What is it with psoriasis and the scalp? I’ve always had it there, and like the OP if I don’t wash my hair daily then my scalp becomes a fiery itching mess. Like others though for me the scalp was just the staging area. when I was about 19 it migrated to the rest of my body (mainly arms and legs). As for treatment, i’ve given up on it and just decided to live with the unsightly skin and the itching.
Mine was on my scalp for like 13 years, and now it’s also on my legs, arms, torso, and assorted other areas. I’ve used Dovonex and steroids for years, alternating them so that when one poops out the skin hasn’t seen the other one for a while. 
Sigh.
READ, DO, ENJOY, SPREAD THE GOOD NEWS
I was 80% covered for 16 years, and tried everything the doctor had on his shelves and everything available on the net. I won’t list the failures. I won’t list the scams or the rubbish books out there and the great waste of money. I am a scientist and ran my own experiments on myself. I failed hundreds of times, but learned little by little.
Here is how to keep your skin completely clear.
That’s not the same as a cure, as the symptoms will re-appear if you don’t follow the regimen, but it works.
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Stop all Doctor treatments, cream, sun etc. completely.
Only use basic moisturiser and olive oil
EFFECT: Your skin will flare up and you will feel dreadful
and it might take you 3-6 months before your hormones re-balance depending on what treatment you have been undergoing.
FOR HOW LONG: Until forever my dear -
Eliminate all sugar, pork, fired food, hot spices, shell fish, milk products (including yoghurt and icecream!),
- Show quoted text -
REPLY TO QUESTIONS:
CAN I DRINK? 1 glass of redwine or Pear Cider 3 times per week is fine OR 3 small 330ml beers per week
WHAT DO I DO NOW? Order all of the pills first, then make a shopping list of things you always should have in the kitchen and have it delivered every week on the same day. When everything is in place; take a photo of yourself, start the regimen and take a photo 1 week later. Congratulations.
WHAT’S ON YOUR SHOPPING LIST?
GRAINS
Rye Bread
Quinoa
Buckwheat
Pearl Barley
Oatabix bites
Dark noodles
Narcisa rice
Free from spaghetti
FRUIT
Baby Avocado
Cantaloupe melon
Pomegranates or Pomegranate juice
limes
Pink grapefruit
oranges
bananas
papaya
pineapple
mango
red grapes
Large kiwis
apples
pears
Figs
Apricots
JUICES
Ribena
Apple juice
FISH
White fish
MEAT
Organic chicken
Organic beef
Organic lamb
VEGETARIAN
Garden Gourmet Hot dogs
various vegetarian sausages Linda italian
vegetable quarter pounders
Falaffels
Nut Cutletts (Tesco meat free)
VEGETABLES
Celery
Broccoli
Different small Stirfrys
Celery
garlic
onion
ginger
small Sweet potatoes
small normal potatoes
carrots
beetroot
Salad Onios
Herb (coriander, parsley)
(radish)
FROZEN VEGETABLES
peas
SPICES and small stuff
flaked almonds (to put on top of stuff in the oven
so-low salt
kikoman soya
Black pepper
Apple Cider vinegar
Rochester Ginger Drink
DAIRY
Butter
SWEETS
85% Dark chocolate
KITCHEN STUFF
baking paper
tin foil
washing up liquid
washing powder
refuse bags
Reported.
Fuck you spammer, fuck you all to hell. Psoriasis is bad enough without making us read such a retarded “cure”.
Assuming that post gets deleted, I have a question.
Have any Psoriasis sufferers had any issues/problems regarding starch in their diet and the Psoriasis flaring up?
For a number of years now I have been cutting certain foods from my diet to see the effect on my skin (eg: I didnt eat red meat for a year). I have noticed potatoes may be a problem food, has anybody else noticed anything similar?
Yes. Fuck you psoriasis. I developed it on my hands and knees a few year ago and on my feet. When I get a chance I’ll post some of the creams I’ve used. Not that they are helping all that much. Have you tried Tazorac ceam? Prevex B?
