I'm new to having psoriasis and just wanted to know things that have helped others.

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Permalink Reply by Jamie on January 8, 2010 at 6:51pm

I do UVB light treatment and it helps me alot. I have heard enbrel works great but its very expensive. Hope you find something that works, psoriasis is a aggervating disease.

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Permalink Reply by regine on January 17, 2010 at 8:14pm

hi, i understand how you feel because like you i have p before.but not anymore for months, my battle for p is over. hope you will be freed from it someday. you can chat or email me if you want and see what help can i offer..

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Permalink Reply by Patsy Wessinger on January 17, 2010 at 10:33pm

Christina,

I soak in Aveeno oatmeal, which seems to help, the majority of my psoriasis is on my feet. I keep vaseline on them a all time a never so barefoot. Allot of time it's experiencing with otc creams that may work for you. Good luck

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Permalink Reply by Michael Hayes on January 18, 2010 at 12:30am

Hi Christina,
I am new to the discussion board, but not to Psoriasis. I got it when I was 16 and have had it for 28 years. I went to a dermatologist which was absolutely no help. I did not start seeing any improvement until I went to a Rheumatologist. What you have is an autoimune disorder. Some of your skin cells go into overdrive, which causes the sores (plaques). I can tell you that creams will only lessen the problem, and you will need to keep switching up on different creams as one will probably stop working as well as it first did.
I would recommend you go to a Rheumatologist. They will probably start you out on a drug called Methotrexate. It is a chemo drug and it works for some people. I would take the injection and not the pill. The pill tends to have more side effects than the injection. The injection is painless. The doc will want to take blood work every couple of months to make sure you are not having any liver problems. Methotrexate (as most other drugs) can make your liver enzymes go up. I first started on Methotrexate in 2002. It worked great for almost two years. After two years my liver enzymes went up and I decided to go on Enbrel. Enbrel worked for almost a year and then quit. Doctor said my body was building an immunity to the drug.
In 2005 I was diagnosed with Psoriatic Arthritis. This changed things and I was able to go on Remicade. I had heard great things about this drug, (people being comepletely cleared in as little as 4 weeks). So I had my first infusion of Remicade. This drug worked like a charm. After 5 weeks I was completely clear. I wore my first pair of short pants and shirt in public since I was 16. I went to the beach. Life was great. I was having infusions every 6 weeks. No side effects and enjoying the outdoors. In September of 2008 I started having lessions appear again. My doc said I was building an immunity to the drug and sure enough it started to quit working. In June of 2009 I went on Simponi. Simponi is a new drug that you take once a month. I took it until last month. It simply did not work. I had my first injection of Stelara Saturday of last week. I have heard some great things about this drug, hopefully it will be all they say it is.
Anyway, the best advise I can give is go to a Rheumatologist. They specialize in autoimune disorders.
Hope my story helps..
Michael

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Permalink Reply by christina boberg on January 25, 2010 at 7:52pm

Thanks :)

renie dalungan said:

hi, i understand how you feel because like you i have p before.but not anymore for months, my battle for p is over. hope you will be freed from it someday. you can chat or email me if you want and see what help can i offer..

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Permalink Reply by christina boberg on January 25, 2010 at 7:58pm

Yeah, I have done a lot of research and talked to about three different dermatologists so far and they don't want to put me on the injections yet because they think I am not yet "bad enough" I guess you would say, and honestly I don't want to have to worry about other things going wrong with me too. So I think I'm going to just take it day by day. They creams do help, I wrap with plastic wrap which quickens the results. I do keep breaking out but it seems to be smaller and smaller every time, so unfortunately I have to be patient & see what time will tell. But I want to thank you a lot for your info! I need all I can get! :)

Michael Hayes said:

