Health Boards
Sat-07-03-2015, 04:10 AM
Hi a little about me I'm 31 and have had psoriosis since the age of 13 (scalp) which came on very quickly after the first scab appeared on my scalp within a week my whole head was like a tortoise shell. My GP had no idea what it was and my mother was advised to keep me isolated from my siblings incase it was contagious it was only when we went tho the pharmacy that the pharmacist told us it was psoriosis. Unfortunately after trying every treatment under the sun nothing came close to clearing it. At the age of 17 after years of suffering from bullying and the embarrassment from school I restored to using a metal nit comb and scrapping of the plaques and using dovonex this as you can imagine was very bloody and painful but was at breaking point. This helped me a little but things only got worse as from about 18 after years of untreated depression I started getting psoriosis on my torso I was prescribed cream after cream none helped unfortunately it spread all over my body still even after seeing a dermatologist they wanted to keep using creams until about the age of 26 they decided it was time to try uva treatment two years I had light treatment to no avail I was close to giving up I moved back to dorset to be closer to family and was finally getting treatment for my depression got back to the hospital but to my horror they wanted me to have uva again I explained that it didn't work for me and as I had had talks with my old dermatologist about biological treatment was keen to try this there answer was nope not til I had done a full cause of uva with them so did so but then came the news that as that had not worked they would try puva which is uva with pills to increase the effect of the light again this never effected me so finally they decided to try Acitretin 50mg a day this was December 2014 3 months ago 18 years after first getting psoriosis it took about 8 weeks for all of the plaques on my entire body to go completely and the redness is finally starting to fade at the point of starting Acitretin I had a coverage of about 60/70% I now am at 0% plaque except my scalp which has still a thin layer all over. I am happier than I hav ever been and even whent abroad and stayed in a hotel even using the pool. I have had some side effects which include in order of getting them dry lips, dry and scabby nostrils, peeling skin on hands all over and soles of feet, sticky skin all over but hands and skin folds the worst all of these I can cope with but there is one side effect that it really starting to get to me and that is intense itching of the tops of my arms I have been prescribed an antihistamine but the only thing that seems to help is ice I actually give myself frostbite trying to relieve the painful itching. If anyone els has gone through this have you any advice I hope I didn't bore anyone by going on but feels good to open up thanks for reading my story.
I find your story very sad that you have been mistreated by the system for so long .... But firstly let me offer you a warm 
to the club. You have found here a safe haven where you are among friends 
