Health Boards
Thu-11-10-2018, 22:18 PM
Hi there
I got my first bout of psoriasis (as I now know it) back when I was pregnant with my first child 22 years ago. It covered the palms of both hands. I was told it was stress eczema and to basically change my lifestyle to get rid of stress and cover my hands with greasy ointments (not medicated). Needless to say that didn't work and I had to put up with it for the next 12 years or so. I did notice that when I went on holiday with my kids and not my (now ex-) hubby, my palms improved considerably. Having split from my hubby and moved in with my mother 8 years ago, my hands cleared up over the next 6 months - yay.
Fast forward to 2016 and I noticed a patch on the sole of my left foot. This just happened to coincide with my blood pressure shooting through the roof. As it got worse and appeared on my left hand as well, I was referred to a dermatologist, who didn't think it could be psoriasis as it was only in those two area - she tried me on various creams and a tablet to clear up fungal infections - none of which worked. After about 6 months she decided to send me for a biopsy (which took over 9 months to be done) and I was eventually seen by her again 14 months after our last appointment (she had me just putting E45 on while waiting for the biopsy and results, so you can imagine how much good that did)!
Anyway biopsy came back as psoriasis, so now I can actually (hopefully) get treatment that works.
So far I have been put on 2 steroid ointments one is dermovate (I can't remember the name of the other one). I was also put on 10mg of acitretin with fortnightly blood tests as I was/am diabetic (diet controlled) and my triglycerides were a "bit high". I was a bit surprised by also having to have a pregnancy test every month before I can pick the pills up from the hospital pharmacy (I'm 51, single and can't remember what sex is lol), but the pills seem to be working. They've just been increased to 20mg.
So far the only side effect I seem to have (and that's only since we went up to 20mg) is that my lips are incredibly dry and cracking - which is how I found this site - a google site for dry lips on acitretin!
I got my first bout of psoriasis (as I now know it) back when I was pregnant with my first child 22 years ago. It covered the palms of both hands. I was told it was stress eczema and to basically change my lifestyle to get rid of stress and cover my hands with greasy ointments (not medicated). Needless to say that didn't work and I had to put up with it for the next 12 years or so. I did notice that when I went on holiday with my kids and not my (now ex-) hubby, my palms improved considerably. Having split from my hubby and moved in with my mother 8 years ago, my hands cleared up over the next 6 months - yay.
Fast forward to 2016 and I noticed a patch on the sole of my left foot. This just happened to coincide with my blood pressure shooting through the roof. As it got worse and appeared on my left hand as well, I was referred to a dermatologist, who didn't think it could be psoriasis as it was only in those two area - she tried me on various creams and a tablet to clear up fungal infections - none of which worked. After about 6 months she decided to send me for a biopsy (which took over 9 months to be done) and I was eventually seen by her again 14 months after our last appointment (she had me just putting E45 on while waiting for the biopsy and results, so you can imagine how much good that did)!
Anyway biopsy came back as psoriasis, so now I can actually (hopefully) get treatment that works.
So far I have been put on 2 steroid ointments one is dermovate (I can't remember the name of the other one). I was also put on 10mg of acitretin with fortnightly blood tests as I was/am diabetic (diet controlled) and my triglycerides were a "bit high". I was a bit surprised by also having to have a pregnancy test every month before I can pick the pills up from the hospital pharmacy (I'm 51, single and can't remember what sex is lol), but the pills seem to be working. They've just been increased to 20mg.
So far the only side effect I seem to have (and that's only since we went up to 20mg) is that my lips are incredibly dry and cracking - which is how I found this site - a google site for dry lips on acitretin!