I Cured My Psoriasis By Diet

Hi All

I was diagnosed with Palmar Plantar Psoriasis (PPP) 12 months ago and had no luck with the various topical steroid creams and emollients that my GP and Consultant Dermatologist prescribed over that time.

After a particularly bad flare-up I took to my bed because of the pain and discomfort and decided to do some research on the internet. I figured I had nothing to lose as the conventional treatments were not helping me at all. At best they were holding the symptoms at bay (barely) and I was using more and more of the steroids in an attempt to clear my skin, what little there was left of it. So, paper thin skin on hands and feet and multiple lesions filled with pus. Not good.

On doing a lot of reading on forums like this and other psoriasis related sites I came to the conclusion that diet may well play a big part in causing this thing. It seemed that many people reported improvements after removing certain foods from their diets, they called them "trigger foods".

They appeared to be :

gluten

dairy

sugar

I was doubtful about embarking on such a diet as I have never had any food intolerances before, so was obviously skeptical that doing so would help, however, I had no other ideas because I had tried many different supplements over the previous 12 months which had helped a little but only for a short time and the psoriasis just returned to its normal aggressive self.

After 2 weeks of removing all wheat/barley/milk/cheese/sugar/starchy veg from my diet I noticed a big improvement. My hands were much less inflamed and some of the lesions have gone. Wow! Fast forward another 2 weeks and yet more improvement.

However, there was still a low "baseline" activity - small flareups (no-where near as bad as before) that happened every few days. This made me return to the internet and I read that there was a link to psoriasis and "leaky gut syndrome" possibly caused by a candida overgrowth. Think good bacteria in the gut being crowded out by bad bacteria/yeast. Apparently candida can change from a yeast like form to an invasive fungal type form which can cause leaky gut. When this happens stuff that you have eaten can get into your bloodstream causing an immune response. I guess this could explain why certain foods can cause a problem.

OK, so I modified my diet to an anti-candida diet. This is basically the same as above but with bells and whistles to avoid any sort of sugar or starch that might feed the candida. Again I was a bit skeptical, but thought I had nothing to lose.

After another 2 weeks I saw my hands improve immensely and the low level outbreaks were less often and smaller and smaller.

I'm now 6 weeks into this diet and I'm pleased to say my psoriasis is 99% gone. Unbelievable!

12 months of increasing discomfort, intense itching, flaking skin, sores, pain and all the other symptoms you'll be familiar with.... GONE.

I wanted to share my experience on here and I hope it may help someone else.

6 weeks ago I really thought that I was going to have to live with this thing for the rest of my life. I had resigned myself to not being able to work anymore. I was pretty fed up with the whole thing.

My skin still needs to thicken up a bit (I still have no fingerprints, but under a magnifying glass I can see faint outlines returning!) but the worst is definitely behind me.

Hopefully some of you will find this helpful. It may not be a cure for everyone suffering from this but it did cure it for me.

People seem to be reticent about saying "cure" when talking about psoriasis. I do not believe this to be true. I believe it is a gut problem and that it will take time (months) for my gut to return to normal. As such I intend sticking to this diet for 6 months to allow nature to take its course. Then I will reintroduce foods to my diet in small amounts, one at a time for two weeks, and monitor the effects.

I also found that keeping a food diary was very useful in pinpointing foods that aggravate the condition.

I would like to add that both my GP and Consultant stated that psoriasis is not related to diet. I have found the exact opposite to be true.

Also, a pleasant side effect has been losing over 1 and a half stone in this six week period, so I'm also feeling better in myself (and clothes) as well as psoriasis free.

Here are some before and after pictures :

Hand Before : VIEW IMAGE

Foot Before : VIEW IMAGE

Hand After : VIEW IMAGE

Foot After : VIEW IMAGE

Good luck!

I have UC but would also like to add my $0.02 about diet.

