Hardcore Psoriasis Intro

[Moxtina]

Nice to meet you. Extensive intro.

Nice to meet you, too! I love the Dutch!


I wonder where you have found the idea that as your digestive tract is inflamed, that would be typical for Psoriatic disease. I have never heard of a connection like that, as far as I know there’s no link between Psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis and the digestion. There is a link to Crohns or colitis ulcerosa, if you have those digestive inflammations, both linked to the auto immune diseases.

In my estimation, the body is all connected and it's been scientifically demonstrated that our immune system actually begins in the gut. The gut is like a smaller brain, if you will, and the cells there inform the rest of the body's behaviours. Now, if we have a genetic, immune mediated condition, this doesn't necessarily mean that eating a bunch of kale and coconut oil is going to cure us. It's not that simple. I would encourage you to do more research of articles on medical studies in this vein if it interests you, as it does me. the connections are fairly well documented, at least by a subset of doctors/medical researchers (and, of course, the naturopathic/functional medicine types who are focusing more on anecdotes, which are also useful!) and it's finally getting some attention and funding. Here's a quote from one well-touted study (which you can easily copy and paste into your search engine and translate at will/find related articles):

"The prevalence of psoriasis in patients with Crohn's disease (CD) is higher than chance would allow if they were mutually exclusive diseases.
A close examination reveals genetic and pathologic connections between these diseases."

The other things you say, inflammation of joints and tendons do strongly relate to Psoriasis AND
Psoriatic Arthritis, so that’s recognisable for me. I guess your family also has psoriatic arthritis (reumathoid like, but it is different).


I am the only person in my family with psoriatic disease. Several members have what has been diagnosed as rheumatoid arthritis, as well as Lupus, which does, like Psoriatic Disease, affect multiple organ systems - not just skin, tendons and joints! What we all have in common is Hashimoto's Thyroiditis and Pernicious Anemia, curiously. Also, I cannot speak for the rest of my maternal family, but I have a genetic disease that affects processing of folate, B6 & B12 - AND is easily correlated with the autoimmune dysfunction. I got that from my father's side, as I was informed by my father's brother to have the testing done. It's called MTHFR, and a large segment of the population has it, most have no idea why they are sick. I recommend that everyone with AI disease check into it, but that's probably just me being obsessive/ a know-it-all.


One last remark: you should not say that you are sitting practically naked on the terasse, as this will make Jim spill his drink and his already almost out of clean shirts.  

Life is short and we should all play more! I don't believe in many things but that's definitely on the short list!

[Caroline]

As far as I know, and what I have seen and read in practice, Psoriasis is defined as touching the skin, while psoriatic arthritis is touching joints (mostly the small ones) and has a tendency to also touch the tendons.
Not more, at least then it is not called Psoriasis anymore.

Absolutely there are links between a lot of auto immune diseases. I did not read yet that Crohns sufferers do have a higher percentage of Psoriasis also.
But that does not directly mean it is also the other way around, that is that there is a higher incidence of Crohns in Psoriasis sufferers.
What is becoming more clear is that Psoriasis has a number of possible comorbidities, I often hear that heart problems are among them.

I am with you in that idea that the gut is an important element, in fact the gut is the skin on the inside. And I am well aware that there may be relations between them, but I have not seen them yet in for me reliable studies.
For me, the gut in any way is not causing the problem of Psoriasis but may indeed be suffering from it, as I said I have never seen examples of it here on the forum.

There are DNA damages that are seen in Psoriasis patients skin and which are found to be common. People with these damages show a statistically significant higher incidence of Psoriasis.
I know there are also other triggers for Psoriasis like there throat infections or other infections and not to forget the mental effects of stress on the body.

I don’t think there is a final common cure for everyone, but I fear the problem is wider. But I am open to anything that may help, so I will try to take a look in the direction you are suggesting

Cheers,
Caroline

[Moxtina]

[jiml]

Nice to see you've worked it out Moxie

It will be interesting to see what a difference Cosentyx makes I'm hoping you get good clearance and relief tfor the arthritis ...I don't know if it will help your other autoimmune problems but fingers crossed

By the way you're looking good in the picture

[Grizzly Bear]

Moxie

To me, that’s got be the best introduction so far on here, well done and thank you Moxie for being brave to do a wonderfully fantastic introduction.

A word of warning for you Moxie, DO NOT listen to the fibs and rubbish about me.

I’m the insane one on here, trust me, I’m a real bear

I’m forever being picked on by the resident loony’s in here !!!

