What has caused the Psoriasis epidemic

a reply to: Sillyolme

Has there been an increase in cases or just an increase in awareness and advertising from pharmaceutical companies? 

The advertising has absolutely increased. Psoriasis as a condition itself has been around for centuries if not millennia. But the amount of severe cases ( meaning over 50% of the body is covered with a rash ) is what's on the sharp increase. My dermatologist is a man in his 70's and he confirmed this to me.

And yes the biologics work wonders but the fact remains that they're immunosuppressants. If a situation arises in the future where I get an unrelated infection of some sort, I would have to stop the medication. The bigger questions are: "why do we need to suppress our immune systems? What is causing them to overreact in such a way?"

a reply to: Sillyolme

I saw on one of those intervention shows a girl who was in withdrawals and they mentioned RLS. She was lying on the bed and couldn't stop kicking her feet. Not saying everyone with RLS has used drugs.

a reply to: AgarthaSeed

"why do we need to suppress our immune systems? What is causing them to overreact in such a way?"

welL... what else to we do to our bodies that causes an over-robust immune system reaction... hmmmmm

I worked for an alternative medical doctor many years ago. He told me that the majority of his psoriasis patients had asthma when they were younger. The steroid inhaler that suppresed the bronchial inflammation had remanifested as psoriasis later on in their adulthood. He would also recommend going to natural hot springs that are in the northern Nevada/California area that are higher in sulfur and silica.

a reply to: Alchemst7

That's interesting because he did use an inhaler, I believe he still does. We would call him a "Goonie" when he was a kid every time he used it.

It's one of the odd things where everyone has something different that works for them.

The single biggest improvement I had came as an unexpected byproduct of changing to a strict keto diet and drinking lots of water.

The thing is... it might not have been anything to do with the diet. Not directly, anyway. I made a sweeping array of lifestyle changes at the same time and the improvement could have been connected to any one thing, or any combination of them. Eating better, cutting out the crap and sugars, exercising more, proper sleep routine, etc.

For me, psoriasis has a very direct correlation with stress - and I have a very stressful work life that doesn't end when I leave the office. The lifestyle changes I made when I went to keto also helped me to manage the stress more effectively.

I'm sure you'll get 50 different suggestions in this thread. It's not that any are right or wrong, but your nephew will just need to spend some time experimenting to find the ideas that work for him.

a reply to: Sabrechucker

Have you tried Neem Oil?. Had friend with Psoriasis really bad on their hands, tried Neem Oil and it cleared up in a few days.

www.psoriasisselfmanagement.com...

a reply to: Sabrechucker

Have you tried Neem Oil?. Had friend with Psoriasis really bad on their hands, tried Neem Oil and it cleared up in a few days.

www.psoriasisselfmanagement.com...

a reply to: Sabrechucker

Have you tried Neem Oil?. Had friend with Psoriasis really bad on their hands, tried Neem Oil and it cleared up in a few days.

www.psoriasisselfmanagement.com...

Begin supplementing both probiotics and prebiotics into his daily intake. More and more discoveries regarding the gut and health, stress, and even heard of autism symptoms decreasing, NOT ALL, but it is still being researched with interesting results.

I just recently read that some people are getting great relief from 16oz of celery juice first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. If you look on Instagram, there are all sorts of testimonies. Just google "celery juice and psoriasis."

a reply to: shuck

I will look into it, Thanks!

a reply to: artnut

Reading more about the causes of Psoriasis and it seems like the liver is the culprit. He doesn't drink, I mean he's had some drinks in his life but I'd know if he was drinking a lot. One thing though, he is a caffeine nut. Every time I see him and I mean every time, he has a Monster energy drink a Red bull or one of the other hundred "Energy" drinks.

a reply to: AgarthaSeed

There is also another theory as it why our own immune systems are attacking us so much. It isn't about the toxins in our air and water as much as it is with our own clean obsessions.

Those parts of our immune systems that attack us are doing it because they aren't being challenged by the proper things they evolved to fight.

For example, there is research to suggest that the parts of the immune system that create allergic reactions are the ones that used to fight parasites. Well, we've virtually eliminated parasitic infections, so it has nothing to do and gets confused and attacks the wrong things, trains itself wrong and we get allergies.

You can't just wipe out millions of years of evolution overnight although we're bound and determined to try.

a reply to: ColdWisdom

I think it had more to do about the sun than saltwater.
I have had severe plaque Psoriasis since my late teens. My mother has it.
Psoriasis cases are the few times Doctors will call on getting more sun.
Special tanning beds work too. I used a tanning bed one summer for about 2 months and it cleared up for years.
Stay away from steroids like prednisone if at all possible as this will cause flare ups.
limit intake of tomato paste foods.