My GI refuses to accept that diet has anything to do with IBD. He is a traditional type doctor and only goes by the books. If there is no scientific evidence then he will not entertain it.
I told him I think diet plays a part and the best he has to say is "if you think it is giving you symptoms, try cutting that food out for a while and see what happens" which is some common knowledge, but still.

I tried AIP paleo diet and my symptoms drastically got better over a 5 week time span, into complete remission. slowly and surely I began relaxing on the diet back into my normal diet (except dairy and tried to limit gluten when I could). This lasted about 3 months but now I am back to a flare.

I am going back on AIP paleo and over the next 3-5 weeks am excited to see if I can put this flare to bed again. If it is successful yet again, I will be a pretty firm believer in the nutritional aspect. Following, I would like to experiment with following a relaxed diet for 7-10 days and then a strict diet for 7-10 days.. maybe that can keep issues at bay or prolong a remission period longer than just a few months.

I take entry level medication for my UC and just want to try everything I can to avoid moving up the ladder.

best of luck with your Psoriasis!

Hello) My husband's sister has been suffering from psoriasis as long as I know her. She has tried everything, traditional and non-traditional. Diets, beeswax creams reduced the symptoms, but after a while everything was back. So she started to believe that she'll never get rid of that. We live in Europe - that's important. Half a year ago she went to the USA, Dallas, as she got work there. Having problems with psoriasis, she got to Dallas urgent care clinichttps://frontlineer.com/ . The dermatologist prescribed her some very cheap cream - and it worked!!! We all were surprised. I'm just talking about the difference in meds in The USA and the country where I live.

Is there anyone who will share their experience with Humira for severe psoriasis? Thanks!

As a user who has frequented several of the forums here over time, I have always found it interesting how the same foods and environmental substances are perceived as causative for so many of these conditions. Diet changes (other than limiting my fiber intake) never made a bit of difference in anything except for my blood glucose level.

I'm very glad for anyone who has improved their health through any method, whether it be conventional medicine or Venusian pepper therapy.

Zen Hen said...
Thank you Norman.b for your post! Or whoever restarted it. I am on Humira and hate it. I have been on Otezla, methotrexate, and steroids. I cannot tell you guys how much I have researched and fought to get better. I am just so thankful that there is this truly amazing site!
Zenhen

will post more later

Hi, Zen Hen:

Typically, I post on the Lyme Disease area of this site, as that's my primary challenge. However, when I'm bored, I will scan the main forum page and look at the current topics being discussed on the other forums. When I saw the tile of this thread, it caught my attention, as diet and health have been a hobby of mine for years.

Anyway, in light of what you wrote, I thought I would share two blog posts that I learned about in March of this year.

https://ggenereux.blog/2017/04/29/vitamin-a-oh-no-its-not
https://ggenereux.blog/2016/04/22/ending-the-mystery-of-auto-immune

Each post has a free e-book attached, too. The books are rather long and dense, so I've not read them. But, you may find them interesting. First, however, I suggest reading the blog posts AND the readers' comments, as some of them are pretty compelling.

Wishing you the best of luck and health,

The Dude

Thanks, I really think I need to address my psoriasis with diet. I have been very reluctant to do so and because of this have not had much success. I think it is time.

Had psoriasis since a child in my 70’s. Diet is important to maintain a healthy lifestyle. I have nerver seen a change in my Psoriasis from diet . I use several tar creams and steroid creams Sorian and hand spa with lavender warm wax to moisturize . Also s skin protectant is very helpful . Winter is when I have more issues with hands and feet. And summer plaque is a problem. Everyone is different with response to the many treatments available from biologicals, light treatments, coal tar , zink, Epsom salts and steroid creams . Some invest in a home light treatment device some have success with excimer laser treatments while other use occlusion. This is a autoimmune disease my family has it on my moms side. While I have inherited this disease other have psoriasis from using medications that can induce psoriasis . In most cases whatever works, help give peace from this painful disease and we find relief is why we all share what works or doesn’t work .