Another day, another failed psoriasis product

So yes, it's been two months since my last post, but I wanted to give the cream a fair chance at... well doing literally anything, but unfortunately, no relief in terms of psoriasis was seen. Sure my shin was silky smooth, but personally I'm not a big fan of whatever fragrance the cream has, and just recently learned the cream contains parabens -_-. Parabens are a bunch of synthetic compounds commonly used as preservatives in lots of health and beauty care products. If a product contains methylparaben, ethylparaben, propylparaben, butylparaben and isobutylparaben, congrats, it has parabens. So yes, parabens are in literally thousands of products, and sure, it could be easy to assume one lil paraben product will be fine, but if you have psoriasis, like I do, then you probably are aware that every damn thing out there is bad enough, to be adding parabens to the list of things to worry about. I decided that since the cream wasn't doing anything any normal lotion/cream couldnt do, that I will not be using the rest of the cream, and am as of now deeming the product somewhat worthless for psoriasis related symptoms.

The quest continues. It's ok, nothing new. Just another of the hundreds of products that don't really help. But that's kind of why I started this blog. I have a .txt file full of products people have mentioned in forums etc that I'm just systematically doing down, trying to find something other than Humira that actually works. Speaking of Humira, I am not currently on Humira, it's been about 3 months and I will tell you what has been happening since stopping Humira for me. At about month 1, with no more Humira, I definitely noticed my joints getting inflamed again. For me, it's subtle, but I for sure have psoriatic arthritis, which I didn't even notice I had until I started Humira, and suddenly I could get out of bed and walk to the bathroom without first stretching/cracking my ankles and knees. I just figured my whole body being stiff and crackling all over the place every morning was part of turning 33, and that this was just part of getting old. Well, I'm sure it is, but when all that went away after my first month of Humira, and suddenly I could run and do other things without actually hurting, I realized yep, I have inflamed joints! Anyways I digress, after one month, that started coming back. And my back started hurting randomly again after sitting in chairs weird or raking leaves. I feel like a normal person should be able to do these things and not be in pain for like 3 days afterwards. After about the two month mark, I noticed psoriasis was slowly returning the the back of my head, and behind my ears a little bit, which I guess luckily is covered by hair, but any return of psoriasis is like the beginning of another round of self-conciseness and nervous scratching etc. At 3 months, (as in like, the last week) I've noticed it returning to just inside my right ear. I've also noticed my fingernails are slowly starting to pit again. tiny little indents in my index, pinky and thumb. The look of psoriasis nails for me, is the worst part of psoriasis. It is the hardest to hide, and the longest to fix, so with that, I am going to attempt to get back on Humira. It is the only thing I've found that helps with any of this. Unfortunately, every year I have to re-apply to the Abbvie foundation to try and get Humira Rx'ed again from my Doc, and for that, I have to go back to my dermatologist for a check-up, which, without insurance of course costs about $400 out of pocket just for the visit. Sadly that is worth it for me :( Psoriasis is such a drag! I will try to update on my status once I know or not if I can make another miracle happen, and get Humira once again. Wish me luck!

If only prince charming were here... and by prince charming I mean a cure for psoriasis.

Now you can feel old before you're old! Thanks psoriatic arthritis!

As much as I would like to think this blog could just end at the last post, it shan't. Since beginning my Wonderful Humira regiment, I've learned that I also have (figures) Psoriatic arthritis. I would wake up and have to slowly step onto my right ankle until it could bear my weight, and my knees would pop and creak until I warmed them up, and sometimes if I twisted just right I could pop my hip (which feels as amazing and also strange as you can probably imagine) Although yes, Humira does/did an absolutely amazing job alleviating my arthritis, it would seem all things must come to an end. What little insurance my job was provided ended early this year as my hours were cut thanks to my awesome (siiiike) new boss. I now work a meager 18 hours a week, and that's just not enough to remain on healthcare. Originally, I thought this wouldn't be much of a problem, since I didn't have health insurance when I started this blog, and I was still able to get a hold of Humira, because I luckily still had a recommendation from my doc to see a dermatologist. Well, I went to get my humira refilled in April-ish and they say they need a new Dr approval to continue deliveries, and would ya know it, my doc is requiring me to come in for a checkup + blood work in order to get it. Without insurance, this will cost about $400ish buckeroonies. Not what I was trying to hear. There is good and bad news however. So the good news is, once my psoriasis was cleared up, LUCKILY I haven't had it come back... for the most part. The psoriatic arthritis is starting to make itself known though. The bad news, is even on Humira, ALL of my psoriasis didn't completely disappear. I still have this previous injury on my left shin, that never fully healed, and it turns out even the mighty Humira couldn't make it go away. I was still very aware of my blessings though, and just being able to crawl back out into the public was once but a mere dream for me, come true.

