You don’t have to be a math whiz to figure out that medicated psoriasis shampoos are a lot more expensive than standard shampoos.  Whereas basic shampoo brands such as Suave can go for about 99 cents for a bottle, you would be lucky to find any kind of psoriasis shampoo for five bucks (or less).  Occasionally my local grocery store, Fry’s, puts T/Gel on sale for about 5 dollars a bottle, but I have come to expect about 6 dollars a pop.  As you can see in the picture above, such pricing leads me to leave the shampoo bottles upside down until I can squeeze every last drop out of them.

Included in the picture above:

• T/Gel — Extra Strength (4% Neutar) and Stubborn Itch Control (2% Neutar as well as menthol)
• T/Sal — Active ingredient: Salicylic acid.
• Selsun Blue, with menthol and 1% selenium sulfide, which is a common dandruff medication

Cost is a major factor that must, by necessity, be calculated into one’s daily psoriasis-battling regimen.  If insurance doesn’t cover a certain medication, if copays add up to too much or if you don’t have any insurance at all then, short of taking up a life of crime, you will have to seek out other options to treat your psoriasis.  It is because of such resource limitations that holistic treatments (changing your entire lifestyle to treat psoriasis) are sometime necessary.  This can be a good thing much of the time since treating psoriasis generally involves becoming more healthy all-around.

In addition to being more affordable, holistic, herbal and generally more natural treatments can be more effective in the long run for treating your psoriasis.  If your body is equipped from the inside-out to fight off this condition, then additional brute-force drugs such as steroids or immunosuppressants will become unnecessary.

This is similar to the effect that drinking less caffeine has on my ability to concentrate and work effectively.  It’s nice to get that jolt of energy, but there is inevitably a let-down afterward, during which work seems even more difficult than before.  During the let-down phase I feel compelled to drink more caffeine, thus increasing my dependence on this drug.  But, when I opt for sleeping enough and drinking more water, my brain works better over longer periods of time.

The theory behind holistic psoriasis medications is similar to the principal of sleeping more rather than drinking caffeine.

Modern medicine is adapting to the fact that the body is, much of the time, better equipped to deal with biological issues than any man-made drug.  This points to the general fact that you, if you are suffering from psoriasis, should use shampoos such as those listed above but, at the same time, keep exercising, eating right and maintain a healthy state of mind to the best of your ability.