Rascal
El Presidente
I was diagnosed by a dermatologist with chronic plaque psoriasis about 5 years ago now. Had it all over me. Had 50% coverage on my torso, thick, itchy, scabs. iI absolutely destroyed me. Whilst I was waiting for treatment (4 months to see a dermatologist!) my mum (very worried at the time, and rightly so) bought me this book: . I thought it would be bullshit and I needed strong medication, but as my options were to either rob a chemist for them (something I was genuinely weighing up) or give this book/diet a go I did the latter. By the time I got to the dermatologist my psoriasis had probably gone about 80% towards clearing - there were no new, bad, dark scabs but some of them still hadn't fully cleared yet. Yey put me on uvb light treatment and they left dark marks on my skin for a while but it didn't need much as it had already all but gone. I wish I hadn't had the light treatment in hindsight as clearing it myself didn't leave any marks, but they cleared eventually.
The book can be a bit OTT (colonic irrigation, only eating apples for the first 3 days etc) but it's the thinking behind it people need to understand. basically it's usually a problem with the gut which manifests in your skin. This is why there is supposedly no cure for it - the treatment doesn't get to the root of the problem, which is that you're putting things into your body that it doesn't like and it's reacting with psoriasis. As the book is a bit extreme, here is my advice:
No night shades. This is the most important thing. read the reviews on the pagano book most say the same. Cut out your potatoes, peppers etc. I'm pretty sure it was tomato sauce that had been killing me for so long, and would explain why I had skin trouble in my teens. Very rarely eat it these days. I substituted potatoes for sweet potatoes - sweet potatoes aren't a nightshade they are a morning glory. I find they work wonders. I eat them almost every day
Avoid processed, shit foods. I had a good diet before my P started so for me it was more a case of cutting out nightshades (potatoes peppers etc are considered healthy but they trigger it) as opposed to burgers, chips etc
Eat plenty of fruit - these clean out your system. Apples particularly good
Exercise.
Eat leafy greens - I eat spinach most days, and have found it worked wonders.
Don't smoke - I managed to clear it the first time despite smoking a bit, the second time it triggered (after a throat infection) I couldn't get away with smoking so had to cut it out for a bit. Since clearing (took a couple of months the second time) Ive been smoking daily through lockdown and haven't had any issues. The book says drinking is also bad but I've always been ok with that mostly. At least with pints - I remember having a reaction after doing shots on a stag do in Krakow but I think my body can handle pints for the most part.
It's a holistic approach basically - right diet plus exercise, positive mindset etc. You do that day after day and it will go, and honestly it's an incredibly empowering feeling when you start to see it fade, after it completely dictating your life and mindset and being told that there is no cure for it. I have a mini outbreak now and then but I usually know why - it's when I let my diet slip or smoke too much or get stressed about things. When it happens I tighten things up and it goes. I control it. Sometimes when I'm teetering on it breaking out I can smoke a few cigs and literally see a small plaque come up soon afterwards. They soon go as I will cut the shit out after that.
It's a terrible disease. You get little sympathy ("urgggh what's that on your arm/leg/face?") but it can be beaten. Don't believe the docs. My mum and dad are mates with a dr who they told about my diet etc curing it and the doctor didn't believe them. Well fuck the docs. Trust me it works, you've just gotta make the sacrifice/be disciplined about it but honestly it's fucking ace when you see it start to clear. Literally a life saver. Psoriasis forums are very dark places.
When I see someone with psoriasis I often want to mention the book or help them, but I don't want to bring it up as it might hurt them that someone has noticed their psoriasis. If they bring it up first I'll say my bit to help
If anyone needs any help/advice don't be afraid to DM me
Hello pal, an interesting post.
I will comment on it and add my views.
