psoriasis

I have been living with psoriasis for 31 years now and I am proud to say that it is a lot less severe than when it started.

At age 18, I saw a red patch develop on the inside of my left knee. Another appeared on my right elbow. Since it did not look like any conventional skin reaction, I went to a doctor who referred me to an old dermatologist. That man hit me with the words : "This is psoriasis, son, and you'll have it for the rest of your life."

I could not agree then, now I do.

Of course I tried each and every treatment medecine has to offer.
-Cortisone ointments are very effective, but results do not last.
-Wrappings in Saran wrap with cortisone, more effective but two weeks after that treatment, done in a hospital, the doctor almost fell off his chair, cursing, when I opened my shirt to show him how worse it had become.
-UV lamps had very little efficiency on my skin and was very inconvenient to use.
-Ultimately I tried methotrexate. WOW ! Very efficient ! My skin was completely back to normal in about a month. But these little pills were too potent. I started feeling ill. My neck was swollen and I had some difficulties to swallow. Another doctor suspected leukemia but I was sure it was caused by the medication so I decided to stop taking it immediately.

It was my third year with psoriasis when I decided to stop all treatments. No UV, no cortisone, no pills.

Three months later I had a complete remission.

It lasted for about six months and in the mean time I began to understand that this disease should not be pushed back inside my body : I had to let it come out, not repress it. To soften the patches of scaling skin I used a skin lotion, namely Lubriderm , in huge quantities, but only the unscented formula. Fragrances can be annoying when a large portion of the body is affected. Since it was still very annoying, mostly visually and socially because at some times it covered my hands and was beginning to slide from my scalp to my face,...

I decided to try acupuncture, for three years, every week. It became expensive but I could feel a deep transformation inside my body. I was becoming more relaxed. For example my belly used to be very hard and not from hundreds of sit-ups. It became more supple. I felt like a caterpillar transforming into a butterfly. But I was not cured.

I turned to the sun : heliotherapy !

My skin stabilized to about 10 to 20 % of surface psoriasis and I wanted a better result. Since there was something with the UVs, why not try getting a deep tan and see what it does ? It works,... for a while. And I discovered that going to Cancun for two weeks in winter did help. So this began to look like a key to a better skin. Again I noticed that if I used too much sun, if I got sunburn, the results would not be lasting.

One day I got interested in homeopathy . I swallowed quite a few granules, in 5 years, especially to clean my body from all the cortisone, but again, if it felt good, efficient from the inside, my skin still had 10 % of P.

What was I to do ?

I turned to books. My mother was trained as a pharmacist and even if she never practised, she kept reading, especially about the diseases that plagued her family. She showed me an old book, dating from 1967, that referred to an article telling the story of a 6 year old who, each year, started severe outburst of psoriasis. Doctors decided to investigate his behavior, his habits, and they found that his parents were giving him aspirin and that he used to go for walks in a wood in the Pennsylvania mountains where he would chew on birch leaves. Birch pollen is rich in methylsalicylate, and aspirin is mainly acetylsalicylic acid. The boy was treated with cortisone and his skin came back to normal. But when he took one aspirin, the symptoms came back.

A bell rang in my mind : some food is triggering the disease.

Not everybody chews on birch leaves but it seems that a few of us react to aspirin and salicylates. I personally believe that psoriasis is the expression of an intolerance to an excess of salicylates in the diet.

But where else do we find these salicylates ?

According to Jean Carper, author of "Food, your miracle medicine", page 471-475,

there is a lot in these :

Blueberries	Cherries	Dried currants	Curry powder	Dried dates
Gherkins (small pickles)	Licorice	Paprika	Prunes	Raspberries

There is also a moderate amount in :

Almonds	Apples (notably Granny Smith)	Oranges	Peppers (sweet and hot )
Persimmons	Pineapples	Tea

Generally, fruits contain considerable amounts of salicylates, vegetables do not. Canning and heating do not appear to affect salicylate concentrations.

Other products contain salicylates: oral antiseptics, tooth paste, cosmetics.

I did change my diet, mainly avoiding fruits. And it helped a lot, even if it goes against the normal dietetic beliefs. Now, I travel to the sun twice a year, in november and april. Staying away from salicylates is not always easy but now I have a good control of my skin, and a nice light tan ... I will be glad if this can help others...

Here: A page about my tanning technique