Psoriasis

Another question, Up til now the arthritis has been my main symptom with 1 patch of psoriasis. Suddenly it is spreading everywhere. I itch constantly and there patches are appearing. Any idea why it has suddenly gotten so bad or what I should do about it.

Hi Robyn, remind us all are you on any medication(s)?

Psoriasis can wax and wane but generally (although many people will be exceptions) DMARDS and the biologics help keep psoriasis under control. A small number of people can find treatment actually makes their skin worse. Myself, I've got the issue that one of my blood pressure meds is known to exacerbate pre-existing psoriasis .... and oh boy, does it!!!!!!!

Update us on where you are at the moment and we may have some more ideas. All the best, Jules

The only thing I take is Humira, Lizness and OTC pain meds. It is just basically new and I have no idea how to deal with it

Hi Robyn, so how long have you been on the Humira? Do you have inflammatory bowel disease alongside your PsA?

Humira is often the first bio of choice for dermatologists to treat psoriasis BUT in a small number of patients it actually worsens their psoriasis.

Suggest that you let your rheumy know what is happening and see your PCP who can check it out and either prescribe you some topical treatments or send you to a dermatologist.

In the meantime you can help yourself by keeping your skin really well moisturised. I love Oilatum Bath Formula and loads of perfume free emoillient .... your local pharmacist will be able to suggest some helpful products. Ointments with urea and macrolauragols can particularly help with the itching. Again a pharmacy can advise you best.

I have IBS but no clue why. The doctors keep passing the buck on that 1. I have been taking humira for a bit over 1 year

Hmmmm, don't know whether a year on Humira would result in a skin flare. Hopefully someone else may have some input on this. Definitely worth checking out with your PCP for some topicals as a first line response.

When you say IBS do you mean 'inflammatory' or 'irritable' bowel disease? Extra-articular features of PsA include inflammation of mucosal layers such as in the eyes (causing conjunctivitis, uveitis, iritis), urethra (urethritis/cystitis) and intestines (inflammatory bowel disease). You may want to check out the book mentioned in Book Reviews "Psoriatic Arthritis - The Facts" which has information about this which may help you to raise it as a possibility with your doctors.

I've got irritable bowel which co-incidently was the first time in my life that I had anything wrong with me besides the usual colds and bugs .... it preceded PsA by some 11/12 years. In my case I am unconvinced of any connection so truly do think that my diagnosis by exclusion really is 'irritable' rather than 'inflammatory'.

I'm now off to bed but not before massaging my sore, cracked feet with 40% urea cream and putting on my bed socks ;)


They tell me it "irritable" but I was in the hospital a couple years ago with bleeding they said was from my intestines being swollen. This was before my PsA dx though
Jules said:

Hmmmm, don't know whether a year on Humira would result in a skin flare. Hopefully someone else may have some input on this. Definitely worth checking out with your PCP for some topicals as a first line response.

When you say IBS do you mean 'inflammatory' or 'irritable' bowel disease? Extra-articular features of PsA include inflammation of mucosal layers such as in the eyes (causing conjunctivitis, uveitis, iritis), urethra (urethritis/cystitis) and intestines (inflammatory bowel disease). You may want to check out the book mentioned in Book Reviews "Psoriatic Arthritis - The Facts" which has information about this which may help you to raise it as a possibility with your doctors.

I've got irritable bowel which co-incidently was the first time in my life that I had anything wrong with me besides the usual colds and bugs .... it preceded PsA by some 11/12 years. In my case I am unconvinced of any connection so truly do think that my diagnosis by exclusion really is 'irritable' rather than 'inflammatory'.

I'm now off to bed but not before massaging my sore, cracked feet with 40% urea cream and putting on my bed socks ;)



Robyn said:


They tell me it "irritable" but I was in the hospital a couple years ago with bleeding they said was from my intestines being swollen. This was before my PsA dx though
Jules said:

Hmmmm, don't know whether a year on Humira would result in a skin flare. Hopefully someone else may have some input on this. Definitely worth checking out with your PCP for some topicals as a first line response.