Now, after speed reading your introduction Maxie, you seem like a jolly good sport and I have a feeling in my water that you are going to be a regular on here

So, without further ado, enjoy yourself on here Maxie and ask any questions you may have, one of us will answer.

ttfn

GB

[Moxtina]

Nice to see you've worked it out Moxie

It will be interesting to see what a difference Cosentyx makes I'm hoping you get good clearance and relief tfor the arthritis ...I don't know if it will help your other autoimmune problems but fingers crossed

By the way you're looking good in the picture  

At this point, I'm so jaded about these medications. If it weren't for my kids who need a mama, I'm not sure I'd be super keen on continuing in this meat suit. It's got a lot of errors.

Thanks for the compliment! That was just 2 weeks ago when I was on holiday at a beach in Florida, still on Prednisone and hadn't quite descended to the level of skin/joint hell that's come on as a result of that awesome rebound effect since I weaned off it for an MRI. Does anyone else find that doctors submit them to expensive diagnostics while they're on disease modifying treatments? How will they ever get an accurate picture that way of disease activity? I decided to experiment and go off all drugs for that MRI and I feel like it was maybe a little drastic on my side because just going off all the treatments is pretty harsh. Anyway, my brother's a photographer and he made me look fantastic - the happiness on my face is real, I miss my family in the States a lot and only get to see them about once a year. Summertime is a good time, as well because the winter/humidity in Quebec is HELL on the system and it's nice to have a respite. Ok, well everyone got my story today and I've learned a lot about this forum and how to upload media, etc.

Thanks for the welcomes.

[Moxtina]

 Moxie  

To me, that’s got be the best introduction so far on here, well done and thank you Moxie for being brave to do a wonderfully fantastic introduction.  

A word of warning for you Moxie, DO NOT listen to the fibs and rubbish about me.

I'll consider myself forewarned, at any rate  
Thanks for the welcome
Moxie

[Grizzly Bear]

 Moxie  

To me, that’s got be the best introduction so far on here, well done and thank you Moxie for being brave to do a wonderfully fantastic introduction.  

A word of warning for you Moxie, DO NOT listen to the fibs and rubbish about me.

I'll consider myself forewarned, at any rate  
Thanks for the welcome
Moxie

You’re welcome Moxie

Oh yes, buy a large tub of raw coconut oil and rub it in on your plaques of P to moisturise it

[jiml]

I'm glad you found us moxie you will find a lot of genuine fellow sufferers here who are all friendly and will always chat ( even Grizzly) do come often and chat and update ...I'm sure you will begin to feel better when the Cosentyx kicks in ...
Don't be downhearted there's always a sympathetic ear here ..that knows some of what you are going through

[Moxtina]

As far as I know, and what I have seen and read in practice, Psoriasis is defined as touching the skin, while psoriatic arthritis is touching joints (mostly the small ones) and has a tendency to also touch the tendons.
Not more, at least then it is not called Psoriasis anymore.

Well, yes and no. Psoriasis is finally becoming known as a *systemic immune-mediated disease that is kind of assumed to affect multiple organ systems. A bit like Lupus. In fact, many of us who have Psoriatic Disease actually have similar antibodies and it can be difficult to distinguish between the two if certain signs aren't present - like the "butterfly rash" in lupus or characteristic scaling of plaque or guttate psoriasis.
So much depends on what kind of specialist you're seeing and whether or not THEY are aware of the latest discoveries, etc. Or if they encourage you to be educated on the disease and welcome your research and commentary. I finally found a rheumatologist who IS and he's amazing and he respects me and my research, often engaging me in conversations about it and backing up my theories, answering questions and running  tests that no other rheumy would do previously. 
I guess what I'm saying is that it's been pretty well established that there are co-factors, co-morbidities and correlations between Psoriatic Disease and the inflammation of other organ systems, especially the gut, eyes, heart, liver, kidneys, pancreas, etc. People with Ps/PsA are also notably afflicted by diabetes, high blood pressure, Crohn's disease, metabolic syndrome/obesity, and lipid anomalies. 
Research has established a link between psoriasis and cardiovascular complications, which is highest in patients with severe and relatively early onset psoriasis. Even when smoking, obesity, and stress are factored in and accounted for, there is a markedly higher risk factor than for those who do not have this disease.
Basically, inflammation is the thread which connects psoriasis to all the other afflictions. A great deal of it is heavily dependent on your genetic makeup.
And your genetic makeup, in part determines your response to different medications and treatments. For instance, those with a certain gene sequence will not respond to TNF inhibitors but WILL respond to IL-23 inhibitors. Those with another gene sequence will actually get very ill if they take methotrexate or plaquenil.
It's pretty fascinating... and overwhelming!