These are all things I have found helpful in controlling it without immune system reducers like Otrexup, Rasuvo, and Trexall.

hope that helps

My niece has this on her elbows and arm. It's stress related. She has oily skin being 18. She went to demotologist and has a steroid cream. I would eat clean. Avoid carbs like bread, potatoes, corn, pasta, rice, sugar..... avoid salt use the pink salt. Never eat fast food or junk food. It's all poison. Take fish oil and hair skin and nail vitamins. Oatmeal and baking soda baths help itchiness. Make your own healthy bath bombs with ice cube trays. Recipes all over the Internet. It helps my itchy hyper dogs feel better. Use lavender oil. Best of luck. Prayers to you!

a reply to: Sabrechucker

I've had this crap for 30 years, and I've been prescribed enough ointments and creams to fill an olympic sized swimming pool. Those quacks never told me that everything they prescibed caused skin thinning. I barely caught it before it became a serious problem.

These days I'm prescription free. Yeah, I have spots here and there, but the best thing to do is to accept them as a part of you. Why? Stress is *my* major trigger. Stressing about them makes it worse. A poster here has already mentioned the self-renewing cycle this causes.

I emphasized *my* because everyone is different. Everyone has triggers. It's up to your nephew to find out which trigger is his.

I gave up drinking. No change.
I gave up smoking, both by switching to an organic cigarette and finally just quitting. No change.
I lost 80 lbs once. No change. Gained half of it back, then lost 60. I'm lighter at 38 than i was at 13. No change, but I feel great.

My psoriasis does get worse when my depression does. I fix that with something ATS would moderate me for mentioning. Pretty sure you can figure it out, and it works gangbusters for the depression but does jack for my psoriasis. Neither did CBD oils. #BTDT

I will not inject myself with something that can harm my immune system to the point where I have to start worrying about things like tuberculosis. I have been doing my own thing for fifteen years. I am not cured. I still have red spots on my torso, knuckles, both elbows, 1 knee, and every damn place I have a scar. I call my psoriasis "managed." There's no flakes, no scales, just red. Mometasone Furoate takes care of that, and in 30 years its the only dang thing the Psoriasis has not gotten acclimated to. I only use it on my face, though, and very sparingly. Two days of 2x day applications to a red spot will obliterate it for 2 weeks. Then i shave and it comes back.

For the rest of it, two things have helped me out more than anything.

#1 Bath & Body Works: Aromatherapy Energy - Orange & Ginger Has to be this one. I've tried four others and none had the same instant scale obliterating results that this one does. For best results, use immediately after a shower "debrideing" sesson. Scruffier the better. I use cheap terry shop rags for this.

#2 Dr Bronners Pure-Castile Soap - Peppermint: Hippie soap. I have not tried any of the other scents yet, but that's because a 40 oz bottle of this will last you til the apocalypse. I'm ordering the lavender and citrus next time. I ordered a bottle in October and with myself and 1.7 women using it...I still have half of it left. Cover the A/C vents before you get out of the shower. You'll freeze to death til you get dried off. Don't use it in your hair. It dries the hell out of it, but works great for periodic removal regular shampoo buildup.

I'm not totally sure if I'm slowly developing eczema or psoriasis, but my husband has mild eczema and seems to think I'm developing it. I'm inclined to cautiously agree because I haven't noticed scales/plaques/thickness like psoriasis. It's more like a really bad acne outbreak without the actual acne spots, and very dry, rough and itchy.

I've spent the better part of the last month and a half with an ebbing & flowing flare-up of whatever it is across my cheeks and nostrils. Think the Lupus Butterfly Rash location, but rough, dryyyyyyy, itchy and/or hot to the touch occasionally and redness somewhere between scattered "pimple red" and rosacea uniform. Patchy redness, I guess.

I've experimented with a few things, and the best thing I've found that keeps it under control and seems to quickly abate a flare-up is (I know someone's going to wince) exfoliating with Lava soap. The roughness is greatly reduced for longer than just washing alone, and it seems to heal a bit faster.

In all honesty, it's made me a little self-conscious -- I don't wear make-up at all, or own any at all, and am not about to start just to cover that up (face paint does so much more harm to skin than good) But I'm still self-conscious about it, especially in public. There've been a couple of lingering "Eek o.O" type looks when it flared worst that made me want to crawl into a hole.

And yes, I'm well-aware of the claim that eczema is more likely if you're asthmatic or have asthmatic immediate relatives. My dad and younger brother have pretty bad asthma. It seems that ups my odds of eczema.

Any tips/advice/suggestions would be more than welcome

To clear severe . . .for a break . . .prednisone one (1) time only.

For long-term treatment- doctor prescribed methotrexate.

Daily topic lubricants.