Psoriasis


Do You Suffer “The Heartbreak Of Psoriasis”?

Once thought to be little more than an annoying and unsightly skin condition, research now shows psoriasis to be a symptom of much more serious problems.

What is Psoriasis?

Psoriasis is an autoimmune disease with abnormally fast production of skin cells (up to 1,000 times normal) accompanied by inflammation.

Rapidly-multiplying skin cells pile up, creating a silvery scale. Skin underneath this scale is typically inflamed, itchy and painful. The condition is not contagious.

Psoriasis, once considered a “skin disease,”  is now recognized as a systemic (body-wide) autoimmune condition highly associated with:

  • Cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure and stroke (1-14)
  • Diabetes and metabolic syndrome (7-15)

Other conditions associated with psoriasis include depression, insomnia/sleep difficulties, COPD, GERD and arthritis.

What Causes Psoriasis?

The precise cause of psoriasis is not known but a number of factors and have been identified:

  • Genetic.  About one-third of people with psoriasis have a family member who also has the disease, suggesting a genetic component in some sufferers.
  • High cGMP to cAMP ratios
  • Excess inflammation
  • High inflammatory cytokines (immune-regulating communication molecules)
  • Auto-immune

In holistic medicine we also consider:

  • Incomplete digestion (especially protein digestion).
  • Bbowel dysbiosis
  • Impaired liver function
  • Food allergies
  • Nutritional deficiencies
  • Stress appears to worsen the condition, and stress-reducing practices have shown to be helpful in these cases.

Each individual case of psoriasis should be considered as some combination  of these factors.

Conventional medical treatment:

Topical treatments such as steroid cream can greatly help or even “cure” psoriasis. Unfortunately, steroid cream can cause skin atrophy, stretch marks, spider veins and easy bruising when used long-term. The effects can also become systemic and disrupt hormone levels, contributing to osteoporosis and even psychosis.

Steroid creams don’t work for everyone, and there is often a decreasing effect of treatment with continual use. There can also be serious rebound effects with sudden discontinuance.

Immune-suppressive drugs such as cyclosporin and methotrexate are used, but liver, kidney and blood values must be monitored regularly because of the toxicity of these drugs.

Dr. Myatt’s Holistic Self-Help Recommendations

Diet and Lifestyle

Primary Support

  • Maxi Multi: 3 caps, 3 times per day with meals. Maxi Multi contains optimal (not minimal) doses of all essential vitamins, minerals, and trace minerals, including those often deficient in psoriasis.  The most important deficiencies in psoriasis are:
    vitamin A, vitamin E, chromium, selenium, zinc, and vitamin D.
  • Omega 3 fatty acids: especially EPA and DHA as found in fish oil. Target dose is 1.8grams EPA and 1.2 grams DHA. This can be obtained from:
    Max EPA
    : 10 caps per day with meals
    OR
    Maxi Marine O-3: 4 caps per day with meals
  • Maxi-Flavone: 1-2 caps per day with meals. This ultra-potent formula contains herbs which decrease inflammatory cytokines.
  • Vitamin D: additional vitamin D as needed to obtain optimal blood levels. Learn about vitamin D testing here. Optimal vitamin D levels are very important for psoriasis success.

Additional Support

  • Forskolin: 1 cap, 2 times per day. This herb help normalize
    the cAMP /cGMP ratio which is imbalanced in psoriasis.
  • Treat GI Dysbiosis if present (highly likely), best done with the results of a Comprehensive GI Health Profile. Treatment may include goldenseal (hydrastis), milk thistle, probiotics, and other gut treatments.

Lifestyle / Topical Treatments

  • Sunlight. UVB exposure has long been known to aid psoriasis  This could be due to increased vitamin D production.
    Newer prescription creams for psoriasis include synthetic vitamin D, further showing the importance of vitamin D for psoriasis.
  • Topicals (how to wash and protect psoriatic skin).
    Wash – Use mild, chemical-free soaps and cosmetics. Harsh alkaline soaps can cause further irritation.
    Moisturize – Chemical-free, gentle moisturizers should be applied after every shower or bath.
    Bathe – baths with baking soda, oatmeal or bentonite clay can be very soothing and detoxifying. Soak for 15-20 minutes in warm water. Do NOT use a bath for cleansing, only for soaking. Be sure that you are using pure, uncontaminated water! Be sure that you are using pure, uncontaminated water! If you are unsure about your water quality you may need to consider adding a water filter to your home.
    Shower
    – for actual skin cleansing, take a shower. Use chemical-free oatmeal soap, other mild soap or Dove brand bar soap. But please remember, when you’re hot (and your skin’s pores are wide-open), you can absorb toxins from the water. Shower-head filters are inexpensive and reliable.
  • DON’T pick or scratch skin! Psoriatic lesions tend to grow at the site of skin injury. If itching is uncontrollable, use a skin brush to gently exfoliate without causing dermal injury.
  • Drink pure water – A Good Water Filter is a Cheap Investment in Your Health. A reliable, highly-effective under-sink water filter is an excellent health investment, especially when you consider how important water is to health. The human body is about 60% water. That means we can have 60% of our total body weight contaminated with a variety of toxins if we drink lousy water.

