Aibu to ask your advice about child psoriasis

[nobodysdaughternow]

Took ds9 to GP on Tuesday - lumps on his elbows and a rash on the backs of his legs. GP said Psoriasis on the elbows but allergic reaction on his legs.

Prescribed antihistamine and steroid cream.

He is a very anxious child and won't let me look at his legs now. Just insists the rash has gone and shouts at me for making him feel scared.

He let me have a quick peek today and it looks like the rash is on the front of his legs too.

I have booked another GP appointment for Tuesday.

If you have Psoriasis or have a child with it, what would you advise? Does he need a referral to a dermatologist?

I'm really hoping it isn't an escalation of the psoriasis but it looks depressingly similar

I'm shamelessly bumping

I have psoriasis and have had it since childhood.

I tried so many treatments as a child but the only thing that temporarily clears it even now is steroid cream. Obviously the Drs aren't too happy prescribing too much of that to a child but I did get it when I had particularly bad flares.

When I was a teenager I had light therapy for it which did help and kept it away for a while.

T-gel works a little on my scalp psoriasis.

I had psoriasis as a child and as an adult - it’s completely under control now which makes a huge difference to my life, at one point it covered my legs almost completely, my scalp and my elbows.

Steroids - doctor used to prescribe Dovebet, which did clear it up. But what I found was that it would clear in one place and come back in another. They don’t like long term use or it covering more than 5% (I think) of your body, so you’re effectively fighting a losing battle with it.

What worked for me:

• antihistamine every day
• allergen test - so tree pollen, damp, dust, pet hair, lactose, sulphites we’re all triggers for me.
• For my scalp I used capasal shampoo, that was a miracle cure and the scalp cleared up within weeks.
• I stopped using any sodium laureth sulphate (SLS) shampoos, body washes etc and I went back to using natural soaps.
• I gave up cow’s milk and cheese, the only dairy I ate was Fage Greek yoghurt or goat milk/butter/cheese, sheeps cheese was okay too. For some reason I didn’t react to these.
• I used a cream called MG217 2% coal tar ointment. It’s American I think, it’s hard to find, it’s quite expensive, it smells awful but I have never used anything that works as well as it does. If you look at the reviews of the ointment it’s not just me. I began using it religiously for a month, after a while once or twice a week would be fine. Now I use it once in a blue moon.
• I took vitamin D3 and I got in the sun (safely) whenever I could.

the best advice I can give you is to think about:

• what the triggers are that make it worse. Mine is worse when I have prosecco or cheap lager for example. It’s the chemicals, they make it red and itchy, and I assume rightly or wrongly that’s my body having an immune response to what I’ve poisoned it with, and it’s taking it out on the largest and most obvious organ, my skin. What are the triggers for him and how can you avoid exposure?
• If it’s an immune response and it certainly seems to be exacerbated by stress, chemicals, environments etc, then how can you change that? When I am stressed, I flare up. Yoga, meditation, sunlight, general feeling good - all really helped curtail what was physically happening with my psoriasis.
• for me and others I know who have it, it does get worse with winter and sometimes you do have to think about comfort more than anything. It’s not nice to have things rubbing against it, it exacerbates it. So think about pressure points in your son’s clothes, listen if he’s complaining of being uncomfortable. It’s tempting to cover it up, but he’s probably going to be more comfortable at the moment in shorts and again the exposure to sunlight would help.

I suffered so badly that, I couldn’t shave my legs at all without soaking them in a bath for 45 minutes first. I had huge flakes the size of a 10p piece coming off my scalp. Now I have two small patches on my elbows and that’s it. It can be managed, but it is a bit of trial and error.