Health Boards
Sun-06-09-2015, 15:12 PM
Hi peoples,
Thought i'd post a time-line of what ( and no doubt i'm not alone here ) how where what why etc., regarding the beginnings and following treatments
and whatnot
My psoriasis started after a massive RTA in which i was a helpless passenger. This RTA was '87 and i was in a ward for 2 months, and another 2 years recovery, wheelchairs, walking sticks, some bone complications, due to the fractures and hip dislocations, but over the following years, i've got back to almost normal , physically, but with metal hips, and many scars , most of which thankfully, have faded a lot
But 2 years after that in '89 i developed psoriasis, and the med staff tell me that it was probably the crash that kicked it off. Massive impact trauma can do that, although they also told me that its hereditary. I've never known any of my immediately family to have P ( mum, dad and one older sister ) and maybe if i'd thought about it, i could have asked my dad or sister at the time. Mum had already been slaughtered by cancer at the age of 44 so she wasn't around by the time P started, and now my dad is the only one left, as my darling older sister was also taken by cancer at 59 years, 4 years ago
Still, knowing who else had it is not important to me really. But going back to '89 and the kick starting of P, i was, like many, given a succession of useless creams over the next 18/19 years. I'm sure someone benefits from creams or ointments, but they did nothing for me whatsover.
And its not like i had vicious psoriasis like some folk.
Plaque on elbow tips, nothing vast ..about 1" to 1.5" across on each elbow, inside ears, back of ears, scalp line ( minimal again ) , a bit in mustache and beard areas, and centre of chest, some dotted around on the scars from the previous RTA ( P seems to love scar tissue for some reason )
That was just about the extent of plaque
Under arms and top of inner thighs where i had the inverse.
Skipping the long boring 18/19 years of useless creams, i get to the point where i get offered tablets.
Those consisted of MTX, Acitretin, Cyclosporin, and now Fumaderm
MTX was the most brilliant drug out of anything i'd ever been given. It killed my P dead, everywhere. But MTX is a nasty old piece of work, as most know, and during the constant and essential 2 weekly blood tests, eventually they revealed the start of liver hep. and had to come off the MTX. No problem, the liver recovers. I never felt a thing so its a good job i had the blood tests or i wouldn't have even known. The other side effects were livable with
Acitretin .. horrible. Nasty. Peeled like a leper on hands and feet to such a degree that i didnt even leave the house. Other side effects were equally nasty.
Didnt do a lot, weaker than MTX with worse side effcts ( apart from liver damage )
Cyclosporin .. not bad at all, but not in MTX's league. Got shot of all P except inverse top of inner thighs , and it almost got that, but not quite. Side effects not quite as bad as Acitretin but still bad enough. Kidney functions probolem picked up by blood tests ended the course of Cyclo. Still didnt feel a thing , so, good job the blood tests picked up on the kidney probs, as i wouldn't have known
Fumaderm.. started 9 months ago on initial, and progressed to the max 6 tabs a day. Again, they have kept all plaque P at bay, ihave none at all. But as with all the others apart from MTX, the top of inner thighs is THE most stubborn area. It simply will not give it up.
The firece red patches ( elephants ears ? ) are a faded pink, but they still look like P patches, and although i'm grateful that all the plaque disappeared years ago, and the only bit of P i have now is those 2 inverse patches, i'm still greedy and want to clear those up.
Fumaderm seems pretty good ( not as good as MTX in my book ) the side effcts are minimal. I've had the burning, bit in 9 months i've probably had it about 3 times and each time lasted about 1 or 2 minutes. I sneeze a lot, though it never turns into a cold, and my sleep patterns are pretty grim, but all these are laughable.
At one point, before the Fumaderm was given, i asked about Biologics, as i had read about this on the net, and these were never ever mentioned before by my derm consultant. Well i soon found it why ... the answer given was ' too expensive ' and you have to have pretty bad P to be given Biologics, due to this cost.
Fair enough !
Next derm visit is November, and the consultant has juggled with the idea ( at my insistance ) of perhaps going back on MTX, just to to get over that last hurdle, and it wouldn't take long for the MTX to do its job, since it would be starting at a point that was much further along the line than when i first had MTX, when it had to deal with what looked burns from a house fire.
Once the MTX had killed the last of it, then back to Fumaderm to keep it down and managed.
