Skillarence and Coronavirus

[OneBigItch]

Hi all, l've had a thought recently about my upcoming meds.

I am due to start Skillarence next month which as you know has an effect on your immune system. Will this make me more susceptible to complications from the coronavirus?

However I also read that a lot of the fatalities come from an overreaction of the immune system causing widespread inflammation, so conversley if Skillarence is supposed to help reduce inflammation will it actually help prevent complications by reducing the likelihood of the immune system overreacting?

Does all of that make sense or am i barking up the wrong tree with this?

[Fred]

Yes it all makes sense and this is going to make a lot of people think, but here are my personal thoughts.

I have never and will never use DMF, but I would say forget all the hype and go with it if that is your chosen treatment.

I also started this thread to try and help people with psoriasis: Covid-19 (aka Coronavirus) and psoriasis

Live your life as normal and don't get carried away with all the hype, we have plenty of toilet rolls and hand wash in the Psoriasis Club toilet block.

Take your treatment and get on with your life.

[jiml]

Hi OBI it's a valid question and the truth is nobody really knows how the virus will affect us if and when it strikes
I'm on skilarence and have been on it or Fumaderm for over 7 years and my experience says that I have probably had less illness since taking this than I had before. It is worrying what the future holds for us with this virus, but I don't personally think that taking skilarence will make you more likely to get it badly . But that is just an opinion based on my past medical history. I tend to agree with Fred and carry on and live life normally
Good luck on skilarence for me it works well and I wouldn't stop taking it unless it stopped working

[phil]

Hi all.
just had my appointment with Prof Barker at Guys
not in person but over the phone which suited me just fine
as I didn't fancy going up to London.
anyway his advise to me and to all his patients on Skilarence
is to stop.one of his main concerns was that he nor anyone else
knows what the reaction would be should you come down with
coronavirus. I have had many years experience of this drug ,first on
Fumaderm ( 10 years ) and now on Skilarence .never had any problems with illness
but I am going to take his advise this time and stop. hopefully only for a few months
until this virus is under control.


Phil

[Fred]

That's a shame Phil, I'm sure the DMF gang will disagree as do I actually but I'm not a doctor.

But thank you for the information, I have added it to this thread: Covid-19 (aka Coronavirus) and psoriasis

[Caroline]

Experts on DMF over here in the Netherlands state that stopping DMF is not necessary.

Unlesss... you get an active infection, e.g. a serious suspicion of Covid-19, in that case you should stop, which is easy as you just can stop taking the pills. (From the site of the National patients foundation on Psoriasis)

[jiml]

Thanks Phil for the update on his thinking. I think the professor at Guys is playing safe as nobody knows how we will react to it. I was advised by my dermatologist a few years ago to stop treatment as I was being treated for cancer but he couldn't give a scientific reason to stop apart that he didn't know ... so I carried on as the reply I got from the makers of fumaderm was also ambiguous RE: Fumaderm and hormone injections so whilst I think they have your best interests at heart when they are advising to stop but the reason is groundless and they will never know unless people continue through outbreaks. I'm hoping that my dermatologist will continue to supply me and unless I actually get the virus I will continue without fear

We must all do what we feel right, and you are right to take his advice and hopefully you won't get a flare up while you are without treatment

[Caroline]

O Jim, yes I remember that was your mouse period. 

But I agree with your points, there is very little known about DMF in relation to this kind of situations. Most of the dermatologists don’t know because they have no experience with DMF.
But... DMF has the ability to reduce inflammations and influences certain cytokines. Still, we don’t know what it will do in a COVID infection.

[phil]

Hi all Just an update 4 weeks tomorrow since i stopped skillarence
haven't had any flare ups. had a blood test on Monday just got the results
my lymphocyte is up to 1.1 so that's good it had been down to 0.8

Phil

[jiml]

Hi all Just an update 4 weeks tomorrow since i stopped skillarence
haven't had any flare ups. had a blood test on Monday just got the results
my lymphocyte is up to 1.1 so that's good it had been down to 0.8

Phil

Thanks for the update Phil great that you haven't had a flare up since stopping let's hope the psoriasis stays away
Good news on the lymphocyte count nice to see it's in the normal range