Almost there

[bassman]

A good read, Fred, but i've never suffered from PsA, luckily.  The first replacement  hip i had done was due to a disclocation from that '87 huge RTA i was a passenger in.

The first op took 7 years before i finally got that hip. Meanwhile, of course, for all that time of 7 years plus a year after the op,  i was putting a lot of weight on the good hip. This eventually manifested itself in arthritis and this time, after diagnosis, i waited a mere 4 months for a new one. Such is the progress between 1987 and 2014 ( when i got the 2nd hip. )

As for the scar tissue being a magnet for Plaque P, this happened to me in a couple of areas.  The right shin bone smashed in a motorbike accident in '93, 6 years after the first RTA. I already had P from '89 so it grabbed onto the scarring on the shin, and then some years later, i was lounging about on my sofa, and decided to reach for something on the carpet, fell off the sofa and slid on my right elbow for about 1ft.  This caused a friction burn about 1.5" long and wide. This then got attacked by Plaque P and took years to get under control. In fact only the tablets helped. Creams, as i posted, do nothing for me and i've been on 99% of them over the last 25 years

Still luckier than most, i reckon, after seeing some of the P on medical sites. Its a terrible thing for some, and i count myself lucky that i just now have to 2 mild patches to deal with, out of sight.

Mind you, it still put a hold on my love life over many years, and still does

[jiml]

Wow bsaseman that's quite a life you have had, quite some trauma you've been through .
Thank you for giving us such a full picture of your history.


I like your thinking regarding coming off fumaderm and temporarily using methotrexate to get completely clear ( as methotrexate did that for me as well)   Then coming back to it

I'm happy with my 2 little patches they keep me alert and remind me it's never far away.
I see you have met some of the inmates and had a warm welcome and been offered a drink and your preferred drink is waiting at  
[Group Specific] hope to buy you another there

Any questions about fumaderm I will try to answer but I think you have got the measure of it anyway
Jim

[bassman]

Thanks Jim

Yes, i have a question ..  rather than quit Fuma for a short while and start on the MTX for a short while, then back again on Fuma...  would i have to restart on the initial  Fuma again ? 1 tab, 2 tabs 3 tabs low mg's,  etc etc. you know the routine ?

Or, could i circumvent the MTX route and perhaps increase the number of Fuma tabs i take ?  Thats something that was never brought up at the derm appointment

As you may have seen, i get very very low side effects from Fuma, even though i've been on the max 6 x 120mng tabs a day for many months

[Caroline]

You are not allowed to use more than 6x120 mg of Fumaderm.
With higher doses the toxity of the additions in the pills becomes too high. Fumaderm contains additional salts and stuff to protect stomach and intestines.

You only can go higher if you use pure DMF, like our Australian member Bill, or by using my medication, called Psorinovo and available in the Netherlands.

You are lucky to have so little side effects. Not all people's bodies can handle DMF so well.

[jiml]

I'm not a dermatologist and I honestly don't know if you  would have to go back to the initial tablets to come back on to fumaderm ... I think a lot would depend on how long you were off it and if it was completely out of your system. But my thinking is your body is used to the drug and I would expect you to come back on a low dose not necessarily  back to initial but only your dermatologist will know for sure  

Regarding increasing your dose above 6 a day, that's a definite no.... the manufacturer has stated the maximum dose and I would not advise anything above the maximum dose
I have a link here to the fumaderm leaflet that will explain better  

Fumaderm leaflet

[bassman]

Ok, thanks Caroline and  Jim

I take it then that Psorinovo is not available in the UK, or pure DMF either ?   I've not been offered pure DMF or Psorinovo by my derm. Those meds have not even been mentioned by name

[jiml]

Psorinovo is not available here or I would switch onto it, as Caroline says it is dmf without the added salts and you can go quite high with it ... Caroline has some good threads on here about DMF

Bill in Australia is on pure dmf which he buys from Asia and sprinkles on his food as fumaderm and psorinovo are not available in Australia

That's why you have not heard them mentioned elsewhere

[Bill]

Hi Jim,

As it happens my trial of cysteine (~1 gram twice daily)  along with topicals is proving a success. It is mildly anti-inflammatory, but it does enough. I missed a few doses over the weekend and noticed a slight increase in redness, so I think the dosage is about right. My PASI is now lower than when I ceased taking DMF just over three weeks ago. I am unsure whether I will take DMF in future either as a maintenance or shock therapy. Of course at this stage I cannot say whether I will need to take DMF at all. At least I still have plenty should I need it.

Cheers,

Bill

[Caroline]

Great to read of this success Bill !
Would be super if you could stay like this, certainly with the DMF treatment as a backup.

[bassman]

Sprinkling DMF on my morning cereals sounds like a hoot  !

Could i buy some from Asia, and use it in conjunction with the Fuma ?

hey Caroline, is that you on a motobike ?  I'm a big  motobike nut , used to be a motorbike courier in London, have had a multitude of machines over the years
and always watch WSB /  BSB / Moto GP ( especially Assen, one of my favourite tracks  ) and have been to various tracks around the UK watching the racing at various levels of talent