Let me get right on that

Which brings me to my next point. Psoriasis is obviously a life long condition. Sad, but true. And although there is no known cure at the moment, docs and their fed up, whiny-ass (like me-self lol) patients are still searching for fixes left and right. Which means I must stay vigilant and continue the conquest for relief! I've been doing some research and learned of a few new products I'm going to be trying out the next few months, and so I will chronicle that journey here. First curiosity is this: Forever Living Aloe Propolis Creme. While talking with a fellow psoriasis sufferer they suggested it and said after just a few days of using it she had "skin like an angel". Thats all I really need to hear to give something a try, so I ordered some. I'll update after I give it a fair chance to work, to see if I notice any changes.

I've slain the beast... for now.

 

            So I've been on Humera for about a year now. I will say it was not easy getting Humera how I get it now, and before I started with the free program I'm on now, this stuff costed a damn fortune. I still owe about $600 left after a small insurance miscommunication that I had in the beginning. In the beginning I had a starter trial which thanks to a payment assistance program I enrolled in only cost me $5 for the first two months. It was when this program ran out (without telling me) that insurance tried to bill me $2800 for a one month supply... which was 2 doses taken every 14 days. What a freaking joke. I did however see absolutely amazing results which I had not seen in over 10 years, so I was hell-bent on finding some way to make it work. I tried assistance program one after another before finally contacting the actual company that makes the stuff and sending them a sob letter, convincing them to let me into their "Humera patient assistant program" that lets me get it for free because, well lets face it... nobody can afford 2800 bucks a month.

(Heres a link to the program I'm in: http://www.abbviepaf.org/pdf/AbbVie_PAF_HUMIRA.pdf )

It was a pain in the ass to finally get going, but hey, I'm saving tons of money and I'm psoriasis free!! I said I would do anything, so weeks of phone tag and begging etc and I'm finally here. Not everyone will find a way to get it free, but it's worth a try. Print the thing up and ask the doc.

 In order to take Humera you have to have your doctor say it's okay, and get a blood test to make sure it's okay for your body to take.

         Humira (Humera) is a TNF (tumor necrosis factor)-blocker. It works by blocking a protein (TNF-alpha) found in the body's immune system that causes joint swelling and inflammation.
Humira (Humera) is used to reduce the symptoms, prevent bone damage, and improving physical function in patients with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis who have not had a good response to other arthritis medicines. It can be used alone or with other medicines.

         Humira (Humera) is also used to treat juvenile idiopathic arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, and plaque psoriasis. Humira (Humera) is used in the treatment of Crohn's disease after other drugs have been tried without successful treatment of symptoms."

 Not only did it get rid of my psoriasis near completely, but I was having super wicked back pain, and my right ankle was so sore in the morning that I was literally calling into work every once in a while when it was too painful to take. That's all gone now. I literally feel like I've gotten my life back, no joke. I am truly blessed, and I may sound like some humera commercial right now but I don't give a shit, this stuff worked beautifully for me and I am so thankful I am sharing my experience so hopefully someone else out there who is like I was, depressed, near hopeless, can maybe find help.

Heres some photos of me now. Praise the fucking lord seriously, I'm a normal human again!!!

              Wow. It's been a long time since I've been here. My journey has taken many crazy turns. I have finally found something that works. About 6 months ago I started taking Humira. No, I'm not here to sell you anything. This isn't about making money. I have also included some photo proof. Unfortunately, it isn't cheap, and I don't know how available in other countries it is. I noticed visible change within about 2-3 weeks. By the second month it was almost fully gone. I inject two pens per month into my thigh. It barely hurts, but I also have multiple tattoos, so my pain threshold may be different than yours.

 

Even my nails cleared up! Amazing.

 

 I just wanted to give you all an update. I had no idea how many people from so many countries were finding my blog.

 

If anyone is interested in me writing more, I can. I have to run to work now, but I will try to update this with links to places you can learn more, and talk about how I finally figured out how to get this stuff for free. (US) Thanks for reading.

Found a temporary solution for the psoriasis!

