Still fading. Nearly gone.

Some more update photos.

I’m really happy.

A pictures from August of my elbow

Now a comparison of my belly in August with how it is now at the start of September:

:

So very very nearly there, just some tiny patches on my tummy then i’m free. I’ve got my body back. Just in time for our holiday in October.

Having documented it makes me remember how bad it was and really appreciate how good it is to not have it anymore. It’s easy to forget the itching, the bleeding, the uncomfort, the stress of finding new scabs and having to deal with peoples questions about it when it’s the last thing you want to do.

When my belly is completely smooth again I will be having a naked body appreciation party which will probably just consist of me, being naked, wearing a party hat and eating cake. And it will be glorious.

What worked for me?

MetaDerm cream – I bought two tubes of it and only used up one, so I am armed and ready for if it ever returns.

I believe a change in diet helped – not a particularly big one, as I ate quite well before, but cutting out processed foods and eating more naturally.

Swimming in the sea definitely helped so get out there and splash around if you can. (I live in England and despite it being summer both times i went to the beach, it was cold. It was misty. But it was brilliant.

This has been my first blog and it’s been fun. I guess its an online diary or record of what i went through. I was able to connect with other people in a similar situation. If it returns I will be back. Even if no one ever read it I felt it was healthy to get things out of my system and have a rant from time to time, even if I was shouting into the nothingness of cyberspace. But I hope some of the things I have talked about help someone if they ever find this place.

But,  that’s all for now, folks.

Before and After Photos

The first photos were taken around the start of June and the second at the end of July, so roughly 7 weeks apart.

This first picture is my right arm.

This is my left leg:

Now for my  right knee:

This is my belly. Not as much progress as in other areas, but definite improvements nonetheless. The scabs have gone from raised itchy and sore to flat not itchy and much better.

Lastly my chest. Sadly there isn’t a before photo but you can see traces of where there were three scabs which are now barely there at all. Very pleased with this.

Good progress

Good things have been happening to my skin in the last month! 

I am not sure which of the things I have been doing are causing my psoriasis to start clearing up or if it is a combination of things or maybe it would have gone away of its own accord if I had not changed anything! Who knows?!

My scabs have gone from itchy flaky easily bleeding dark red irritating things to barely flaking, only slightly darker than normal skin colour, not itchy and a lot less noticeable. 

 

So what have I done? Food:

From the start of July I decided to start eating ‘clean’ as in cutting out processed foods, eating a lot more fruit and vegetables and wholesome meals cooked from scratch. Making my own veggie burgers, substituting chips for sweet potato wedges – much tastier, snacking on avocados and grapes and smoothies.

Things I cut out: I already didn’t drink cows milk anyway, I read that the ‘nightshade family’ of foods could be bad for skin outbreaks so i stopped eating sweet peppers, tomatoes, cut out white potatoes for a few weeks before reintroducing them with no ill effects… No cheese, no pre made frozen veggie food, barely any alcohol, no bread.

I sometimes eat chicken and I started eating fish as fish is supposed to be so great for the skin.

This is like an 80%/20% thing, you can eat chocolate or anything you want, just less of it and a lot more of the good stuff. I baked a cake when my friends came over and ate it heated up with ice cream, it was glorious. So its a very do-able thing that will make you a lot more healthy regardless of if you have anything ‘wrong’ with you.

I have been reintroducing various foods back in and nothing has gone wrong yet, such as peppers because they’re scrum my and potatoes because they’re so easy.

 

My ‘beauty’ regime (if you want to call it that…) Skin:

I have pretty much exclusively used Lush products on my skin for a few years so I continued using my normal moisturiser on my face.

I started using my MetaDerm cream (as mentioned in a previous post) applying a small amount to each scab a few times a day or whenever I felt like it.

I sometimes slather myself in E45 cream after a shower but have no strict routine with this, just to make sure all my psoriasis affected areas are well moisturised.

That’s pretty much it. I had previously started bathing in Dead Sea Salt but I haven’t done that since doing all this in July. I visited the beach twice and swam in the sea – not for ages, maybe 20 minutes each time.

I just bought some Dead Sea soap online and hopefully this will add to the whole healing process. 

 

Relaxation:

I went for a spa day. Massage and sauna, steam room etc. This was the first time I had been in a bikini in front of strangers with my skin on display. After that moment I owned it. It didn’t own me.

Regular massages are on my list of things I must implement in my life – total relaxation, so good on so many levels.

I have managed to grow my nails. Perhaps this means I am less anxious, or more disciplined, or just more determined to kick the habit before I turn 30 at the end of the year. Less anxiety is always good for everything but could also have positive effects on my psoriasis.