When you say IBS do you mean 'inflammatory' or 'irritable' bowel disease? Extra-articular features of PsA include inflammation of mucosal layers such as in the eyes (causing conjunctivitis, uveitis, iritis), urethra (urethritis/cystitis) and intestines (inflammatory bowel disease). You may want to check out the book mentioned in Book Reviews "Psoriatic Arthritis - The Facts" which has information about this which may help you to raise it as a possibility with your doctors.

I've got irritable bowel which co-incidently was the first time in my life that I had anything wrong with me besides the usual colds and bugs .... it preceded PsA by some 11/12 years. In my case I am unconvinced of any connection so truly do think that my diagnosis by exclusion really is 'irritable' rather than 'inflammatory'.

I'm now off to bed but not before massaging my sore, cracked feet with 40% urea cream and putting on my bed socks ;)

I'm not sure what climate you live in, but I'll tell you about mine. I have psoriasis on my scalp and on my arms. I live in a humid, and temps in 80's - 90's in the summer. My psoriasis is aggravated by the humidity and heat. I can't wear hats with my dark hair. And no sunscreen because that makes it worse. So, I have to wear SPF 50, long sleeve blouses and will try a thin, SPF 50 hat. I'll try, but no guarantee on the hat.

I am not saying not to wear sunscreen! My personal Dermatologist told me to not use it.

Please tell us if your psoriasis got worse when or if your weather changed.


Our weather has been all over the place this year. Though now that you mention it, it seems to have kicked in when we had the really hot days
Immunity? said:

I'm not sure what climate you live in, but I'll tell you about mine. I have psoriasis on my scalp and on my arms. I live in a humid, and temps in 80's - 90's in the summer. My psoriasis is aggravated by the humidity and heat. I can't wear hats with my dark hair. And no sunscreen because that makes it worse. So, I have to wear SPF 50, long sleeve blouses and will try a thin, SPF 50 hat. I'll try, but no guarantee on the hat.



Immunity? said:

I'm not sure what climate you live in, but I'll tell you about mine. I have psoriasis on my scalp and on my arms. I live in a humid, and temps in 80's - 90's in the summer. My psoriasis is aggravated by the humidity and heat. I can't wear hats with my dark hair. And no sunscreen because that makes it worse. So, I have to wear SPF 50, long sleeve blouses and will try a thin, SPF 50 hat. I'll try, but no guarantee on the hat.

I am not saying not to wear sunscreen! My personal Dermatologist told me to not use it.

Please tell us if your psoriasis got worse when or if your weather changed.

I don't know if this will help, but when I had my last flare up of the skin psoriasis I switched to using all beauty products without fragrance and preferably all organic/natural ingredients (and I have to avoid petroleum based glycerin because that just makes everything angry). You may want to start, one by one, changing any products you use to see if it helps (including laundry detergent). You might also be able to discover that there's a specific ingredient that's irritating your skin (you might want to steer clear of lavender, for example, because it can cause skin irritation).

The other thing I did was go tanning (I know, it's bad, but I couldn't afford actual light treatments at the derm). I always only did the minimum 4 minutes, but it helped me tremendously.

I also echo the check with your doc though :) (Though you might want to be careful with the steroid creams. When I used them they caused a rebound effect - basically I'd get a spot to heal, then stop using the cream, and then it'd come back even worse than before. Which is why I don't use the steroid creams anymore. Some people don't have this problem and it works great for them though so do what works for you.)

About 15% of people with psoriasis don’t respond to TNFs. For some it makes it worse. Also, NSAIDS like Asprin are know for causing flare (temporary). My experience suggests you need to add a second medication. MTX is the standard. I have tried almost all the TNFs…

Another trick is to ease up on the salt intake. I find that sea salts are great and so is Himilayan pink salt is the best. Increase water intake. You have to work from the inside out. Try using olive oil on face and arms. Olive oil absorbs quickly.

Iactually don't get enough salt but the olive oil is an interesting idea