Not sure if anyone still reads this, but look what a friend gave me! Only cost about $25 online on the few sites I saw it on. Mometasone Furoate cream usp, 0.1% see if you can find it online! I found some but haven't bought a second tube yet... I hardly use even a penny size dob. Only thing is it of course starts to come back within a few days, but this god-send at least let me clear my head up so I could get a job and stop being a sad hermit in my house.

Friends, Family, and America! (and Canada and everywhere else too!)

I have no idea why I decided to post this picture here.

Well well well! Where in tar nations have I been? haha! I honestly didn't know anyone read this before I realized I had unread messages from quite a few people that actually liked reading my blog! Can you believe it? Real people in the real world want to read what my silly ass comes up with when battling psoriasis! Amazing. I feel all warm and fuzzy inside! I'm sorry for leaving all you out in the cold to get worse skin :(   I've been in school doing stuff and things, I still don't know what I wanna be when I grow up (lulz) so I've just been taking pre-reqs and fun classes until I figure it out. I took an astronomy class, and a geology class and was having lots of fun until I accidentally took a politics class, hahaha oops! Nah that was fun too though, it was just a lot harder. I've never truly understood politics. Too stressful for a psoriasis person to get a wrangled up in it I say. Anyways I got a Pell grant last year and $4200 to spend on schooling so thats what I was doing. Right now I've just filled out to get another, and it didn't get approved before fall quarter started, so now I'm waiting until December to see if I can go back to school for free. At the moment I'm living in my parents basement, not going to school, with no job and I just turned 27. I am quite literally at the very last place I was hoping I would be at 27. The only way I was okay with myself living in the basement was because I was in school fulltime, but now that that is on hold, I gotta get me a job! Please America! Help me help you!! hahaha! Yeah so I have some extra time I guess.

I made another funny blog awhile ago. Check it out?

A gym just opened up down the street from my house. It's a Planet Fitness. First one in Washington state I think, I'm not sure, I had never seen them before this one, but when I went to Michigan to visit family they were freaking EVERYWHERE. So I guess they finally made it out here. It's only $20 a month for unlimited tanning included!! Ok let me back up a bit. I have no health insurance, I literally try ANYTHING to fight psoriasis and last I dunno, April or May? I got a tanning membershit at some place down the road for 20$ a month (on sale from $35! F that!)and went 15 times in that one month and saw a noticeable difference! Well I was willing to go for $20 but $35 is not very kosher on my skimpy budget of selling ebay items. Which brings me to my sole source of income the past 4 months. I make just enough to pay my cell phone (which is late at the moment) and my car insurance (which is late at the moment) and then usually spend the rest on gas and booze. I know I know, it's a vicious cycle. BUT winter time is fast approaching Washington and garage sales are getting rare as gold nuggets, and my income is drying up faster than my skin, so it's time to figure something out. I NEED to just be an American and get a job already. It's hard I feel like I'm in a rut though. And absolutely despising winter and snow doesn't help at all. It's such a catch 22. I need a job to pay for medication for psoriasis, but I can't bring myself to go to a job interview without a hat on, because of psoriasis, and WHO in their right mind would go to a job interview with a hat on?! I'll tell you who, people who don't really need a job! Le sigh.

Click to view my Ebay LOOT!

And that is why I have been making money reselling yard sale loot. I really do love doing it though! If I could do it forever, I absolutely would!! But it's kind of one of those things you need money to make money. Maybe I should get like, a job in construction or.. FUCK man I just don't even know... I just like reselling stuff, but I HATE sales, mainly because I don't like convincing people to buy shit they don't already know they need. I highly dislike being a pushy person. Well, I will keep you all updated on the tanning sitch, please, if you care, post a comment or something this blog really is mainly for myself but knowing there's people who are interested and have the same problems as me, kind of really makes it all more interesting don't you think?

Life happens.

Washington... I love this place.

