New here Imapsomom

[Imapsomom]

Hi I am new to this forum. I do not have psoriasis but my 13 year old son does. I am quite active on a couple other sites and am always looking for and researching best treatments for him. I would like to treat him as holistically as possible. We use clobetosol but of course a soon as we stop his P flares up and I do not want him to spend his life on steroids not do I want to compromise his immune system more than it already is with Biologics. That said his mental health is of utmost importance so if we need to do those things we will. He does have small amounts of P all over most of his body.

[Raxyl]

Hi I am new to this forum. I do not have psoriasis but my 13 year old son does. I am quite active on a couple other sites and am always looking for and researching best treatments for him. I would like to treat him as holistically as possible. We use clobetosol but of course a soon as we stop his P flares up and I do not want him to spend his life on steroids not do I want to compromise his immune system more than it already is with Biologics. That said his mental health is of utmost importance so if we need to do those things we will. He does have small amounts of P all over most of his body.

Welcome to the forum Imapsomom, there are a lot of very knowledgeable and helpful people here who can point you in the right direction.

Craig

[jiml]

Hi and welcome   Imapsomum. I hope you find something for your son that can give him clearance. I myself have been plagued with psoriasis since I was 17 so know how devastating it is to his self confidence and self esteem
I admire what you are trying to do holistically for him, but I fear my experience of the disease is that you have it for life and learn to control it, and there are constantly new treatments becoming available and I'm sure in the not too distant future that there will be a treatment that will give long term control.
I myself am on a DMF based tablet called Fumaderm  which has kept me clear for over 6 years, there might be a similar one available in Canada as Skilarence ...but not sure if it's got across there yet

Have a good look around the site and shout if you can't find anything or use the Search to find threads that might be of interest

A great way to stay in touch and hear what's new and what others are using is to subscribe to our free monthly newsletter you can do that by clicking Groups and then clicking join group

Good luck
Jim

[Imapsomom]

Thanks Raxl and Jiml for your replies and suggestions to join the newsletter. I know this is a life long disease which is why I do hope that some natural things will help so that he is not on heavy medications his whole life. Crossing fingers they do find something that works in the near future for long term control that does not weaken the immune system or thin the skin. Congrats Jiml for 6 years of clear skin! Have you experienced lower immunity with Fumaderm? My son is a chronic nail biter    and has always had low immunity to illnesses so it is a concern for me for sure....as is the self esteem issue as he is a sensitive soul 

[jiml]

Thanks Raxl and Jiml for your replies and suggestions to join the newsletter. I know this is a life long disease which is why I do hope that some natural things will help so that he is not on heavy medications his whole life. Crossing fingers they do find something that works in the near future for long term control that does not weaken the immune system or thin the skin. Congrats Jiml for 6 years of clear skin! Have you experienced lower immunity with Fumaderm? My son is a chronic nail biter    and has always had low immunity to illnesses so it is a concern for me for sure....as is the self esteem issue as he is a sensitive soul 

I understand not wanting him on steroids that thin the skin ( I was in and off them for years and have thin skin now) ...so they are not for long term use . The tablets I'm on do not suppress the immune system, they regulate it and block certain pathways that cause the problem ..the same as some of the biological ones do. But whatever you take it will need a degree of monitoring and with my treatment as long as my liver and kidney function and lymphocyte count are good you carry on, if for any reason there is a problem stopping the treatment or lowering the dose allows the body to recover ....I would say I have less colds and infections now than I had before I started taking them .
As for natural treatments and over the counter cures I would say save your money and get a good quality coconut oil to moisturise with it does help a bit.
There are a lot of threads started here that tell of natural treatments but sadly the people that start them rarely tell us of any long term success.
But we do have one man Alan that has kept his at bay with diet and he regularly updates his thread
How I Cured My Psoriasis By Diet

[Imapsomom]

Thank you!