Hi Christina,
I am new to the discussion board, but not to Psoriasis. I got it when I was 16 and have had it for 28 years. I went to a dermatologist which was absolutely no help. I did not start seeing any improvement until I went to a Rheumatologist. What you have is an autoimune disorder. Some of your skin cells go into overdrive, which causes the sores (plaques). I can tell you that creams will only lessen the problem, and you will need to keep switching up on different creams as one will probably stop working as well as it first did.
I would recommend you go to a Rheumatologist. They will probably start you out on a drug called Methotrexate. It is a chemo drug and it works for some people. I would take the injection and not the pill. The pill tends to have more side effects than the injection. The injection is painless. The doc will want to take blood work every couple of months to make sure you are not having any liver problems. Methotrexate (as most other drugs) can make your liver enzymes go up. I first started on Methotrexate in 2002. It worked great for almost two years. After two years my liver enzymes went up and I decided to go on Enbrel. Enbrel worked for almost a year and then quit. Doctor said my body was building an immunity to the drug.
In 2005 I was diagnosed with Psoriatic Arthritis. This changed things and I was able to go on Remicade. I had heard great things about this drug, (people being comepletely cleared in as little as 4 weeks). So I had my first infusion of Remicade. This drug worked like a charm. After 5 weeks I was completely clear. I wore my first pair of short pants and shirt in public since I was 16. I went to the beach. Life was great. I was having infusions every 6 weeks. No side effects and enjoying the outdoors. In September of 2008 I started having lessions appear again. My doc said I was building an immunity to the drug and sure enough it started to quit working. In June of 2009 I went on Simponi. Simponi is a new drug that you take once a month. I took it until last month. It simply did not work. I had my first injection of Stelara Saturday of last week. I have heard some great things about this drug, hopefully it will be all they say it is.
Anyway, the best advise I can give is go to a Rheumatologist. They specialize in autoimune disorders.
Hope my story helps..
Michael

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Permalink Reply by Derrick on February 5, 2010 at 9:03am

Try to keep your skin moisturized as much as possible, in the winter months the most.

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Permalink Reply by CINDY LUTTRELL on February 5, 2010 at 11:25pm

I'M ONLY ON SHOT 2..IT TAKES 12 WEEKS FOR YOU TO START GETTING RESULTS FROM STELERA..SO FOR MY FLAKING TO BE SO MUCH BETTER IS A MIRACLE ; ) EVERYONES P IS DIFFERENT..ENBREL CLEARED ME FOR YEARS AND MADE MY ARTHRITIS GREAT TOO..WORKED FOR APPROX FOUR YRS ..THEN CYCLOSPORIN WAS MY WONDER DRUG CLEARED MY SKIN MADE ME FEEL GREAT...PREDNISONE HAS DONE SO MUCH DAMAGE TO ME IT IS UNREAL..THE REASON FOR THE CAPS..I HAD CATERACTS TAKEN OFF BOTH EYES BY AGE 25..CAUSED FROM THE PREDNISONE..OSTIOPOROSIS THROUGH OUT MY WHOLE BODY..PREDNISONE CAUSED THIS TOO..THE HOSPITAL OVER DOSED ME SO BAD ONCE THE UNDERSIDE OF MY ARMS ARE COVERED WITH WIDE STRETCH MARKS FROM ARM PIT TO ELBOW..THEY BLEW ME UP LIKE A BALOON..I ONLY TAKE DOSE PACKS NOW AND ONLY WHEN I CANT TAKE IT ANY MORE..AND THE MOOD SWINGS CAUSED BY IT WERE OFF THE CHARTS..MY POOR DAUGHTER I WAS A ROYAL BBBB-III---CH...SO SORRY TO MY WHOLE FAMILY FOR THAT TIME I WAS BAD!! NOT BY CHOICE MANY YRS ON THAT STUFF...WITHDRAWL WAS A KILLER!!
.REMICADE WAS AFTER THE CYCLOSPORIN...REMICADE WORKED FOR MANY YRS LONGER THAN ANYTHING ELSE...APPROX 9 YRS...OH I FORGOT THE CYCLOSPORIN MADE ME GET HIGH BP AFTER A COUPLE YRS...BUT WHEN IT WORKED IT WORKED WELL...THERE ARE RISK WITH EVERYTHING, BUT I'VE BEEN VERY LUCKY..I'VE HAD A LOT OF RELIEF FROM MY SKIN SINCE I MOVED TO TEXAS (FROM MISSOURI) ALMOST 11 YRS AGO...THE SUN SHINE HAS MADE A BIG DIFFERENCE!!! I'M WIDOWED 2 TIMES, AND MARRIED NOW,,TO A GREAT GUY ALMOST 15 YRS TOGETHER...HE GOT HIS FIRST SPOT OF P EVER ON HIS SCALP A FEW WEEKS AGO..NEVER HAD IT IN HIS LIFE ..HE WILL BE 50 IN A FEW MONTHS..WE ARE VERY HAPPY!! ; ) AND MY DAUGHTER HAD BABY #8 A FEW MONTHS AGO.. HE IS IN HOSPITAL HE WAS VERY PREMATURE..BUT HE IS DOING GOOD...I FEEL QUALITY OF LIFE NOT QUANITY OF LIFE.... I HAVE WONDERFUL QUALITY..I'VE NEVER BEEN HAPPIER....A LOT OF FOLKS ON HERE SEEM PRETTY DOWN I'VE HAD ALL THIS SINCE I WAS 12 YRS OLD...I DECIDED LONG AGO I WASN'T GOING TO LET IT KEEP ME DOWN..I DID EVERY DRUG STUDY I COULD..SOME WORKED GOOD SOME BAD...BUT I'M HERE I'M HAPPY AND I WISH EVERYONE ON HERE THE HAPPINESS I HAVE...THERE ARE BAD DAYS, BUT MORE GOOD THAN BAD' THE ARTHRITIS HURTS AND THE SKIN IS WORSE...BUT LIFE IS GOOD; ) .