Damn you to hell spammer who revived this thread.
These stupid revived threads always make me miss old posters who don’t come around any more.
That sucks. I had it on the glans and the ball sack years ago and didn’t know what it was until the same crusty condition was diagnosed years later on my knees and calves.
As a result, my wife’s avid interest in fellatio was terminated permanently. I almost wish I had it on the other head instead.
By the way, I seem to be all cleared up for several years without doing anything. Knock on wood.
heh. Knock on wood. <Snicker snort>:D
When damning things to hell, isn’t an animal sacrifice required? Is this the time for all Dopers to bring their goats forward?
I will start the bonfire and bring potato salad. I love a good damning.
I’ve had it for years as well on the arms, legs, and now the torso… One thing that should work for your scalp is Clobetasol propionate(prescription required) and it is available in a alcohol solution designed specifically for use on the scalp. It definately helped as designed but the cream solution didnt do much for the rest of my body. However, I do believe the generic version is much, much cheaper than dovonex.
I had a housemate years ago who had severe psoriasis and he was getting the uv treatment at mass general and he still had it pretty bad. I met him in Vegas last year and he was completely clear from using enbrel injections every couple of months.
I started going to a new derm last week and he put me on cyclosporaine which is a very heavy duty drug but he claims I will be 80% to 90% clear w/in 3 weeks but then I will have to go on either stelera(which has been running commercials endlessly lately) or humira which are still heavy duty treatments but are more specific to treating psoriasis as opposed to cyclosporaine which pretty much destroys your body’s ability to fight off infections and viruses.
I wish you the best of luck with your condition and it’s obvious from all the posts above that you are not alone. Now that it’s summertime I’m dying to wear shorts and flip flops all the time. It gets frustrating having to decide whether I want to wear shorts on the golf course and explain occasionally what those rashses are on my shins and knees or rather why I’m wearing long pants in such warm weather.
I’m in agreement with the argument that says most Zombies have Psoriasis.
I had it for years and the only things that ever showed relief were the two ridiculously expensive prescription drugs Enbrel or Humira. Both require jabbing yourself with a delightfully painful syringe periodically.
I did Enbrel for about 8 months (two shots a week) and it worked initially and then faded. I switched to Humira (one shot every two weeks, thanks doc for going with the more frequent jab solution first) and have been fairly clear since then. With a little effort I got on a sponsored program which saves me hundreds (not exaggerating) each month. The annoying shot (they put the doses in injector pens for home administration) is worth the results for me. I used to have Psoriasis on 30% of my skin surface, now it’s an unnoticeable <1%.
The most annoying aspect of this little affliction from hell is that various remedies work fantastically for some but not for others.
While all Psoriasis victims share support for each other we still have to individually seek out something that brings relief to us individually.
Enbrel is expensive, but worth it*. Manages both psoriatic skin and arthritis. Without it I couldn’t walk.
*For me; sorry it doesn’t work for you, BubbaDog.
Hm, I could part with a couple chickens. Can I get away with marinating them first?
The last time I saw a doctor re: psoriasis, he recommended a diet book that emphasised balancing between an acidic and a base diet.
I’ve had psoriasis covering at least 60 percent of my bod <probably more, really> for about 25 years. I have lived in a pretty wide variety of environments, have been everything from totally organic vegetarian <just for fun for a few years in college> to eating junk food for a living. I had a few years where I drink every night, and for the last 20 or so it’s been a few drinks a year.
No matter where I was or what I was doing, whether it was Aleutian islands or California hot hot desert, my psoriasis never, ever changed. The most that changes is I get some on my face if I don’t get enough sun there.
Two things, and two things only, have ever helped, but neither one is a realistic option long-term, so…
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On one processing boat I worked on, we had salt-water showers that you could utilize anytime. Felt slippery, but wasn’t nearly as drying as one might think. That was the only time, ever, that my psoriasis really took a turn for the much-better.
