Supa
12-10-2012, 01:36 PM
So I'd like to tell you about my psoriasis & allergies in the hopes that some of you may find some nugget of it useful or that it will trigger an insight for you to share.
I was lucky in the sense my psoriasis did not appear till my early thirties during a stressful transition period in my life. It first broke out with a bang all over my scalp and I thought I had dandruff. Tried a bunch of shampoos like head and shoulders etc but that didn't stop the snow from falling if you get my drift. Then the plaque started on my shins and little dots here and there. I thought I had a rash so I went to the dermatologist. The first dermatologist I went to was not much help, just saying sorry you have psoriasis, something I was going to have to live with. No discussion of what the triggers might be and how to avoid them etc, just a script for what would be the first in a long of line of increasing strength, yet ineffective steroid ointments. I got the impression that they were more interested in giving out prescriptions and sizing me up for a chin lift or tummy tuck then helping me beat this skin condition.
From what I gather psoriasis has a strong hereditary component and both sides of my family have members who have had it, some very severe. My sister has had it since she was ten and I can remember the smell of all the terrible tar based ointments and shampoos she use to use. We even had a UV light room in a nook of the basement to help her during the winter. She has battled it for thirty years and had hit upon that her diet is the main way for her to control it. She has been vegetarian since her teens but she also went gluten free and that allowed her to clear it and keep it under control. Occasionally she accidentally gets some gluten in her diet, from someone's cooking who tells her something is gluten free not realizing some ingredient has it or by taking a chance when eating out. This would causes a flare up and her long march to clear it starts all over again.
When I told my sister I has been diagnosed with psoriasis she understood what anguish I was in and for the first time I started to really understand what she had been battling since we were kids. I had inherited her UV lights but I am afraid to use them because they cause skin cancer. I have heard that having psoriasis makes you less likely to get skin cancer and there are narrow spectrum UV now. She still uses some ointments to help and was kind and gave me a tube of the vitamin D cream she had found helpful. It was a new product at the time and very expensive but I was disappointed as it didn't seem to be working for me. Following her advice I did have myself tested for a gluten allergy but that came back negative.
I did not revisit the areas of allergies again till I got allergic hypersensitivity this spring. 2012 started out as a bad health year. In early February I slipped on the stairs and injured my back that gave rise to a large painful hematoma. Then in March I got an injury on my ankle while raking wood mulch in the front flower beds. I didn't notice it happened, but the next morning when I woke with a deep pain in my ankle and what appeared to be three bites. I went to my primary and he said it looked infected and prescribed the antibiotic Bactrim to treat it. The wound started to look better, but then the allergic reactions started. After a few days my ankle and hand began to itch. Then the itch began spreading to my legs and arms. Not good!
The doctor said I was probably allergic to sulfa antibiotics and switched me to a different variety, and oh yeah your probably allergic to that Neosporin stuff your always using too. I switched pills and stopped using Neosporin but still the itching never went away. I consider myself a good intuitive problem solver, but a poor time and book keeper and when your dealing with allergen issues this is really what you need to be. You need to be able to associate that action a that exposes you to element e in the time frame t happens with a frequency f that has a high correlation to the symptom s you keep having. A brain that is a master at this type of thinking is rare outside of mad scientist laboratories. To find one capable of exploring this problem from another persons perspective by asking the right questions and who also happens to be a doctor is like winning the lottery.
I am relieved to say I won that lottery in May of this year and saw a brilliant allergist. He had an odd personality in that he continuously talked to himself and seemed frantically distracted as he darted through the office from room to room. But I was intrigued about the conversations I was overhearing him having with patients in other rooms as I was about the one he had with me, eagerly trying to absorb all the variables that I had to offer about my life that might give us an insight about what was going on with my body. He honed in on my psoriasis and began examining all the spots of plaque on my shins, my scalp, and particularly my nails. I was not there for psoriasis, but he was looking at the bigger picture of issues I had never thought related. He was literally trying to connect dots as he scribbled away on a sheet of paper writing out the clues as dots and arrows with possible relationships. He was a cut above any doctor I had met before and I was immediately in awe of how his mind worked. I took a snapshot of my piece of paper for later deciphering when he darted out of the room to look at the results of another patient's skin test. When he came back the conversation of my sisters diet came up and he said many people think they are allergic to gluten when really they are allergic to yeast.
He found a few allergen triggers (alternaria 5 , dust mites 3, and dander 1) from the skin tests but said he did not have a definitive answer for me, the time we had together was too short and the amount of variables was too many, but he did have a prescription. Not a script for a pharmacy, but a life change. Sometimes when there are too many variables to a problem you need to be willing to change them all to find a solution. It didn't matter if some of the changes were not effective to my condition because the overall plan would improve quality of life while systematically eliminating variables to make the situation more manageable and understandable. He recommended starting with the basics, fragrance free olive oil soap, free and clear shampoo, hypo allergenic mattress cover, pillow casings, and detergent. Cleaning the bedroom in the house to a super high standard. Washing bedding on hot and bagging up fabrics we did not wear that shed fibers and might harbor dust mites. Working outwards from there, but always keep the bedroom clean and the door closed to keep the pets out. Getting hepa air filters for the bedroom and one at the lowest point in the home. And most importantly, changing my diet. Completely reducing or removing alcohol and processed food when possible. Eating more greens and fruit, and eliminating categories of items week or more at a time in a rotation and watching for change.