[Caroline]

Hello Imapsomom,

Welcome to psoriasisclub.
Very sensible of you to study the Psoriasis problem for your son.
Indeed he has a long way to go, and as everyone we hope that there finally will be found something that will work as a cure for specifically the genetically driven part of Psoriasis.

I am totally with Jim on this point.
You don’t want that his skin definitively will be damaged by the steroids. And you don’t want him to be on biologicals already.
Going into a diet is a heavy job, you can read this in the testimony of Alan.
So maybe you inevitably will end in the systemics. These are: methotrexate, cyclosporine, Acetretin and the fumarates.
Personally if I see the first three, they make me shiver certainly for a youngster, but that is personal. The fumarates though are basically body owned, they are part of the energy cycle of the cells in your body.
In that sense DMF may be a good choice, as it has a moderating influence on a lot of elements in your body, in a sense it compensates for the instability caused by Psoriasis.
They are non-toxic, at least if you would be able to get hold of Skilarence. It has been registered in Europe so it maybe is possible for you to order it. I don’t know if it is available yet in the US and Canada.

We can tell you a lot more about DMF if you would want it.
In the Netherlands it is advised to have a little bit of a diet added to it, which anyway would make sense with Psoriasis.
Avoid:
- all peelings of fruit
- so also wine, sherry, vermouth, etc., machine created juices, peelings of tomatoes, paprika's and peppers, and the readymade products where this can be in.
- like, soup from cans, bouillonds, pates, clove, cinnamon, kümmel, mustard, anise, peanuts, lettuce oil, peanut butter, all nuts burnt in peanut-oil.

What you don’t have to avoid:
- garlic, parsley, onions, garden spices, saffron’s, olive oil, mais, soy, sunflower, linseed oils, coconuts, hazelnuts, walnuts, almonds, pickles.
- alcoholics, well maybe not for your son, beer, gin, whiskey, rhum.

So a peeled apple or a self pressed orange is no problem. It is the stuff called Pyrodrifecic acid, that is in the peelings that is a trigger.

It is difficult to make a wise decision. Keep the long range in view and choose something not toxic or damaging for the future.

Cheers,
Caroline.

[Fred]

Hello Imapsomom   to Psoriasis Club.

It's always sad to read the young people getting diagnosed with psoriasis, it was bad enough for me getting it in my 20s. Yes his self esteem will take a knock, but if he can try and share how he feels with a friend it will help. We are not all perfect and those that think they are should be careful as they could be next.

I fully understand your worry about Steroids or Bio's, the Bio's especially should be kept on the back burner as long as possible. You could look at Natural Treatments For Psoriasis to see if there are any ideas he may want to try, Alan's thread may also be worth a look How I Cured My Psoriasis By Diet But I'm not sure how a teenager would feel about going that way. (It's not something I could do)

Tell your Son he is not alone and we all know how he feels.

Regards.

Fred.

[Imapsomom]

Thank you Fred and Caroline! That is a lot of excellent information and some added things for me to research   The Fumerates sound interesting. For now we are going to slowly make some dietary changes (will be a big challenge), and trying sorion cream on some of his spots. Fred I know you dont have a high opinion of sorion but we are going to try it an hope for positive results, the clobetesol scares me so I have to try alternatives. He is in his second week of Tgel shampoo so I hope that will help with the scalp before his first week of high school!

[Caroline]

Oh, I forgot to tell you. There is also light therapy, with UV-radiation.

At a certain point the dermatologist will mention it. And will want to start with it.
In that case, remember that:
- it is only an intermediate treatment, which will work but only temporary, the Psoriasis will always come back.
- it is quite a radiation burden for your skin and can be the cause of skin cancer when you grow older.
- every light therapy finally has to stop because the radiation limit has been reached.
- so, if you need a short break from the Psoriasis, you can do it, but keep an eye on the consequences.

To my opinion: it’s a dead end street with some serious problems in the future.

My two cents on UV-therapy.

Cheers,
Caroline