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A solid, real tan. Tanning beds don’t work <I wish it were that simple!> but I kinda have it all over, so unless I’m living somewhere I can privately nude sunbathe every single day <did I mention using salad oil and apple cider vinegar for the lotion?> then that’s not gonna happen with me, either.
I have always been hardcore against personally using any of the biologic options, because the only real benefit to psoriasis is that I rarely get sick. Like, ever. But…I’m 44 now, and this last year I’ve been more sick than the last 20 years combined, so I’m thinking I don’t have much to lose anymore. 
Unfortunately, that didn’t keep those little psoriasis genes busy enough, apparantly; if being mildly sick a lot meant my skin cleared up due to stupid psoriasis cells <or whatever> were busy elsewhere, then I’d say ‘Bring on the sniffles!!’
This inexpensive tar soaphas helped a couple of people with psoriasis, say their Amazon reviews.
I thought I had psoriasis for over 50 years, but a young dermatologist changed the diagnosis to seborrhea. She suggested desonide cream. After using it for a few days I gained quite a bit of relief. Not to suggest this is true for you, but my misdiagnosis caused me many years of pain and embarrassment.
Once I hit 30 I started to get psoriasis. In addition to other posters complaints, I have to deal with the skin flakes. My car, my apartment, etc get dingy with bio snow and I’m constantly having to clean it up. And yeah, I got it on my junk too, thank Og I’m not the only one.
I’m taking cortisone creams which soften the area but it flares right uo if I forget to take it. My fiancee is an absolut saint in helping me cope with it, and I get a lot of support from her.
One of the most annoying aspects of psoriasis are the well-meaning laypeople with perfect skin who heard somewhere that if you just (change your diet, get more sun, get less sun, stand on your head, etc.) you will be cured, and they expect you to be grateful for their helpful inside information and cure yourself right away.
BubbaDog had it right noticing that each individual has to find the treatment that works best. As for me, I was slightly shocked the last time I went to a new dermatologist after deciding to get serious about treatment again, and he diagnosed me with “severe” psoriasis (over 10% coverage). He recommended narrow-band UVB light therapy three times a week, combined with Clobex (topical steroid liquid) and Vectical (topical calcium ointment) – all hideously expensive treatments, but insurance covered all except about $25 co-pay per UVB session.
Turned out the few hundred dollars (and many lunch hours) I spent in the light box was money well spent. This is the best cure I’ve ever had, and this summer I’m wearing shorts for the first time in 20 years. I’ve suspended the light therapy and the psoriasis is coming back only very slowly - the doctor noted that UVB is the only treatment with significant lasting effects after stopping the treatment. I’ll start up treatment again soon to keep it at bay (crossing fingers) and meanwhile I’m saving up $2 or 3 thousand to buy my own light box - insurance won’t touch that even though they’re happy to pay my dermatologist $375 a week indefinitely for use of his light box. I don’t care, it will be worth it if it keeps working.
I’m glad your insurance is covering the costs of the light box. My husband has been suffering with psoriasis since he’s been 19 (he’s 36 now.) He’s tried every ointment you can think of, the light box, etc. The only thing that ended up working for him was taking Humira, which made him completely clear of psoriasis. He successfully took Humira for 7 years, when last summer he was hospitalize with shingles and meningitis. As a result, he was taken off Humira. Over the past year, his psoriasis has returned, worse than ever. It covers his arms, legs, back, chest, and more. He’s taken out gluten and dairy from his diet, taken supplements, seen an acupuncturist, taken these drops the acupuncturist has prescribed, all with no luck. Recently, he went back to the dermatologist; he cannot live like this anymore. As his wife, I have watched this active, vivacious, wonderful man sink into a deep depression and it’s so hard. The dermatologist told him that he could take Humira again, and spoke to him about soriatiane and some other oral medications. He also mentioned the light box. Apparently, there have been significant advancements with the light box since he last used it, about 10 years ago. The insurance company is now refusing to pay for the cost of the light box. I am so frustrated.
My questions is: Did this happen to anyone else? IS there a way around the insurance company, such as an assistance program? Thank you so much.
Go 'Noles.