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Psoriasis Observations for Today

Friday, October 2nd, 2009

It’s been about 3-4 days since my last T-Gel use, and honestly, my scalp is itching a lot more than I would prefer at this point.  If I had to prescribe something for my scalp (according to the deeper itchy feeling that has been developing for the last 24 hours or so) it would be Neutrogena’s T-Gel, Stubborn Itch Control (with that added special ingredient, menthol).  Unfortunately, I’m all out at the moment, so I’ll have to stick with standard T-Gel when I wake up tomorrow.

One of tricks I use in the interim, during times like now when I’m tempted to think about the itchiness in my scalp (thus making it worse), is to think about something that I really feel like doing, such like reading, watching a movie, chatting with my wife, playing a video game, jogging, or doing a variety of research projects on the internet.  The more I concentrate on the task at hand, the less I’ll think about the itching and the more of the task I will accomplish.  This is a very manly (task-oriented) way of thinking, but it works for me a lot of the time.

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Recovering from Psoriasis from the Inside Out

Friday, October 2nd, 2009

From my limited experience experimenting with my daily lifestyle habits, I’ve discovered that it is possible to eliminate psoriasis either mostly or all the way with no drug treatments at all.  Granted, I have a mild case of psoriasis, but I suspect that this general rule works on a small to medium to large scale (a lot of other people have found this to be true as well).

I don’t stick with a healthy lifestyle because, honestly, it’s just not convenient for me.  When I’m tired I eat whatever’s within reach.  When I’d rather not sleep, I drink lots of caffeine.

But practically every aspect of my health, I’ve found, can affect the severity of my psoriasis at any given time.

Here are the main factors that will either improve or worsen my psoriasis symptoms at any given time:

  • Food choices
  • Drinking alcohol (causes flare ups)
  • Sleep — Less isn’t more.
  • Stress — Less is more.
  • Exercise — Regular exercise improves almost every aspect of my health, including how stressed out (toxins), happy (endorphins) or energetic (metabolism) I am.
  • Cleanliness — Clean is good, but not so clean that my skin dries out.
  • Climate — Not too hot or cold, not too wet or dry, not too much or too little sunlight.

I like the idea of having a “silver bullet,” or something I can take to instantly take away my psoriasis forever, because this gives me what I want all the while requiring minimal effort or lifestyle changes on my part.   Then again, if I was honest with myself, I’d have to admit that I’m better off living with a balanced amount of the elements listed above regardless of whether or psoriasis is plaguing my daily life… so maybe it’s working out for the best that this condition is inspiring me to take action and improve my overall health.

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Another Effective Psoriasis Treatment: Sleeping Enough

Thursday, October 1st, 2009

Observations:  Last night I slept about 10 hours, as opposed to my usual 4-5 hours.  I also recently shaved my head (which exposes my scalp to more fresh air and sunlight).  At the same time, for the last three days I have not eaten any fast-food.  I have also not used a medicated psoriasis shampoo for about 72 hours.  Whether or not these factors have led to my psoriasis dying down quite a bit, remains to be seen over the long run, but the fact still remains that my psoriasis symptoms have been almost totally absent for the last 36 hours or so.  I got the urge to scratch a dozen times at the most today (plus one more just now since I was thinking about it).

Of course it is also possible that my symptoms have just died down on their own and would have done so regardless.  This is why anyone (including myself) who is seeking a long term, lifestyle-based solution to psoriasis has to view the results over an extended period ovserve consistent, repeating patterns.

My hypothesis is that, the more healthy little tweaks I make to my lifestyle, the more my psoriasis will improve.

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How Does Salicylic Acid Work as a Psoriasis Treatment?

Sunday, September 27th, 2009

All of my interaction with salicylic acid has been through Neutrogena’s T-Sal psoriasis shampoo.  I have found that my scalp tends to feel a lot better when I intersperse this shampoo with my usually coal tar / standard shampoo rotation.

Salicylic acid doesn’t treat psoriasis directly so much as it cleanses skin that is affected by psoriasis.  Besides scalp shampoos, salicylic acid is used widely as an exfoliant.   The fact that it is the active ingredient for “warming” facewashes should ring a bell — it is the acidic quality of this compound that deep cleans the skin and clears off all that dead skin and dirt build up.  It also deep cleans and disinfects pores.  It can also be used as an anti-dandruff medication.

Salicylic acid acts as a helping hand for other treatments that have a more direct effect on the psoriasis itself, such as coal tar and other chemical compounds that are continually being developed (Neutrogena’s variation on coal tar, for example, is ‘Neutar’).  After it clears out dead skin build-up, then other medications can have more of a direct access to affect skin cells.

I tend to think that coal tar itself (via shampoos such as Neutrogena’s T-Gel) creates a build-up on my scalp.  This is my hypothesis / observation, partially based on the fact that coal tar is a derivative of a fossil fuel and fossil fuels are inherently dirty.   Also, when I use T-Sal, this residual build-up feeling that develops over time as I use coal tar shampoos goes away immediately — at such times it feels like my scalp can breath freely again.

I would like to verify this suspicion with a dermatologist one of these days.

In any case, I prefer to mix salicylic shampoo into my topical treatment rotation to keep the psoriasis guessing, clean off any residual dead skin on my scalp and to make sure my skin isn’t getting too accustomed to coal tar treatment (and thus immune) which seems to be possible over time judging by my own experience.

I’ll have to ask a dermatologist one of these days whether or not this coal tar build-up hypothesis is true as well.

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