Yeah there I go again without an update for like a month. Sorry, I'm mainly posting in this blog since I can't really tell if anyone even reads it. I've been getting a wealth of psoriasis information since joining up at www.psoriasis.org and the forum at http://psoriasisclub.forumotion.org/  has a lot of interesting topics as well. On March 2nd a tanning place by my work had a special. 17 bucks for unlimited tanning so I got it. I've gone 5 times at about 11-12 minutes each time. I can tell if I'm any tanner yet, but a girl I go to school mentioned I look darker. Psoriasis wise, it seems like the plaques are softer. Every 4-5 days you know when it gets hard and super bad looking and you gotta go take a 30-45 minute shower to rub it all off, yeah that part. The skin isn't getting quite as hard as before it seems. I'll keep tanning and we'll see how it goes. I'm definitely excited for summer and going camping etc. I can't get enough sun it seems. I live in Washington, and we have more cloud cover than anywhere else in the US pretty much. I wish I could move to Hawaii or California. Anywhere with lots of sunshine, and bodies of water would work for me. I love Washington though. Tons of green trees everywhere, hills, and we got ocean and plains, we pretty much got it all here. I can get in my explorer and go west for 30 mins and see the ocean, or go east for an hour and be in the middle of mountains. I can go north for 3 hours and be in Canada. South for 12 hours and be in Cali, though I've never been. Or I can take a 5 hour flight to Hawaii. I really like where I live actually, I just wish I had more sunshine here. People not from here come here and see a sunny day thats still 45 degrees and washintonians come out in droves in shorts and sunglasses to enjoy the rare weather. Including myself of course. We've had like 4 strait days this week of spotty sunshine, and I gotta tell ya, it's doing wonders for my emotions. I love sun so much.

Quick update

Just to let y'all know I still plan on writing in here, I've just been kind of busy with school. Getting through winter with psoriasis is a chore all by itself. Especially in Washington. It was randomly sunny a few days ago and I went outside and just sat in the sun for a half hour. It wasn't easy either because it was about 40 degrees and windy. But sun is like gold for my skin. It's the only thing I can get my hands on that does anything. I hate that I'm unemployed, and have no health insurance. It really sucks with a skin disorder like psoriasis to not have any kind of medical help. Not to mention no money even if I could get the help. A friend of mine has been telling me to look into trying to get free health care. That just sounds like an oxymoron to me, but I'm definitely willing to try it out if someone knows where to put my first foot. I'm in a pretty stubborn part of my life. There isn't much I can do to work on my P aside from just coping daily and getting through it until the weather gets better I guess. I have no way of telling if anyone even reads this blog, but I'm primarily writing it for myself anyways, so I guess it's okay if nobody does, but I wish I had some people who had suggestions. I'm always looking for new ideas to help fight p.

Hey winter, fuck you!!

WUT UP SOMEONE SAID THERE WAS CAKE

I've never been a fan of winter. The cold, depressing, dark-most-of-the-time, lazy, psoriasis goblin that winter wakes is among the worst of the psoriasis demons for sure. Mine won't say put in his cave! He keeps tormenting my forehead, to which of course I wear a hat, and that just makes him even more happy. That dirty rat-bastard will learn his place someday, but until that day he's having the time of his life using his loaded dice of havoc all over my defense. I've got nothing on him! I try to stay hydrated, try to keep the lotion-a-flowin. Try to eat good and drink lots of water but he's always a step ahead, cackling like the madman he has become over the years, not even a twinkle of pity as I stand in my hot shower every morning, rubbing off the new days scales. People don't understand how much work psoriasis is. The few people I've allowed to get close enough to see it at it's worse, think eh it's not that bad, it doesn't look that bad at all! Just like a lil sunburn or something that sometimes gets dry and crackly. Then they go and bitch because I spend 45 minutes in the shower and another 20 after doing god knows what (to them) and they call me high maintenance. They call me a girl. They call me names. Hell yeah I'm high-fuckin maintenance! My skin is like taking care of a newborn baby full time! It needs it's moisteners, it needs tender love and care. It needs to sit in the back seat when I go places in my explorer for health and safety reasons. The lil' bastard grows daily, and someday that lil bastard is getting adopted to a land far far away mark my words. It's like court-mandated mexican rolex. I can't go to far doing dumb shit (drinking/smoking) or it gets outta hand and starts whining till I pamper him back to order. Hell yeah I'm high maintenance, but not by choice. I yearn for a life where I can go camping for a weekend doing all the shitty things to my body other people do without coming home to a 48 hour skin recovery session. Sigh... someday.

Staying positive is important!

This obviously isn't me, but it's a lovely reminder for myself, and others that... life goes on. :) 

Well as my last post said, I received the BELL psoriasis natural pills and sadly I feel like they don't work. They might work, but after about 2 weeks of taking it, I was getting acne on my back and it got really bad. Personally I would rather just deal with the psoriasis I have then create acne, because messing with acne can give you (well me anyways) new psoriasis patches. I tend to use as little in the way of cleansers and stuff like that, and find that just washing my face with water often does more good then using acne pads or anything like that. They tend to just make things worse. So back to the drawing board I suppose, but at least I'm staying positive. This girl is cute and she has it, maybe I can just meet someone else who has it? haha :)

Found a new product to try, still not sure about it.

