How I Cured My Psoriasis By Diet

[Ben1]

Hi All

I was diagnosed with Palmar Plantar Psoriasis 12 months ago and had no luck with the various topical steroid creams and emollients that my GP and Consultant Dermatologist prescribed over that time.

After a particularly bad flare-up I took to my bed because of the pain and discomfort and decided to do some research on the internet. I figured I had nothing to lose as the conventional treatments were not helping me at all. At best they were holding the symptoms at bay (barely) and I was using more and more of the steroids in an attempt to clear my skin, what little there was left of it. So, paper thin skin on hands and feet and multiple lesions filled with pus. Not good.

On doing a lot of reading on forums like this and other psoriasis related sites I came to the conclusion that diet may well play a big part in causing this thing. It seemed that many people reported improvements after removing certain foods from their diets, they called them "trigger foods".

They appeared to be :

gluten

dairy

sugar

I was doubtful about embarking on such a diet as I have never had any food intolerances before, so was obviously skeptical that doing so would help, however, I had no other ideas because I had tried many different supplements over the previous 12 months which had helped a little but only for a short time and the psoriasis just returned to its normal aggressive self.

After 2 weeks of removing all wheat/barley/milk/cheese/sugar/starchy veg from my diet I noticed a big improvement. My hands were much less inflamed and some of the lesions has gone. Wow! Fast forward another 2 weeks and yet more improvement.

However, there was still a low "baseline" activity - small flareups (no-where near as bad as before) that happened every few days. This made me return to the internet and I read that there was a link to psoriasis and "leaky gut syndrome" possibly caused by a candida overgrowth. Think good bacteria in the gut being crowded out by bad bacteria/yeast. Apparently candida can change from a yeast like form to an invasive fungal type form which can cause leaky gut. When this happens stuff that you have eaten can get into your bloodstream causing an immune response. I guess this could explain why certain foods can cause a problem.

OK, so I modified my diet to an anti-candida diet. This is basically the same as above but with bells and whistles to avoid any sort of sugar or starch that might feed the candida. Again I was a bit skeptical, but thought I had nothing to lose.

After another 2 weeks I saw my hands improve immensely and the low level outbreaks were less often and smaller and smaller.

I'm now 6 weeks into this diet and I'm pleased to say my psoriasis is 99% gone. Unbelievable!

12 months of increasing discomfort, intense itching, flaking skin, sores, pain and all the other symptoms you'll be familiar with.... GONE.

I wanted to share my experience on here and I hope it may help someone else.

6 weeks ago I really thought that I was going to have to live with this thing for the rest of my life. I had resigned myself to not being able to work anymore. I was pretty fed up with the whole thing.

My skin still needs to thicken up a bit (I still have no fingerprints, but under a magnifying glass I can see faint outlines returning!) but the worst is definitely behind me.

Hopefully some of you will find this helpful. It may not be a cure for everyone suffering from this but it did cure it for me.

People seem to be reticent about saying "cure" when talking about psoriasis. I do not believe this to be true. I believe it is a gut problem and that it will take time (months) for my gut to return to normal. As such I intend sticking to this diet for 6 months to allow nature to take its course. Then I will reintroduce foods to my diet in small amounts, one at a time for two weeks, and monitor the effects.

I also found that keeping a food diary was very useful in pinpointing foods that aggravate the condition.

I would like to add that both my GP and Consultant stated that psoriasis is not related to diet. I have found the exact opposite to be true.

Also, a pleasant side effect has been losing over 1 and a half stone in this six week period, so I'm also feeling better in myself (and clothes) as well as psoriasis free.

Here are some before and after pictures :

Before

             

After

             



Good luck!

---

Edit by Fred: Made images work.

Hi Alan

I really appreciate you sharing your experience with this horrible disease and Im glad that you are on the mend. I have a similar spread on my hands and some patches on my back and under my armpits but yours looks worse as I haven't got it on my feet, so i feel for you.

I was beginning to think that I would have to live with this for the rest of my life, with a worry that it could get worse. You have given me hope, so I thank you for that.

Mine started a few years back at the ripe old age of 45, I have no clue why, I eat well most of the time and stay healthy. After countless visits to the doctors and then dermatologists and trying around 8 different creams/ lotions, I continued to ask them…It must be my diet, only to be told No…Just try another cream.
I then got put on metotrexate but after 3 months, with no change, I decided to come off it due to the toxicity.

Having just seen the Dr Pagano diet, and coming across this site, I have just eaten my last Sandwich with an early mince pie , at least until I can see if this works for me, when I start my new eating plan next week.

Again, Thank you for sharing your journey and hopefully I will see some success in the coming weeks/months. If This does work, I will be having some very heated discussions with my doctor and dermatologist.

Hi Ben

Sounds like we've had very similar experiences with this thing. Being told by the quacks that diet had nothing to do with it sounds about right. Even when all the creams etc. had bugger all effect - just try this new one etc. etc. Well, several years on I've cured my gut and psoriasis is a distant memory. Good luck giving it a go Ben.

Regards

Alan

Alan ,I have a few questions if you don’t mind.

Ive also been looking at the aip paleo diet , do you think it’s similar to the diet you was on.
I noticed you have eggs and beef in your list , did you have sweet potatoes.

cheers mate.

Ben