smoking and psoriasis

[Fred]

Does any one have any opinion on smoking tobacco and what if any side effects it may have on plaque psoriasis. 

I have read it can be a problem.   

what is your take on it?

My opinion is what we all know "It's bad for your health" but as for it effecting psoriasis, I'm not convinced.

I have never seen enough evidence that it makes it worse and I never noticed any difference when I gave up. In fact one could argue that giving up made it worse. #1 I put on a lot of weight and now I still have it, this is not good for psoriasis. #2 It caused me a lot of stress, that too is not good for psoriasis.

I only stay off it now because I have realised it is bad for my general health and the craving has now gone anyway.

As for giving up. I tried many times but always ended up going back to it, the only thing that worked for me was putting myself in one of my stubborn fighting modes and went cold turkey. I put it in my head that no matter what happened I was never going to smoke again, I got all the last remains of tobacco and had one big smoke in up till midnight (it was my mission to smoke everything before midnight, and I did) then I took it one day at a time and got myself some cranberry juice. I read somewhere that if you sip it every time you get a craving it helps, and it did.

Each day was a struggle but I was determined to beat it and not let it beat me this time. I won in the end, but it took about a month to finally feel like I was getting somewhere.

To sum up. I don't think smoking effects psoriasis and it's a myth, but as we know there is enough evidence that it is bad for our general health. Plus it's becoming anti social these days which in a way is a good thing and there is more encouragement to give up.

I wish you luck if you do go for it, it's a hard ride but in the end it has to be worth it to give your lungs and heart a rest.

Cold turkey worked for me, it may not work for you but it did make me feel good winning the battle.