I managed to have another sad hiatus of blog posting. My apologies. I really do hate the winter. It's stressful, dry, and coooooooooooooolllllllllllldddddddd! I tend to slow down when it gets cold, and lately I've completely stopped. I've always been a fan of the sun, even before I got psoriasis at 16ish. I got a Pell grant (about $4800) for school, so life has taken a turn for the best, but I still don't have any health insurance, (of course) so the struggle continues. My mother started drinking this tea she found to help her with a problem she has, and it says guaranteed to work or your money back. Well thats cool, it works for her, and thats nice, but what's really nice, is she decided to order 2 more boxes, and with it came with a brochure and in that brochure they have a psoriasis product that also says "guaranteed or your money back!" So you can bet I bought that thing an hour later, and it got to my house just a few days ago.

I've been trying it (heres a link and no, I'm not an affiliate or anything either) It's been 4 days and I haven't notices any changes, other then I seem to have gotten some acne on my back :\ but I'm not sure if thats been the extreme amounts of sleep I've been getting or the product. Sadly, as much as I want to believe this works, if it doesn't, it's hardly worth even returning because it's really not all that expensive, so plz plz plz plz plz work! lol

Interesting New Finds :)

CURRY POWDER: Turmeric

"The main ingredient in curry powder, this spice is also a dye, and provides curcumin, which is now touted with near-miraculous effects"

Thai curry? YES MAM!! NOMNOMNOMNOM!

Well, as I put psoriasis on the back burner the past 30 or so days, it's still stayed the same, damned ol' psoriasis but it's weird, I keep like, stumbling onto new information about it. I started my report on Psoriasis (still hardly started and it's due on Friday! : / but I've been doing lots of research, and research is great when your actually interested in the thing your learning about. I stumbled across this in a random report:

Copyright Philadelphia Tribune Aug 31, 2010

"Q. Six months ago, my doctor diagnosed me with psoriasis and prescribed creams and lotions. I searched the Internet and found that some people use the spice turmeric to treat this skin problem.

After one day taking turmeric, I quit the topicals, because my itching had stopped. Soon my psoriasis disappeared from my scalp, and my body has stated to clear. This stuff is the bomb!

It is natural and safe and so much better than the creams. Why don't doctors tell us about this remedy, instead of just prescribing topical drugs?

A. Doctors like evidence. While there are many testimonials on the benefits of the yellow spice turmeric or its active ingredient curcumin, placebo-controlled trials are inconclusive (Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, April 2008).

"My daughter had psoriasis on the soles of her feet with open sores that steroid creams and Dovonex did not heal. After two frustrating years, I made an ointment by mixing pure curcumin powder in Vaseline. I applied it thickly every night and covered it with bandages. Her feet were stained yellow from this mixture, but we didn't mind because her psoriasis was healing. Within three months, her feet were clear and have remained so for six years. Curcumin pills now keep her condition under control."

Although this probably isn't the cure-all for my psoriasis, I found it very interesting because I did find the Neem/vaseline mixture I made to be somewhat effective. It just seemed like I needed to give it more time, or it was maybe missing a little something, and although I have heard/read about Curcumin (curry powder) I've never tried it yet. Obviously being a spice/herb it's pretty darn cheap, and that makes me happy. You can get it on Amazon.com for $5.48 if you can't find it in your local food store.

 I also got some really good info about Turmeric from this site:

http://www.lionsgrip.com/curcurcumin.html 


"Turmeric extract (called curcumin) does not work as well as turmeric powder for the purpose of fighting intestinal pathogens. Use the plain root powder...Curcumin does not appear to have as much effect as plain turmeric against pathogens. Usual dose of turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp bulk powder or two capsules"

Fun Fact Time!:
"In India, where foods are loaded with turmeric, just 1 percent of people over 65 contract Alzheimer's the lowest incidence of the disease worldwide." - discover.com
Thanks to http://www.turmeric-curcumin.com/

What the f?

I have no idea what happened. I'm trying to pinpoint exactly where I went wrong, and what caused it. I was doing great with this blog for a while, then I completely just stopped doing anything. I think when I moved my room, or maybe once I started going to school? Well whatever it was/is I gotta find a way to change it. I need to make some kind of full-blown change to get back on track! My psoriasis hasn't really gotten any better or worse, but my life-style has turned in to a series of routines... that aren't very proactive anymore. Seasonal depression? I've always hated wintertime, and being cold. It practically stops me from moving! haha I think if I just put one foot in front of the other and get moving starting immediately I can get back into the ring. It's not over yet! I won't be bogged down!!