So it has been six months since starting this life change and I have to say I am doing much better with the allergies. Though I have added a trick or two to his advice that also have made a big impact for me. Taking a shower and/or using a hot hairdryer on patches of my skin when it acts up and starts itching. Using a vitamin D foam on my scalp and plaque spots followed by pure shea butter on the plaque after showering to lock moisture in the skin and lock out the allergens. And most importantly, juicing a heavy on the green side of the rainbow of veggies and fruit everyday for breakfast during the week and at lunch during the weekdays. From the garden or farmers market when in season or the grocery store and buying organic when it matters (http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/summary/). But in the order of quantity included in the juice I make everyday is kale, collards, celery, carrots, grapefruit, apple, cranberries, pomegranate, lemon, ginger, turmeric, mint, and basil. I swap the pomegranate seeds with raspberries, blueberries, or blackberries depending on what I can find a good deal on, but the rest are almost always in the mix if they are available. I find the juicing is naturally displacing my old food cravings that might have had potential allergen issues. I now pride myself on going to the grocery store regularly and only visiting the produce section before leaving. Who is this guy? I hardly recognize myself with these new health centered routines.
My mom was first to go raw five years ago, lost forty pounds, and now exercises daily. As my mom would say the proof is in the pudding, and by eating raw rather then pudding, I have been watching my psoriasis clear up rather then get worse for the first time heading into winter since it started ten years ago. In the unintended but very welcome side effects my acne and blotchy skins is clearing. My acid reflux which I have had for decades has gone into remission so I don't need to take Prevacid anymore. I have had ADD since a child but now I feel naturally energetic and focused I have stopped talking Adderall for it. I have had a bit of a pot belly but not overweight, never the less my body has been slimming down from 175 to 160 now with my waist size going from 32 to 30. My ideal weight is probably 155 and it would seem if I keep this up I am going to get there. I still have one med that I have a hard time giving up. I now and then use Cordan steroid tape sparingly on the plaque for 12 hours then peeling it off gently to remove it with the top layer of plaque. But when the plaque is completely gone I won't need to do this anymore and that day is quickly approaching. I am really feeling the life change kick into gear now and it feels great.
I was lucky in the sense my psoriasis did not appear till my early thirties during a stressful transition period in my life. It first broke out with a bang all over my scalp and I thought I had dandruff. Tried a bunch of shampoos like head and shoulders etc but that didn't stop the snow from falling if you get my drift. Then the plaque started on my shins and little dots here and there. I thought I had a rash so I went to the dermatologist. The first dermatologist I went to was not much help, just saying sorry you have psoriasis, something I was going to have to live with. No discussion of what the triggers might be and how to avoid them etc, just a script for what would be the first in a long of line of increasing strength, yet ineffective steroid ointments. I got the impression that they were more interested in giving out prescriptions and sizing me up for a chin lift or tummy tuck then helping me beat this skin condition.
From what I gather psoriasis has a strong hereditary component and both sides of my family have members who have had it, some very severe. My sister has had it since she was ten and I can remember the smell of all the terrible tar based ointments and shampoos she use to use. We even had a UV light room in a nook of the basement to help her during the winter. She has battled it for thirty years and had hit upon that her diet is the main way for her to control it. She has been vegetarian since her teens but she also went gluten free and that allowed her to clear it and keep it under control. Occasionally she accidentally gets some gluten in her diet, from someone's cooking who tells her something is gluten free not realizing some ingredient has it or by taking a chance when eating out. This would causes a flare up and her long march to clear it starts all over again.
When I told my sister I has been diagnosed with psoriasis she understood what anguish I was in and for the first time I started to really understand what she had been battling since we were kids. I had inherited her UV lights but I am afraid to use them because they cause skin cancer. I have heard that having psoriasis makes you less likely to get skin cancer and there are narrow spectrum UV now. She still uses some ointments to help and was kind and gave me a tube of the vitamin D cream she had found helpful. It was a new product at the time and very expensive but I was disappointed as it didn't seem to be working for me. Following her advice I did have myself tested for a gluten allergy but that came back negative.
I did not revisit the areas of allergies again till I got allergic hypersensitivity this spring. 2012 started out as a bad health year. In early February I slipped on the stairs and injured my back that gave rise to a large painful hematoma. Then in March I got an injury on my ankle while raking wood mulch in the front flower beds. I didn't notice it happened, but the next morning when I woke with a deep pain in my ankle and what appeared to be three bites. I went to my primary and he said it looked infected and prescribed the antibiotic Bactrim to treat it. The wound started to look better, but then the allergic reactions started. After a few days my ankle and hand began to itch. Then the itch began spreading to my legs and arms. Not good!