So some quite simple things really and I have seen positive results all over my body, for example there are a few patches on my back that I always forget to put cream on or can’t reach, or can’t really cream regularly because it on my scalp or in my ears…but that patches I put the cream on are not the only ones getting better. My ears have nearly completely cleared up and I have barely done anything to them.

 

So let’s throw a party, right?!

 

 

Take my tonsils, I don’t need them!

Click this linky:

https://www.psoriasis.org/about-psoriasis/getting-psoriasis-by-the-throat

“About a 50 percent decrease in psoriasis in those who had their tonsils removed. And those who didn’t clear dramatically were able to treat their psoriasis with milder therapies.”

Sadly I don’t think mine is bad enough to warrant a removal of my tonsils. But I’m pretty sure I don’t need them and wouldn’t miss them…

Bikini Breakthrough!

I booked a spa day last year around September or October. It was one of those special deals with 6 treatments and lunch for £30 each.  Pretty good value. That was before I got the psoriasis.  It only occurred to me a couple of days ago that being in a spa would require some sort of semi nudity…to cut a long story short (because I’m typing this with one finger on my mobile) i was in my bikini – note not a swimming costume – around other people with my skin condition on full display to the world. This is a big deal. I felt self conscious at first but soon forgot about it. Yay!

MetaDerm update

It’s only day four or five of using this stuff but I think it’s working! Applying a small amount a few times a day and I’ve been a lot less itchy. Barely picking at the scabs at all. It makes them tingle slightly so it definitely feels like it’s doing something.  Yay.

Progress photos will be posted in a few weeks…maybe in week three.

 

Psoriasis in your ears?

While I was away I realised something quite simple, with the help of a friend. I had an ear infection that started about a month ago. I went to the doctors who were fairly useless but prescribed me some drops and told me not to get water in my ears.

It gets a bit better then the other ear started hurting. 

I walked into work one day, my hearing had been fine on the journey there but as soon as I went in – to a quiet classroom to provide student support – I realised I couldn’t hear very well. That day was a struggle. I was semi deaf for a few days. Silly ear infection…

I used to wear earplugs to help me sleep at night – I live by the market and they set up early and the water heater comes on around 3am and I am a light sleeper – so I decided to try sleeping without them because they were very sore and I didn’t want to aggravate it – turns out i’m not such a light sleeper and haven’t had any sleeping problems. So Yay!

While I was away though, a friend mentioned she knew someone who has psoriasis IN their ears and it causes hearing problems and tinnitus. That explains it! It’s everywhere else, why wouldn’t it show up in my ears?

After a quick read online it appears to be common and people either use steroid drops or warmed up olive oil to help alleviate the issue. I will keep you updated.

Dilemma

So I went away to a festival for a week and on my return – hooray, my MetaDerm products have arrived. I lathered myself up – not too liberally, this stuff isn’t cheap…and I haven’t itched all evening. So success so far.

I took some photos so I can compare before and after. I will try to remember to do a weekly progress thing.

I have been eating chocolate and burgers and cheese and crisps and savouring the flavour of everything, really trying to make the most of it before I get my diet on track too. Apparently psoriasis sufferers are to avoid eating strawberries, tomatoes and eggplant. Does this include things made from strawberries? Like yogurt? Or things made from tomatoes like tomato ketchup? More foody posts coming up soon.

I do now however have a bit of a dilemma, say I start using my new fancy creams and eating proper healthy, cutting out processed foods and strawberries/tomatoes etc and my skin gets better, how will i know if it was the food or the cream that did it? Should I carry on eating what I want (I’m pretty healthy anyway) and just apply the cream then I will know if it works or not! See? Dilemma.

MetaDerm?

Anyone had any luck with MetaDerm products?

http://www.meta-derm.com

I just spent £40 on there so I hope the stuff works! I followed a link on instagram from a girl who has used it and it has worked wonders. The majority of the reviews say it pretty much clears psoriasis up. It also works for eczema and acne and even sunburn, so fingers crossed.

We’re off to a festival for a week and this is coming from America so hopefully it will have arrived by the time I get back.

I was (and still am) planning on changing my diet – not that i eat that unhealthily – in order to help my skin and I will still be doing this too. No point in doing it before the festival as it would be too difficult to eat well. For the next week I will be savouring the flavour of every mouthful of dirty processed food while I still can. Yum.

Other words which have a silent P. Just for fun.

Pterodactyl, Psychedelic, Psychic, Psycho, Pneumatic, Pneumonia, Psychiatry, Psychiatrist, Psychology, Psychopath, Psychosis, Psychotherapy, Psalm 
, Pseudonym 


Can you think of any more?