctors have never questioned the diagnosis. I'll try to get it confirmed and get back to you. I don't remember who diagnosed it, it's been so long. Would you doubt it after hearing my description?
I'm very much hoping to keep it under control and that it'll stay only as active as it s today.
I have tried various shampoos, including coal tar (the most effective) and another common option on the market today. Nothing else. Have had injections such as Prolia, etc. , of which I have no idea of whether they have helped anyone in the past or not.
@BonnieSue - nice name! :)SO GLAD FOR YOU! Makes you want to celebrate doesn’t it - go buy a dark red shirt or something!
It does seem like they could make the medicated shampoos smell better doesn’t it.
For those struggling, I would like to tout the benefits of the new trend of apple cider rinse. I do not have psoriasis really bad on my scalp except for a few spots that flare up badly. I decided to purchase an apple cider rinse last time I was in Ulta (US) and lo-n-behold, it calms my “spots” right down. For once, following a trend was a great idea!
Yes, I want to celebrate! I thought I'd better post so others can know it's possible to improve after decades of no improvement. I've also had many other diagnoses improve, go into remission, or disappear altogether and have dropped many medications. I believe it's due to a dramatic lessening of my stress levels.
Am I living the easy life now? Not a chance. But I have fewer stressors and a little more control now.
I've had psoriasis since 1989 when i started my 1st business and were under extreme pressure. It started on my scalp and progressively got worse where several areas like knees, elbows, buttocks, shins, eyebrows, inner ears, back of my ears, scalp, side of nose, back of my legs, chest and some fingers had spots.
Needless to say that I tried every known remedy and saw several dermatologists who basically just confirmed that it was psoriasis and prescribed corticosteroid ointments. It was always a case of treating the symptoms, never the cause.
I have been on Methotrexate tablets and take 8 x 2.5mg once a week for the past 4 years. This has really helped to keep the various areas under control and also helped to dissipate the itching.
While working in Oman during 2017 I had an attack akin to a stroke but it turned out that my blood sugar was very high; 14 in stead of a normal 5 - 5.5. This was due to excessive binging late at night. Gave me a great scare and luckily I have no after effects.
I immediately cut my sugar as well as rice and pasta consumption. During the following 6 - 7 months I lost 10kgs and the psoriasis also started clearing. I'm now 98% clear but still use the Methotrexate once a week.
So my conclusion is that in my particular case the excessive sugar intake was a major influence in my skin breaking out with psoriasis. The other factor is probably stress.
With all the research I have done over the years it seems that there are always underlying causes which break out on the skin in the form of psoriasis, eczema or any of the other skin disorders.
Unfortunately everyone's physiology is different and what causes psoriasis for one person doesn't necessarily cause it for another. That is why it is so difficult, time consuming and costly to analyze a particular person's condition and most often is is by mere coincidence that one finds out what actually causes it.
I have read that other sufferers stopped eating night shades which helped clear up their condition. Also read of some sufferers who similar to me reduced their sugar intake and it helped greatly to clear the symptoms.
Congratulations on getting your psoriasis almost completely under control!! And to be so free of symptoms! Staying away from sugar is a tough thing to do consistently in today's culture.
Your glucose test (blood sugar) results make no sense in US testing values...I suppose you had them done elsewhere? But obviously, you found sugar intake was critical for you so it doesn't matter all that much where you were tested. I suspect your answers are many people's answers...too much stress and too high a sugar intake.
I, too, was on weekly methotrexate for a few years, but don't know for what reason. I was never asked how my psoriasis symptoms were doing and no mention of them even occurred! Thanks so much for sharing what you learned with all of us. It can only help us all.
Thank you for the reply. If what has transpired from my particular case help other folks then I would be really glad as other sufferers have the disease far worse than I ever did.
I'm from South Africa and we measure blood sugar levels in millimoles per liter or mmol/L. In the States and some other countries it is measured in milligrams per deciliter or mg/dL. The conversion is to multiply mmol/L by 18 or divide mg/dL by 18. So 5 to 6 mmol/L is equal to 90.9 to 108.11 mg/dL.
Ouch!!! Your glucose was way too high!! Thank you for explaining how it's measured in S. Africa...I never would have known without your help and I like to learn things like this! Again, I'm so glad you've come to a great answer for yourself and that you're doing so much better these days!
Have you ever had pustulare it makes a mess out of feet. I have it. On heels and there peeling and raw it also is on. Palms of hands they peel and get bright red. I have a total of 4 types psoriasis. The erythdermic is dangerous it can put you in hospital and cause you to die. I've had all 4 kinds. O was broke out with all I take soritane. Or generic acetretin my body's clearing up but my feet and hands are awful so yes there are meds for it. With this pill it can cause your eye lashes to fall out Its a very potent form of vitamin A if you can get pregnant you can't take it and up to 3 years after.it takes a long time to I' of your system. I can't use steroids they break me out. They have biologics but I can't do them because I've had cancer twice in the last 8 years and it can cause cancer and TB. They have methatrexate which is a chemo they have a box like thing you can sit in and it acts like the sun it breaks me out.once the pill starts working it will take a few weeks if not longer to clear it up but my hands and feet are awful. I'm still taking med but was given. A creme that a mixture on gabapentin,and stuff to numb and one other thing I'm not sure what it is. I'll have to look it up. I sincerely hope this helps others. Also I'm in the US. Love susiejo1948
Thanks for sharing all this info. I didn't know any of it. I hope others aren't afraid to ask questions to learn what they need to know about their own diseases.
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