Intro from Harleysmum

[Harleysmum]

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!

[Fred]

Hello Harleysmum   to Psoriasis Club.

Your story I'm sure will sound so familiar with a lot of our members. Psoriasis is a difficult one for the average GP, no offence to them but psoriasis is difficult and only a dermatologist is suited to treat a person with psoriasis. Unfortunately they have to follow protocol and to be honest it is something that needs changing.

Although you are 51 and your sex life is shall we say low, they do have a duty to keep an eye on their patients. Most treatments for psoriasis mess with the body, so if we want to be rid of psoriasis then we have to accept the rules or go it alone. (The latter is not something I'm a fan of as there are not many long term members here giving enough proof) Ok Bill may be one but he is mad.

Some have done well on Acitretin and I recall some also saying dry lips is a problem, but I've never tired it so couldn't comment.

Don't hesitate to start another thread about your journey in Prescribed Treatments For Psoriasis if you wish as it's a good way to monitor your progress and your input could help others.

Apart from that jump on in, you will find a good friendly bunch of people just like you.

Regards.

Fred.

[jiml]

Hi Harleysmum great to meet you to the club, I'm so glad to hear that google pointed you towards us here,
You will find a lot of good information here and if you put acetretin in the search facility Search it will show you lots of posts which mention acetretin

We have several members using acetretin and most seem to tolerate it well with the odd side effect and I'm sure dry lips is one of them, get a good lip balm and it might help, although more members will be on tomorrow and can better advise you as I haven't been ipon it myself

Thank you for joining and a great way to stay in touch with what's new in treatments and what others are saying is to subscribe to our free monthly newsletter to subscribe just click Groups and then just click on join group

Good luck with your treatment enjoy yourself here feel free to jump in and comment, and you will always be made comfortable in the off topic section where I can usually be found propping up the bar

[Raxyl]

Hello Harleysmum, welcome to the club. You will find plenty of people with a wealth of psoriasis knowledge here.  I was an Acretretin for a while and dry lips was certainly one of the side effects I experienced use plenty of lip balm. I hope it all goes well for you.

Craig

[JohnB]

Hi Harleysmum and a warm welcome to our club  .
I have just come off Acitretin a couple of months ago after an on off relationship with it for a couple of years. It is good they are monitoring you closely although it is one of the lesser aggressive treatments ( toxic wise) it can still play havoc with you.

One of the things you have to bear in mind is that this drug is a really slow burner. Myself it was over 4 months before I saw any improvement. Almost immediately my cholesterol went up but not to the point of needing treatment. I had to stop the first time as I had a persistent headache after being upped from 20 to 30mg and they were bothered it was the medication. After a three month break I went back on at 10 mg but it did diddly, so it was upped to 20mg and the Ps slowly receded. I just got to the point where I was happy with how little Ps was visible when I had to stop as my liver was starting to complain, my alt levels has tripled.
During treatment I had persistent dry lips, feet that you could peel huge chunks of skin off - large enough to make a handbag, and peeling hands. All of this was just about tolerable to be itch and flake free.
My personal lip balm was the light blue Nivea, it didn't melt in my pocket   . Personally I hate E45 it burns when applied. I use Cetraben and Dermol.
Good luck with your treatment and if you need any more information please holler out, I will be more than happy to help if I can   .
Oh and don't forget the steroids you are on should only be used for a month or so at a time as they can cause skin thinning.

JohnB

[Caroline]

Hi Harleysmum,

Welcome to psoriasisclub.

Caroline

[D Foster]

Hi Harleysmum , welcome to the club . There is more information on this site that anywhere that I know which is all backed up with people who have got the dam thing so any questions will be answered by experienced sufferers .
I used Acitretin many years ago and dry skin is one of the side effects plus I got ingrowing nails as well. It worked for me for a while but the side effects got a bit of a problem.

Have a good look around and again welcome.

[Kat]

Welcome!

I remember a few mentioning dry lips as a side effect of Acitretin.
Hopefully you will have good results with Acitretin, many here have had success with it

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