There is no medical evidence that a change in diet clears psoriasis, none at all. but if it worked for you then by all means follow it because Psoriasis is so complicated, every0ne has different triggers. That is one of the reasons a cure hasnt been found. I worry that so many people out there are so desperate for a "cure" they fall for all sorts of quackery and there are plenty of people out there willing to sell false hope for profit. Hannah Sillitoe has books out on diet and exercise, I know Hannah and she is a lovely girl and she has been very successful with her books and if people find succour in them all the good, but I personally would not put all my faith in a book that has no medical validity. Of course it helps if you are healthy and that is true for virtually anything, but psoriasis specific I am not convinced because Psoriasis is caused by cells called Interleukins misbehaving and I cannot see how cutting out certain foods helps interleukins behave normally. There is ongoing research into genetics at the moment, an organisation called Global Psoriasis Atlas is mapping symptons around the world and comparing. This may lead to peoples diets being a factor as their is a certain group of people in Greenland who have never had a recorded case of Psoriasis and it is linked to their diet of fish. Whether turns out to be medical fact though is a few years away at the moment.
Psoriasis isnt a disease, its a condition, this is very important, calling it a disease infers it can be transferred or "caught" by another person, that is not the case, you cannot catch Psoriasis, its a reaction to your immune system being out of balance.
UVB,UVA,PUVA are all used, i have tried them all, for some people it works really well, this is linked to vitamin D, a lot of the steroid creams that you can get are vitamin D derivate, such as Dovonox and Dovobet. There is research still ongoing into its overall effectiveness and whilst for some its brilliant, for some it actually makes things worse. Again the complexity of Psoraisis means nothing is diffinitive.
Smoking and Alcohol are a massive no no. Research is being done into smoking i think, i smoke, i wish i didnt but i like a fag. Alcohol if you think about it makes perfect sense. If you have a dozen pints then in the morning your mouth will be dry, it is the same with your skin. So alcohol should be avoided, yet i gave up for 17 months and it had zero effect on my psoriasis, it didnt get worse, but it didnt improve either. I have a drink now but its not so often and during lockdown i have only a beer one day and that was 6 cans sat in the garden one sunny day, again its made zero difference to me. I say though if you can stop smoking and drinking do it, it cant do your health any harm.
I notice you mention stress, stress is a known trigger for many skin disorders, i have no idea why and i think it baffles the medical world, there is no reason why it should as far as i know, but it does and some of the worst cases i have ever seen are as a result of stress.
I find your "dont trust the docs" statement pretty scary to be honest, i have know my Prof and his team for over 30 years and i trust them implcitly, i know they have my best interests at heart and i hope by your statement you mean GPs rather than specialists. If you do, i can understand that because GPs are simply not equipped or knowledgeable enough to deal with a complex condition. They only spend 2 days of a 7 year medical degree on skin, as there are more skin conditions than you can you can shake a stick at, its not their fault there knowledge is limited. I have helped train GPs at SRFT in diagnosing Psoriasis and most did diagnose it correctly, but they are simply not abreast of treatments, they cant be as its a speciality. I would advise anybody with Psoriasis to ask their GP for a specialists referall.
I agree Psoriasis forums are dark places, the incidence of suicide amongst the psoriasis community is much higher than the national average and the psychological impacts of Psoriasis are hard and can be devastating for some. I have been asked if i had been in a fire, i have been told i am dirty, i have people who refuse to touch me, people will stare at me and one time i was with a group of people outside the ward at Salford who all had Psoriasis and we were asked if we were a leper colony. Now i am mentally quite strong, but can you imagine for one moment the effect that asking somebody who was unsure and lacked confidence that tasking them if they were a leper might have on them.
There is research into the psychological impacts of Psoriasis and Psoritaic Arthritis led by another of my Profs. the Brilliant Prof Bundy, she is a health psychologist based in Cardiff now and has worked in Psoriasis for years and worked on an initiative called the PSOwell clinic where people with the condition can get psychological help and couselling. So you get a more holistic approach to treatments. I was one of the drivers behind Psychological impacts being researched at the last Psoriasis priority setting partnership and i am really proud that on mine and others insistence there is loads of research now going into the psychological impacts.
Thanks for your post Mr Hombre, you make some valid points and i am really pleased its working for you, however we are all different and we should all keep an open mind. The future is not far away and my Prof is working on a new theme called stratified medicine, with which hopefully a single blood test will identify the exact treatment that will work best for you. That could be diet, it could be tablets, it could be biologics, but whatever the outcome it will be a stunning medical advancement. I was invited to London for showcase on the progress and there were Profs from all around the world there such is the excitement at this development.
Fingers crossed hey.