    The highest-rated water filters cost about the same as the cheap junk. Aquasana Water Purifiers  makes some of the highest-rated filters at the best prices

Tests

Dr. Myatt’s Comments

  • Diet and balanced digestion / gut function are primary
  • Correcting nutrient deficiencies with supplementation and ensuring optimal vitamin D levels are also very important

ALL psoriasis patients, whether symptomatic or not, should pay special attention to cardiovascular and metabolic risks. I recommend looking at cardio risk factors including the “other” risk factors at a regular interval.

Psoriasis can be challenging, but starting with the basics (good gut, adequate nutrients) often corrects or at least greatly improves symptoms. When natural, corrective treatment is used, improvement in skin lesions can be expected to include improvement associated risks such as heart disease and diabetes.

Topical treatments alone, even when they decrease skin lesions, do not correct systemic risks. Psoriasis should therefore be treated as a systemic disease, not a skin disease.

References:

  1. Abou-Raya A, Abou-Raya S. Inflammation: a pivotal link between autoimmune diseases and atherosclerosis. Autoimmun Rev. 2006 May;5(5):331-7. Epub 2006 Feb 3.
  2. Boehncke WH, Boehncke S. Research in practice: the systemic aspects of psoriasis. J Dtsch Dermatol Ges. 2008 Aug;6(8):622-5. Epub 2008 Jun 16.
  3. Gottlieb AB, Chao C, Dann F. Psoriasis comorbidities.J Dermatolog Treat. 2008;19(1):5-21.
  4. Kaplan MJ. Cardiometabolic risk in psoriasis: differential effects of biologic agents. Vasc Health Risk Manag. 2008;4(6):1229-35.
  5. Ludwig RJ, Herzog C, Rostock A, Ochsendorf FR, Zollner TM, Thaci D, Kaufmann R, Vogl TJ, Boehncke WH.Psoriasis: a possible risk factor for development of coronary artery calcification. Br J Dermatol. 2007 Feb;156(2):271-6.
  6. Wakkee M, Thio HB, Prens EP, Sijbrands EJ, Neumann HA. Unfavorable cardiovascular risk profiles in untreated and treated psoriasis patients. Atherosclerosis. 2007 Jan;190(1):1-9. Epub 2006 Aug 30.
  7. Wu Y, Mills D, Bala M. Psoriasis: cardiovascular risk factors and other disease comorbidities.J Drugs Dermatol. 2008 Apr;7(4):373-7.
  8. Kourosh AS, Miner A, Menter A. Psoriasis as the marker of underlying systemic disease. Skin Therapy Lett. 2008 Feb;13(1):1-5.
  9. Gottlieb AB, Dann F, Menter A. Psoriasis and the metabolic syndrome. J Drugs Dermatol. 2008 Jun;7(6):563-72.
  10. Sommer DM, Jenisch S, Suchan M, Christophers E, Weichenthal M. Increased prevalence of the metabolic syndrome in patients with moderate to severe psoriasis. Arch Dermatol Res. 2006 Dec;298(7):321-8. Epub 2006 Sep 22.
  11. Puig-Sanz L. [Psoriasis, a systemic disease?] Actas Dermosifiliogr. 2007 Jul-Aug;98(6):396-402. [article in Spanish]
  12. Azfar RS, Gelfand JM. Psoriasis and metabolic disease: epidemiology and pathophysiology. Curr Opin Rheumatol. 2008 Jul;20(4):416-22.
  13. Gisondi P, Girolomoni G. Psoriasis and atherothrombotic diseases: disease-specific and non-disease-specific risk factors. Semin Thromb Hemost. 2009 Apr;35(3):313-24. Epub 2009 May 18.
  14. Shapiro J, Cohen AD, David M, Hodak E, Chodik G, Viner A, Kremer E, Heymann A. The association between psoriasis, diabetes mellitus, and atherosclerosis in Israel: a case-control study.J Am Acad Dermatol. 2007 Apr;56(4):629-34. Epub 2006 Dec 8.
  15. Cohen AD, Sherf M, Vidavsky L, Vardy DA, Shapiro J, Meyerovitch J. Association between psoriasis and the metabolic syndrome. A cross-sectional study. Dermatology. 2008;216(2):152-5. Epub 2008 Jan 23.