Stress.

Why do mac's only have one mouse button!?

I'm USUALLY an extremely stress free person. I'm very good at handling stress, by focusing on what isn't stressful about a situation, and keeping my cool. Well, like I said, I'm back in school. I'm taking a health and wellness class and for the final I decided to to an essay on Psoriasis. I figured, it was the perfect thing to do an essay on, since I already know the most about it, I have it, and it would be CAKE, right? Well It's due in about just under 2 weeks and I started to think, about how once I'm up there in front of my entire class, talking about it, everyone will know what I have and then go home and google it maybe. Not sure if you ever googled psoriasis but that shit ain't pretty. Considering my psoriasis looks 200% better than ANY of the pictures that come up, it's still stressful for me to think all of my classmates seeing all of these horrifying photos and immediately thinking about me. That is pretty much the exact opposite of what I want anyone to think about me. So this kind of stress is getting to me. I could just focus on the clear fact that there is like a 95% chance I will never see any of these classmates again in school, considering the particular class I'm taking isn't really part of any bachelor or AA degree, it's kind of a niche class, that doesn't exactly fall under elective choice, or required class for any degree. So pretty much everyone whos taking it is taking it because all their other elective choices were full, or they are taking one of the rare few certificates that require it, like the Wilderness skills certificate, the one I'm taking.

Living with the beast.

So for my health and wellness class, I have to write an essay on a disease or disorder of my choice, so naturally I chose to write it on Psoriasis. I've been thinking about what that entails though. As much as I want to raise awareness about psoriasis, standing up in front of my entire class and talking about scabbed lesions and living my embarrassing lifestyle with psoriasis doesn't sound very healthy for my self conscience. When it's likely that there are hardly any people in the class who realize I have psoriasis, it would make them more aware of my situation and I dunno, it just feels like, why would I want to bring more attention to my problem when my entire goal every day when I wake up before school is basically hiding it? I really don't want to give anyone a reason to google psoriasis and then think about me. I'm so thankful my psoriasis doesn't look nearly as bad as anything I saw on google image search but still, those images are pretty harsh for someone who hasn't lived with or seen what psoriasis looks like.

So I've decided to chose another topic. I have a little less than a month to write it.

Making friends with psoriasis sufferers.

Do cleaning supplies agitate your psoriasis?

 Sometimes when I'm on social networking sites, or hell, even dating sites, I like to search for people with psoriasis, and send them messages, just to talk to real people who have it. I only have friends who have eczema, none who have psoriasis, so all I ever get to learn about it is what I hear or read online. Sometimes it's nice to be able to talk to someone else who is going through the same situation as you and compare notes. 

This particular person has it really bad. She lives in the UK and sometimes posts little journal entrees about her life dealing with psoriasis. I sent her a msg to see if she knew anything helpful, and she did have some very good tips:

Hello Travis,

My advice:

- Don't smoke - my psoriasis was much better after I quit but deteriorated again when I started smoking again. Smoking starves your skin of oxygen as it constricts blood flow.
- Give up caffeine. I know how difficult this one is, I've been there but it really does have a hugely beneficial effect.
- reduce your dairy to a minimum, I have as much milk/yoghurt/cheese as I need nutritionally for calcium intake but no more (and I have always loved dairy products!).
- Cook your food from scratch, convenience foods are a killer because of the added chemicals such as emulsifiers.
- Cut down the chemicals in your home. Seriously. the less harmful chemicals in the air, the better. I use incense rather than air freshener, a damp cloth rather than furniture polish (beezwax is great on good quality wood but expensive and labour intensive), a cheap washing powder (fewer optical brighteners and perfumes) and a pure fabric conditioner, a grapefruit based detergent for cleaning my bathroom and kitchen surfaces, bleach for the toilet and washing up liquid. Most of my friends and exes have cupboards and bathrooms full of fancy cleaning products, many of which are aerosols and great at cleaning but all of that hanging in the air really isn't good for your skin.
- I moisturise with olive oil, it may mean I smell like a Greek salad but it is great for my skin :o)
- Use dead sea salt products where you can - at the very least just sea salt in the bath. It stings if your psoriasis is bad but it really helps (I have been known to swim in the sea at midnight in January when going through a really bad phase!).
- Try to make plenty of you time and relax - stress is the worst.

