Just lovely....psoriasis

I have it as well (arms, elbows, knees, scalp and legs...so almost everywhere!) and I use two creams combined 1/2 and 1/2: Derma Zinc and a prescription cream called Embeline E. It works really well for me.

__________________
Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing. ~Mother Teresa

DIL has it real bad all over. There are different types that respond to different treatments. Hers gets worse with exposure to sunlight. She has to wear long sleeves year round or she will scab up real bad. Over the years she's tried everything she could find, but so far nothing has worked. She was approached to try a new med they are testing, but she decided not to try it when she discovered some of the side effects were worse than the psoriasis.

I'll keep watching this thread and pass along all suggestions to her. She has not given up hope that someday she'll find something that will cure it, or at least control it.

__________________
.
.

My experience supports this. As I said, I have it on one foot but not the other. A doctor years ago told me "nobody gets psoriasis on their feet" (B.S.), told me it was athlete's foot and gave me a prescription antifungal cream which is now available OTC. I wondered how someone could have athlete's foot on just one foot for years and years at a time - wouldn't one eventually infect the other? But sure enough, the Nizoral cream did clear up the foot - mostly - for a while. Then it'd come back. I have it on the sole of my foot too, which is not typically a spot for athlete's foot. And nobody else in my family has contracted it from me, which I'd expect too if it was just athlete's foot fungus. Sometimes the skin between the toes cracks and I've had to get antibiotics for infections. Yuck.

Tea tree oil shampoo works for my dd who has it on her head. I don't use the coal tar stuff because it is considered carciongenic.

__________________
Give Blood it saves lives.

I have had it for 23 of my 26 years on earth. We have tried all sorts of prescriptions nothing has worked. It seems to do better when it is summer time. Sun exposeure works real well. There is a lotion from Melaluca that works okay but I cannot remember the name right now.

I have good luck using the cheap diaper rash ointment. Keeping it dry (zinc oxide) keeps it from itching.

a freind of mine has it, and it sounds odd but ichmathol [yes that black coal tar drawing salve for horses] works for her very well, but she cant handle the stink, and wont use it until shes in misery.

it is smelly stuff... but ive seen it work on her.

Psoariagel (a coal tar gel from wally world), lots of sun, and cod liver oil or fish oil supplements cleared it up after years of having it for me, and the fish oil pretty much keeps it at bay.

Really? I didn't even know that about fish oil, and I was/am just about to take that as a supplement. Thanks!

__________________
"I pursue my faith with a lack of remorse; I stand resolute to embrace the cause." -- Project 86

I agree with the fish oils, they seem to help. So does vitamin E, rubbed right on the sore spot. The thing that really helped mine was cutting WAY back on citrus juice intake. I used to drink alot of orange and grapefruit juice and didn't realize it was aggravating it.

Kurt

Via media, I have it in my ear canal also. I feel like some days I spend half my time with my finger in my ear... I also have it on my scalp near the hairline in the back and in my fingernail beds. It makes my fingernails grow curved and makes my nail bed a funny shape.

Anyway, betamethasone really helps my scalp. I've tried ketoconazole cream & shampoo as well as pine tar OTC stuff. Nothing OTC touches it. I've considered going to oral medication, but it is such strong stuff that I've been a bit reluctant to make a special trip to a dermatologist...

I am glad that your psoriasis comes and goes relatively easily... Wanna trade? :baby04:

-Joy

__________________
-Joy

________
The reason a lot of people do not recognize opportunity is because it usually goes around wearing overalls looking like hard work. --Thomas A. Edison

I have had it for 50 years. When I was young it was much worse then it is now. I use devonex, Betamethasone, and other things that work well if I use them properly. Sunshine helps alot but the dry heat of winter is the pits. I use alot of baby oil in the winter. Kung, yours sounds more like dermatitis to me. Everyone has a burden, this is mine.

__________________
suz

No, it's psoriasis, all right. I mean, I probably DO have dermatitis, but I actually cruised by a doc's office yesterday (I work at a hospital, remember) and showed him the spot and he said "Yep, that's it all right."

__________________
"I pursue my faith with a lack of remorse; I stand resolute to embrace the cause." -- Project 86

I noticed a big improvement after taking fish oil too. My doc said not to wear jeans around the house, as denim irritates mine (on my shins).

As to athlete's foot on one foot only, I have toenail fungus, now on one foot only, and it is a knockoff of athlete's foot.

For dry feet and heels, I buy those blocks of hard foam (pumice bars) that they sell at Sally's Beauty Supply for about $1.25 and use them to abrade heels, either after a shower or a good foot soaking. Rub soap on them and go after the hard skin. Then rub pure glycerin into the problem areas. You can buy glycerin, which is an ingredient in most skin lotions, low cost. At Wal-Mart, they keep it behind the counter.

I have it on my scalp. Around my ears and near my neck. It is a horrible condition to live with. It itches constantly. I can't help but pick at it. Wearing black or wearing my hair up is a battle.
I am humiliated to go to the hair salon for a hair cut. I put it off as long as possible.
About the only time it ever subsides is when I am pregnant.

I have tried over the counter shampoos. (most mentioned already).
I have tried perscription steroid creames and ointments.
Giving up dairy.
Tanning Beds.


Right now I am contemplating a new program where you need to take regular injections. I hate to commit to any type of perscription treatment but there is nothing else I can do!

I pity anyone who has it as well.

__________________
My best,

Melissa

DS has had it since infancy, and two things work for him: Crisco shortening or A&D ointment. He says the A&D works faster, but if he's out of it, Crisco will do in a pinch.

When he was a baby, I'd slather him with both and put him in a sleeper so he wouldn't slip away from me! Now, it's pretty much restricted to his hands. BTW, he has a pretty severe allergy to nickel.

Pony!

Savinggrace, Ask your dr. about Betamethasone Dipronate. I use it on my scalp and it works sooo well. When you first put it on it smells like ether but in an instant that smell is gone and there is no residual smell or feel to it. Its a liquid and you just put a few drops on the scalp.. I love it....I also use Clobetasol in conjunction with Devonex and I have Desonide lotion for the face as the others are too strong. It works very well and dont have to use it often. Kung I also have dermatitis on my hands. Just started recently. I think its from dish soaps as I do a lot of dishes. They arent too bad right now. Good luck to all of us. suz

__________________
suz

Hello, I'm new here so this is my first post. I was invited by a lovely new friend and while perusing the site I saw this thread. I don't want to worry you but if you also have arthritis, please be sure you are evaluated for psoriatic arthritis. If you catch it early it is highly treatable and you can avoid some of the debilitating affects I've experienced from my delayed Dx (among others). A rheumatologist or dermatologist may be able to help you.

It may be nothing but if I can help inform someone early on and save them a lot of wondering and suffering it will be worth it. I'd love to hear I'm WAY off base! e:

You're not way off base. Already affecting my hands, feet, knees and hips. Especially my feet. So far it's not debilitating, just slow to get started moving in the mornings. I just grit my teeth and get on with it. Life is too short to sweat the small stuff.

Oh! Welcome to the board!

__________________
Rudeness is a small man's imitation of power.

Thankfully, that's not a problem I have. Yet.

__________________
"I pursue my faith with a lack of remorse; I stand resolute to embrace the cause." -- Project 86