Phew !
As you were
Thought i'd post a time-line of what ( and no doubt i'm not alone here ) how where what why etc., regarding the beginnings and following treatments
and whatnot
My psoriasis started after a massive RTA in which i was a helpless passenger. This RTA was '87 and i was in a ward for 2 months, and another 2 years recovery, wheelchairs, walking sticks, some bone complications, due to the fractures and hip dislocations, but over the following years, i've got back to almost normal , physically, but with metal hips, and many scars , most of which thankfully, have faded a lot
But 2 years after that in '89 i developed psoriasis, and the med staff tell me that it was probably the crash that kicked it off. Massive impact trauma can do that, although they also told me that its hereditary. I've never known any of my immediately family to have P ( mum, dad and one older sister ) and maybe if i'd thought about it, i could have asked my dad or sister at the time. Mum had already been slaughtered by cancer at the age of 44 so she wasn't around by the time P started, and now my dad is the only one left, as my darling older sister was also taken by cancer at 59 years, 4 years ago
Still, knowing who else had it is not important to me really. But going back to '89 and the kick starting of P, i was, like many, given a succession of useless creams over the next 18/19 years. I'm sure someone benefits from creams or ointments, but they did nothing for me whatsover.
And its not like i had vicious psoriasis like some folk.
Plaque on elbow tips, nothing vast ..about 1" to 1.5" across on each elbow, inside ears, back of ears, scalp line ( minimal again ) , a bit in mustache and beard areas, and centre of chest, some dotted around on the scars from the previous RTA ( P seems to love scar tissue for some reason )
That was just about the extent of plaque
Under arms and top of inner thighs where i had the inverse.
Skipping the long boring 18/19 years of useless creams, i get to the point where i get offered tablets.
Those consisted of MTX, Acitretin, Cyclosporin, and now Fumaderm
MTX was the most brilliant drug out of anything i'd ever been given. It killed my P dead, everywhere. But MTX is a nasty old piece of work, as most know, and during the constant and essential 2 weekly blood tests, eventually they revealed the start of liver hep. and had to come off the MTX. No problem, the liver recovers. I never felt a thing so its a good job i had the blood tests or i wouldn't have even known. The other side effects were livable with
Acitretin .. horrible. Nasty. Peeled like a leper on hands and feet to such a degree that i didnt even leave the house. Other side effects were equally nasty.
Didnt do a lot, weaker than MTX with worse side effcts ( apart from liver damage )
Cyclosporin .. not bad at all, but not in MTX's league. Got shot of all P except inverse top of inner thighs , and it almost got that, but not quite. Side effects not quite as bad as Acitretin but still bad enough. Kidney functions probolem picked up by blood tests ended the course of Cyclo. Still didnt feel a thing , so, good job the blood tests picked up on the kidney probs, as i wouldn't have known
Fumaderm.. started 9 months ago on initial, and progressed to the max 6 tabs a day. Again, they have kept all plaque P at bay, ihave none at all. But as with all the others apart from MTX, the top of inner thighs is THE most stubborn area. It simply will not give it up.
The firece red patches ( elephants ears ? ) are a faded pink, but they still look like P patches, and although i'm grateful that all the plaque disappeared years ago, and the only bit of P i have now is those 2 inverse patches, i'm still greedy and want to clear those up.
Fumaderm seems pretty good ( not as good as MTX in my book ) the side effcts are minimal. I've had the burning, bit in 9 months i've probably had it about 3 times and each time lasted about 1 or 2 minutes. I sneeze a lot, though it never turns into a cold, and my sleep patterns are pretty grim, but all these are laughable.
At one point, before the Fumaderm was given, i asked about Biologics, as i had read about this on the net, and these were never ever mentioned before by my derm consultant. Well i soon found it why ... the answer given was ' too expensive ' and you have to have pretty bad P to be given Biologics, due to this cost.
Fair enough !
Next derm visit is November, and the consultant has juggled with the idea ( at my insistance ) of perhaps going back on MTX, just to to get over that last hurdle, and it wouldn't take long for the MTX to do its job, since it would be starting at a point that was much further along the line than when i first had MTX, when it had to deal with what looked burns from a house fire.
Once the MTX had killed the last of it, then back to Fumaderm to keep it down and managed.
Phew !
As you were