I eat particularly well, I buy my fruit and veg off the market and cook from scratch, I should have more oily fish but otherwise, my diet is great. Don't get me wrong, I regularly bake and don't miss out on anything, I even have coffee once a day but cutting out the crap has made a huge difference. Lots of exercise helps too as that stimulates blood flow to the skin and increases the oxygen that it gets.

In January, it was the worst I have ever known it, it came up so fast that it felt like chemical burns and I couldn't turn my head or smile/yawn/laugh without my skin splitting and burning. People were looking at me horribly in the streets and in shops. I had to use a hydra-gel injected burns dressing (bought at considerable cost on the black market as it isn't available to the public) just to be able to get my clothes on. It was purely down to stress and I ended up with the late night swims and using sunbeds to fight it. As a rule though, I don't suffer too badly and most of the time, you would barely know that I had it.

The lifestyle changes weren't difficult to do and over the last few years, I have gotten so used to living and eating this way that I find certain things that I once enjoyed almost insulting to the nostrils/tastebuds!

I hope your skin isn't too bad and that you can at least keep it to a manageable level.

I hope that helped and wasn't condescending, I don't knnow how much of that you already do!

Take care and good luck,

-Name Withheld

Quick update

Well I've had the Champori for about 20 days now, and was faithful with putting it on, but have noticed no improvement at all. My psoriasis looks identical. This is pretty sad since I really thought it would work. I started school on the 20th of September, and it's been slightly stressful wearing hats and trying to cover up the scalp psoriasis. I've resulted back to using the Neem mix. It works amazingly well at removing a few of the outer skin layers and leaving that pink "sunburnt skin" look that I've grown to love lol

Time to try my most recent secret weapon...

Mmmm gooey. Kinda smells like a gritty shop soap, but I like it.

Well so I've been thinking about trying Champori for quite awhile now. The submitted testimonials pretty much speak for themselves, and I did a search for "does champori really work" on google and got linked to The National Psoriasis Foundations forum where (as I thought) someone had already asked this question. If you wanna read it, it's pretty informational (here). This was after I had already bought it. I got it in the mail yesterday. Just to see what they would say, I also sent them an email, asking if they had any kind of affiliate program and they responded promptly with:

"Dear Travis,

 

We don't. And are not looking for having one.

 

Regards,

 

Ollie M.

Champori"



Well that's pretty much exactly what I'd hoped I'd hear When psoriasis medications allow affiliate links and programs, anything you read about the product could then be biased in the interest of selling the product regardless of whether it works or not, just to make money. I did learn however that if you send in a positive product testimonial, they will send you a large combo (cream & spray) for free. The reason that doesn't really bother me is because if it doesn't work, you obviously can't send in a testimonial, can you? So if this stuff does work I fully plan on sending one in, because I'm in school now (and totally broke without health insurance of course) so that little deal is quite nice I say.

It actually almost looks identical to what the Neem & Vaseline mix I made looked like.

I only paid for the cream, they sent this "sample" for free! And I'm glad they did because that cream is GOOEY. Not too happy about gobbing that all over my head before I go to school...

 Well so I'll be trying it out and we'll see how it goes. Here's a before pic I just took upstairs, so you can see where I'm at. Gimme a break, haven't shaved in a few days...

I will take more pictures in a few days. Keep in mind, all of the other psoriasis things I've tried aside from the shampoos, have been on my arms, and not my scalp. I've pretty much left my scalp untouched for the past few months because I just wear a lot of hats... well and I had enough hair to cover it up (until I cut it this morning) so it didn't bother me all that much. I cut it so I don't have to use as much of this precious cream getting it in my hair, instead of on my scalp. I find that with a buzz-cut like this it gets better application, and I use way less cream.

 

Contacting congress about psoriasis funding...

After I looked at my psoriasis when I got home from camping..

      Well camping was pretty fun. I got completely shit-tanked for 3 days strait and ate a bunch of really shitty (health-wise, not taste-wise) food, as well as smoked some cigarettes, a couple bowls, and then topped it of with getting a few cuts while hauling huge logs out of the middle of the forest. Aside from a good workout, I don't think I could have done any MORE damage to my psoriasis than I did this weekend. Why do we love the things that hate us?? Do you ever get it where like a taste bud on your tongue goes rogue and like, torments you for like 4 days? I always get them when I do really stupid shit like smoking cigs and eating lays potato chips. Anywho, my birthday is coming up this Friday, aaaaand I don't think theres any escaping alcohol then, but other than that I'm back to working on healing my skin and not being such a healthless dipshit.