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Permalink Reply by Molly Rose Anderson on February 9, 2010 at 1:41am

The one thing that has helped me is rubbing it in peoples faces, like it makes me better than them because I have to deal with it. This will be something you can't accomplish in HS,but personally, I wouldn't trade my strong personality for any amount of popularity or love. I definitely will not suggest meds to you, they have so many side effects, and you would have to use them the rest of your life. If you are serious about getting results, try going on an elimination diet, there is a guide on wholelifenutrition.net, and many recipes too. It is possible that you are allergic to wheat or nuts or dairy or gluten, there are many things. i warn you that going on this diet is VERY tough, but if you are serious about it, the diet can do more for you than just clear up your skin.

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Permalink Reply by Wasim Naqvi on February 9, 2010 at 3:10am

Hi Christina,

I have only one post on this site, since i joined this week. But i think you should read it. I'm guessing since your new to psoriasis, your possibly only mildly affected or is it a wild-fire outburst.

Also i wanted to know which creams your using? Are these concentrated steroid creams or moisturizers? If its steroid creams did the doc recommend using wraps after applying them?

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Permalink Reply by Michael Paranzino on February 9, 2010 at 12:50pm

Hi Christina, echoing Wasim's point: using wraps after applying medicine is like using more, or stronger, medicine--more gets in your system. That can make it work better (and I've heard that some doctors will actually work with patients who need expensive topical prescriptions by using less medicine but then using wrapping to save money!), but it can also increase side effects. Good luck!

Wasim Naqvi said:

Hi Christina,


Also i wanted to know which creams your using? Are these concentrated steroid creams or moisturizers? If its steroid creams did the doc recommend using wraps after applying them?

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Permalink Reply by christina boberg on February 16, 2010 at 3:51pm

My psoriasis broke out on my skin originally through a sunburn and while i was really sick. Then it broke out like a wild-fire. As for now I'm pretty mild compared to what it was. My doc gave me a cream called triamcinolone 0.1% cream, and I was directed to cover myself at night with seran wrap after applying it to the spots that had psoriasis. And yes it is a steroid cream.

Wasim Naqvi said:

Hi Christina,

I have only one post on this site, since i joined this week. But i think you should read it. I'm guessing since your new to psoriasis, your possibly only mildly affected or is it a wild-fire outburst.

Also i wanted to know which creams your using? Are these concentrated steroid creams or moisturizers? If its steroid creams did the doc recommend using wraps after applying them?

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