Last day of Light Box Therapy

Today is the last day of my light box therapy.
I had an appt last week with my dermatologist. He told me to buy flax seed oil and take double the normal dose daily. We need more omega's than most people. He said I could do fish oil pills if I wanted - but some don't like the fish burps I guess. Personally I have been taking fish oil pills for awhile and never once burped up any fish taste. I would know - I hate fish! I take Market America's Heart Heath Fish oil pills.

He also suggested I switch over my lotions and body wash to CeraVe & Cetaphil. They are nice - no smell and both say for atopic skin - some kind of dry skin condition I guess. I found they're a bit pricey - but I guess if they help I'll stick with them. I have tried many other expensive products before also. I let you know how it goes. I bought the CeraVe lotion at Walgreens for $16.99 last week. It's a pretty large size bottle. He told me to put lotion on everytime my skin gets wet from the bath or shower.

My Dermatologist also wants me to try to get more sun. I have to have the "bad areas" of skin exposed though so that would be really tough. He suggested I walk/run in a running bra and also put my hair up in a bun so the sun can reach the back of my neck and my ears. I tried the bun yesterday and it was no different than a pony tail - so easy. I'm not willing to brave running down the road in a bra yet though - I think this is great motivation to start doing crunches though :-)

I have a follow up in 5 weeks - will keep you posted.

I love having a tan!

Well here I am rounding down my 3 1/2 months of light therapy. I have to say I'm really scared about what to expect now. I have a great tan and for the first time in a long time I have not had to worry about how low cut my shirts are. I also bought a nice one piece bathing suit and went swimming with my kids. I posted two new pictures I took recently. I'm amazed - my friends say it now just looks like I have a large birthmark or tatoo on my back. The chest area is pretty much cleared. The few leg spots look just like my back (a little dark spot). My neck still has 2 stubborn red spots as well as the back of my neck. All in all I'm thrilled with the results. I have a cream of vitamin D which I have used only once in awhile on my neck. The rest cleared up with the ubv light box therapy. I stated with 16 seconds and am now up to about 2min 20 sec. I go every m/w/f mornings before work and am in and out within 15 minutes. The extra traveling has been the only real hard part. My insurance has covered every appt for light box. I only pay my copay if I have a regular appt with the derm.

I wish I could keep this nice tan forever! I have a great tan - without any tan lines! It rocks :-) I'll keep you all posted as to how long my skin stays good. I've heard others say it returns with a vengance after - I am hoping not. For the moment I'm very happy with my dark "birthmark" and was happy to finally post some good pictures.

I have been still eating a lot healthier and trying to minimize the gluten. I have found my life to be extremely stressful as of late and have decided not to beat myself up when I eat something with reg. flour in it. I do however keep it to a min and only when it would be more stressful for me to make something from scratch just for me. I know the stress is not good for my skin either - but when you have teenagers as well as a 93 year old grandmother who lives with you your life is full of unexpected surprises.

Wishing all health and clear skin:-)

Update

Wow - I so lost track of time and didn't realize it's been a month since I posted last. I've been doing narrowband uvb light treatments 3 days a week. I'll be doing this for all of March/April/May. I have seen huge results on my chest area, neck and back. The leg spots don't want to budge yet. I'm up to a minute twenty seconds so far. I did have one time only that I got a small burn - the "clear" skin became red - however by morning I was nice and tan.

I might actually have a tan this year !!! Wow - I never have a tan. I have light skin so I usually burn outside and don't seem to ever keep a tan. I like the new look :-)

I noticed after the first few weeks the skin was looking much better - then I slipped up on the diet - the psoriosis got red again. I'm back on track now. I knew this wasn't going to be an easy journey - but I'll get there.

I'm really hoping to have clear skin for July. We're planning a trip out to Wisconsin to visit my husbands family. It's a large family reuinon and most people are renting cabins on the lake. I haven't worn a swimsuit in at least 5 years. I'm hopeing I can. Especially since my little girl loves to swim.

Pressing on

Well - I've gone through 4 light therapy sessions. I'm up to a wapping 23 seconds now. They keep asking if I burned any last time - I have not and really can't see how 23 seconds is enough to burn you. I can see a difference in the redness for sure. The scaling was pretty much gone before, but the bright redness was bad. Now it's more pink. I'm fading and am very happy about it. It's so nice to actually see something change. I also do my infared sauna 3 times a week and epsom salt baths.

I have to say I really really like my new dermatologist. Not only is he not pushing me on the drugs but he himself has psoriosis. He said out of all the treatments out there he's seen the most "remision" time with the light therapy. He wants me to go for 3 months for now. I also shared with him how my son had inverse psoriosis on the back of his knee that lasted about 6 months and went away and now he has patches on both his eyelids. He gave me some vit D cream samples for him to use. My son also uses my infared sauna and loves it. He's not willing to switch his eating habits much right.