       In other news, I just got a lovely letter from Sarah Kofman, the Advocacy outreach manager at the National Psoriasis Foundation thanking me for joining. I sent a letter to Washington State congress member Rep. Dave Reichert asking him to maintain funding for the psoriasis patient registry. They make it a pretty brainless effort, giving you all the numbers/email addresses and an automated type form you just fill out and send along. If your interested in sending a letter to the elected officials in your state you can just go to this link and it will tell you easily how.

This is the (automated) response I got from Dave Reichert:

"Dear Mr. Hoover,
Thank you for contacting me to share your views on the Fiscal Year 2011 budget.  I appreciate knowing your thoughts on this issue and welcome the opportunity to respond.

As you may know, the President submits an annual proposal to Congress requesting funding allocations for programs administered by the federal government.  This proposal represents the President's recommendations for funding based on initiatives he hopes to undertake in the year ahead and on expenses necessary to keep the government running.  Upon receipt of the President's proposal, the House Budget Committee drafts a single resolution that incorporates the President's recommendations with those put forward by Members of Congress.  This resolution is brought before the full House for consideration, and its passage establishes the baseline figure that Congress uses to appropriate funds for individual programs and for how it intends to raise or lower taxes.

The President's budget is required by law to be submitted to Congress early in the legislative session. While the budget is only a request to Congress, the power to formulate and submit the budget is a vital tool in the President's direction of the executive branch and of national policy.  On February 1, 2010, the President submitted to Congress a $3.8 trillion budget for Fiscal Year 2011.  I am disappointed the President's budget drives spending to record levels, increases the nation's deficit to $1.6 trillion, and proposes to raise taxes by more than $2 trillion over the next ten years.

Specifically, the proposed budget would allow key tax cuts to expire.  According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), raising these taxes will negatively impact economic growth.  In the Administration's budget, income taxes are raised on individuals, families, and small businesses.  Even in spite of these proposed tax increases, the national debt, which CBO has noted can detract from economic growth, will continue to grow.  The CBO's analysis makes clear the disastrous consequences of economy-choking tax hikes.

Unfortunately, the House of Representatives has yet to consider a budget reconciliation for Fiscal Year 2011.  If the House fails to act, it will be the first time since 1974 that no guidance will be given on how taxpayer dollars are allocated.  Without this resolution, it is hard for Congress to have a serious discussion on reining in the deficit and turning around the economy.

I do believe there are many vital programs that must receive federal support.  Among them are important health programs, education projects, and community safety priorities.  But in these difficult economic times, the federal budget must be measured by its impact on job creation and economic recovery.  Federal spending and tax policies must be crafted in ways that get more Americans back to work.

Once again, thank you for taking the time to get in touch with me. Your interest and input are valued and I hope to hear from you in the future regarding other matters of importance.  I encourage you to visit my website and sign-up for my monthly e-newsletter at http://reichert.house.gov to learn more about other issues impacting the 8th Congressional District and our nation.  You can also follow my work online and receive frequent updates on legislation being considered in Congress by visiting me on Twitter (www.twitter.com/davereichert) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/repdavereichert). 

Sincerely,

David G. Reichert
Member of Congress"

I also got a "Psoriasis Action Network" sticker to put on the back on my explorer, yay.

NEVAR GIVE UP! lol

There are 12 psoriasis experiments in this cupboard alone.

Winners aren't winners because they gave up. Winners are winners because they keep trying. And thats what I'm doing. I just keep on tryin' stuff! I currently have about 20 different things I'm experimenting with. Well some I've given up on. Some I'm still taking. This cupboard isn't even half of the things I've tried in the past. Maybe I'll do a post of all the things in the past that HAVEN'T worked? Hmm maybe. Here's just an update on how my arms are looking. I've somewhat neglected the patch on my shin, and my head seems to be doing well enough that it isn't so bad I HAVE to wear a hat. I honestly think I can attribute that to the sunshine though. Shit's really gonna hit the fan this winter I think. (Sadly, as it does every winter.)

It looks pretty good in this photo, but irl theres still some pink spots.

This arm actually looks pretty good irl today, but I think it's just onna those days.

So yeah, the arms are looking pretty good today, but still visible. Mildly pink. I just got some Castol Oil on ebay for about 5 bucks, that I'll be trying probably starting Monday, because I'm about to go camping for a few days. Ugh, theres no escaping the binge drinking, but at least this will probably be the last camping trip of the summer, and I'm going back to school, so I'll have more things to keep me from drinking after this lololol