Pulled together some psoriasis Info that may be useful

[Muminabun]

There is so much out there re psoriasis. I was researching for DH who has had a flare up and thought it may be useful to put it all in one place if it is of any interest to others. I basically did a load of googling and read a load of threads on here, old and new. It seems that psoriasis is a bit of a major pain in the arse because so many people have it, it is incurable so just has to be managed and different things work for different people so it is a trial and error for sufferers and that can be very costly and time consuming and probably really disheartening of one person is completely cured after a concoction of boiled birch twigs or the like.

Psoriasis is an immune disorder which can be triggered by stress, certain foods and even the weather. About 3% of the population suffer from it. Approx. 50% affects the scalp. The majority have mild to moderate Psoriasis.
Mild treatments include Salicylic acid (pronounced sallycillic)
Coal Tar
Stronger treatments include: Antimicrobilas (used to treat yeast infections)
Calcipotriene - strong vitamin D
Calcipottriene plus betamethason, which is a vitamin D and steroid combination
Tazarotene - Vitamin A
UV light

Going on holiday and getting some sea and sun will also help a lot of people.

I have made a list of all the non prescription treatments i could find. MY DH has been cured in a day by using Udderly smooth chamois cream, anti chaffing (this is for cyclists). I bought this in the summer for chub rub and he put it on his face and it cleared up. Active ingredient seems to be a lot of Glycol.
He also used Philip Kingsley itchy flaky scalp shampoo and it seems to have cleared most after one wash.
He had previously tried
Body shop Ginger
Vosene and L'oreal shampoo and none worked for him but i know they have for others.
Other recommended stuff:
Lush Snake Oil
Nizoral
Capasal
T-Gel
Polytar Shampoo
Dovobet Gel
Betnovate scalp solution
L'occitane aromatherapy range of shampoos
Shampoos that are paraben and SLS free as these iritate some people
Rosemary oil shampoo
Lush soak and float shampoo bar
Oilatum intensive anti dandruff
Eucerin calming urea scalp treatment
betacap scalp lotion
Vitamin D cream
Dovonex
Sebamed Shampoo
Evening primrose oil
rosehip oil
Diprosalic
Moogoo shampoo
exorex
Keracare shampoo and glosser
Rugby sebex
MG217
Denorex
T Gel
DHS Sal Shampoo
Dove dermacare scalp
Sorion
Aveeno shampoo
E45 shampoo
M folia
Dead sea Magik shampoo
Alphosyl
Odylique

i really hope that some sufferers can get some use out of this list and if you have psoriasis i wish you the best of luck in finding an effective treatment and please add any that you think are useful that i haven't mentioned.

Ah this is all interesting. I have it mildly- elbows and about 8 50p size patches on my legs. It never seems to spread but the vit D and steroid combo only knocks it back, doesn't completely remove it. Salt and sun help. Weirdly I had it for a short period on my late teens and then it came back about 3 years ago.
I'd linked it to being very run down and tired with the kids and six years of breastfeeding. I'm a bit bit D deficient as well I found out recently so have been supplementing. But it could well be something else and is by no means bad enough to get a referral I think as the other treatments are disproportionate to the impact.

Has anyone tried an alkaline diet? I wonder if that might work... No coffee or dairy though arg.

I really hate it on my legs though. I got asked if I'd been bitten the other day...

@Pootle40 apart from kefir and a live yoghurt where can one seek help for internal treatment?

Watching. Thanks for the list. Mine is super itchy at the moment. Have been taking baths in Dead Sea salts which was sort of helping but I've run out and now I feel itchier than I did before.

Must try cleaner diet for weight reasons as well but can't seem to summon up the will power in winter!

@Whatkatyforgottodo
SLS is used as a foaming agent in lots of shower gels and shampoos - - it might be listed as sodium laureth sulphate. I find that it irritates my skin quite a lot but your milage may vary; avoiding it didn't help my sister for instance. It can be really hard to dodge - I use aveda hair products and the excellent (and good value!) child's farm shower gel.

@tangelo
Thank you!

Sorry if this is a slight derail, but I have just noticed that I've scratched my legs so hard they've bruised

I think wearing trousers/tights all the time doesn't help - whenever I take them off my skin is crazy itchy at the moment.

@Muminabun ... I see you have listed Denorex as a treatment .
Can I ask when your DH last used it and where did he get it from ?

I used to buy that a long time ago and it worked well but had been discontinued in UK pharmacies ?
My GP said at the time I enquiried if he could prescribe it as I could no longer buy OTC that there was litigation pending in the US about some of the ingredients????

I would love to be able to use it again .. it really worked for me .
TIA

To the pp who had psoriasis in skin folds, I have this and use Protopic ointment which is a non steroidal immune suppressant ointment. I think the drug name is Tacrolimus. I had real skin damage under my boobs from steroid cream and I can use this and it doesn't thin the skin.
It can itch and burn when you first use it but once you are used to it it is brilliant and works used two days a week.
Anyone who hasn't tried this with flexural psoriasis do ask about it,

I get psoriasis on my scalp. I'm 40 now and the only time I've had it flare up elsewhere on my body was the week before I sat my GCSE's 24 years ago. Then I was covered from my neck all the way down my chest to my navel. As soon as my exams were over it cleared up. I've had the odd patch here and there in between - on two occasions just a few weeks after giving birth.

For my scalp certain things seem to trigger it but mainly it's using any type of hair product at all (so cannot use any hairspray, serum etc etc) and certain shampoos also trigger it - Timotei and the new John Frieda range were horrendous for setting it off. I use T-gel shampoo which is generally the best for keeping things under control although I do always have a bottle of coal tar for when it gets really bad.
Hormones are a trigger for me too and certain times of the month I notice it is worse.
Thank you for sharing this info @Muminabun

Babbi you can get denorex on amazon via US so with a hefty shipping fee.

@Muminabun .. thanks very much ..I thought so but hoped for a bargain 😀
I’ll order it and try to pick up some when I’m next in the States