The doctor said I was probably allergic to sulfa antibiotics and switched me to a different variety, and oh yeah your probably allergic to that Neosporin stuff your always using too. I switched pills and stopped using Neosporin but still the itching never went away. I consider myself a good intuitive problem solver, but a poor time and book keeper and when your dealing with allergen issues this is really what you need to be. You need to be able to associate that action a that exposes you to element e in the time frame t happens with a frequency f that has a high correlation to the symptom s you keep having. A brain that is a master at this type of thinking is rare outside of mad scientist laboratories. To find one capable of exploring this problem from another persons perspective by asking the right questions and who also happens to be a doctor is like winning the lottery.
I am relieved to say I won that lottery in May of this year and saw a brilliant allergist. He had an odd personality in that he continuously talked to himself and seemed frantically distracted as he darted through the office from room to room. But I was intrigued about the conversations I was overhearing him having with patients in other rooms as I was about the one he had with me, eagerly trying to absorb all the variables that I had to offer about my life that might give us an insight about what was going on with my body. He honed in on my psoriasis and began examining all the spots of plaque on my shins, my scalp, and particularly my nails. I was not there for psoriasis, but he was looking at the bigger picture of issues I had never thought related. He was literally trying to connect dots as he scribbled away on a sheet of paper writing out the clues as dots and arrows with possible relationships. He was a cut above any doctor I had met before and I was immediately in awe of how his mind worked. I took a snapshot of my piece of paper for later deciphering when he darted out of the room to look at the results of another patient's skin test. When he came back the conversation of my sisters diet came up and he said many people think they are allergic to gluten when really they are allergic to yeast.
He found a few allergen triggers (alternaria 5 , dust mites 3, and dander 1) from the skin tests but said he did not have a definitive answer for me, the time we had together was too short and the amount of variables was too many, but he did have a prescription. Not a script for a pharmacy, but a life change. Sometimes when there are too many variables to a problem you need to be willing to change them all to find a solution. It didn't matter if some of the changes were not effective to my condition because the overall plan would improve quality of life while systematically eliminating variables to make the situation more manageable and understandable. He recommended starting with the basics, fragrance free olive oil soap, free and clear shampoo, hypo allergenic mattress cover, pillow casings, and detergent. Cleaning the bedroom in the house to a super high standard. Washing bedding on hot and bagging up fabrics we did not wear that shed fibers and might harbor dust mites. Working outwards from there, but always keep the bedroom clean and the door closed to keep the pets out. Getting hepa air filters for the bedroom and one at the lowest point in the home. And most importantly, changing my diet. Completely reducing or removing alcohol and processed food when possible. Eating more greens and fruit, and eliminating categories of items week or more at a time in a rotation and watching for change.
So it has been six months since starting this life change and I have to say I am doing much better with the allergies. Though I have added a trick or two to his advice that also have made a big impact for me. Taking a shower and/or using a hot hairdryer on patches of my skin when it acts up and starts itching. Using a vitamin D foam on my scalp and plaque spots followed by pure shea butter on the plaque after showering to lock moisture in the skin and lock out the allergens. And most importantly, juicing a heavy on the green side of the rainbow of veggies and fruit everyday for breakfast during the week and at lunch during the weekdays. From the garden or farmers market when in season or the grocery store and buying organic when it matters (http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/summary/). But in the order of quantity included in the juice I make everyday is kale, collards, celery, carrots, grapefruit, apple, cranberries, pomegranate, lemon, ginger, turmeric, mint, and basil. I swap the pomegranate seeds with raspberries, blueberries, or blackberries depending on what I can find a good deal on, but the rest are almost always in the mix if they are available. I find the juicing is naturally displacing my old food cravings that might have had potential allergen issues. I now pride myself on going to the grocery store regularly and only visiting the produce section before leaving. Who is this guy? I hardly recognize myself with these new health centered routines.
My mom was first to go raw five years ago, lost forty pounds, and now exercises daily. As my mom would say the proof is in the pudding, and by eating raw rather then pudding, I have been watching my psoriasis clear up rather then get worse for the first time heading into winter since it started ten years ago. In the unintended but very welcome side effects my acne and blotchy skins is clearing. My acid reflux which I have had for decades has gone into remission so I don't need to take Prevacid anymore. I have had ADD since a child but now I feel naturally energetic and focused I have stopped talking Adderall for it. I have had a bit of a pot belly but not overweight, never the less my body has been slimming down from 175 to 160 now with my waist size going from 32 to 30. My ideal weight is probably 155 and it would seem if I keep this up I am going to get there. I still have one med that I have a hard time giving up. I now and then use Cordan steroid tape sparingly on the plaque for 12 hours then peeling it off gently to remove it with the top layer of plaque. But when the plaque is completely gone I won't need to do this anymore and that day is quickly approaching. I am really feeling the life change kick into gear now and it feels great.