So the diet - well I have to say I have come a long way. It's still a struggle though. I have been working on cutting out the dairy - this is really hard because I love cheese. I could care less about the milk. I also have no issues cooking with almond milk. My only complaint is that it only lasts 7 days in the fridge and I'm the only one using it. I don't eat cereal - so it's really just to cook with. I wonder if I can freeze half or if I can find smaller containers.
I find my digestive track is working better - but has a long way to go. You all know I was on antibiotics for 12 straight years - so all the good bacteria was gone and I was lucky if I "eliminated" twice a week. Now I find it's either feast or famine. I either go 3-4 days with nothing or go 3-4 times in one day. It's so weird and must be what I'm eating. I almost wonder sometimes if I have some lactose intolerance issues because a few of the "busy" days I ate yogurt for breakfast. I'm a work in progress :-) I also still go for colonics once every 4-6 weeks. This is supposed to also help tone the colon so it works properly as well as get out the older "crap".

I will post updated pictures soon. I have had some computer issues and need to find my disk to reload the camera software.

Narrowband light therapy

I started light therapy today. Yikes - insurance covers it but you still have to pay the copay. That's $60 extra a week. This is going to be really hard financially.
They started me off at 16 seconds. Boy that seems like nothing. You go into a room and the nurse punches your info into the computer. She tells you how long you'll be in. Because I have fair skin and it's my first time she did 16 seconds. There's a booth you stand in and shut the door then push a button for it to start. You wear dark glasses also. She gave the instructions on how it works, tells me I can leave my bra and underwear on if I want. If almost all the skin under the bra and underwear are affected then it would seem right to just go nude - which I did. Then you get dressed, pay your $20 and leave. I have one month of these scheduled for now. We'll see how it goes. I don't think I'll be getting a tan at 16 seconds a time :-) To bad - I really could use one.

Dermatologist appt.

I haven't been to the dermatologist in 16 plus years. I had a mole on my back that stuck out some and because my psoriosis is in that area I found I was constantly hitting it when I itched. At night if I was itchy I woke in the morning with the mole bleeding and irritated. It also would scab over. I decided it had to go - so I saw the derm this week. He said it looks fine - but removed it for me no problem. It was sore for a few days and I couldn't were a normal bra because the strap rubbed on it. So I've been wearing a sports bra for 4 days now. (Makes me feel like I should be at the gym).

He wanted to know what I was doing for my psoriosis and I said nothing. He let me know there were a lot of good drugs out now. I told him I would only be open to light therapy - nothing else. I spoke with his nurse for awhile while she prepared everything for the mole removal. I explained to her how I was on antibiotics for so many years and it really did a number on me - I'm not open to anything that will cause more harm in the long run. She told me you can do light therapy without having any drugs with it. It helps a lot of people. I know it's not a cure in the long run and I'm looking to get better for long term not short term - but it may help boost what I'm doing naturally. It also may make it so I can wear a swim suit this summer :-) So I'm going to start light therapy this coming week for awhile and see if it gives me that extra boost I need. I have minimal scaling right now but lots of deep red skin. I would like that to fade away :-)

I added in yellow saffron tea this past week also. It has very little taste. I ordered the yellow saffron and slippery elm bark tea the same day - but only the yellow saffron has arrived so far. I like it and thought I saw a little improvement with it - hard to tell so far thought. These are 2 teas recommended my Dr. Pagano.

loosing weight still / infared sauna

I am still eating pretty good. I never ever have processed foods now which is great. I do almost all my cooking at home from scratch. I am learning I like a lot more new foods (especially veggies). The good new is I've lost more weight. I'm down now to about 157 (Started at 173).
I love fitting back into my size 10 jeans.

Someone recommended I try an infared sauna. I thought they were quite pricey for something I was "trying" and didn't know if I would like so I had passed on the idea....until I saw someone had one on craigslist for a really really great price. She had bought one of the small portable foldable ones and used it only once or twice - then she had bought one of the large wooden models. So I went this weekend and pickup up the small portable one for really cheap. I tried it out this morning. You basically sit in a small chair and zipper yourself in. I feel like I'm sitting in a space suit :-) It heats up - but doesn't have steam like the regular saunas. I makes you sweat. I don't know if it will make any difference at all - but I found it very relaxing. I sat in it and watched the news on tv then took a nice hot shower to wash off the sweat and followed up with lots of coconut oil all over my skin. They say you should sweat for detox reasons - if nothing else I like the heat as I'm always cold! I think it's a great way to start the day.

I tried dark chocolate almond milk this morning. That stuff is great! My church had a big women's ministries chocolate event last night. We had 9 different rooms set up that you travel around to and do something different. I was in the craft room all night making marshmallow snowmen so it was easy to not eat all that junk. At the end of the night one of the rooms had leftover cartons of chocolate almond and soy milk. I took home one of the almond milk to try. It was a great addition to my breakfast. I've tried the plain almond milk before and find I don't like to drink it by itself - but will use it for cooking and smoothies no problem. Like I said - trying new stuff is fun - never know what you'll end up liking.

Some Improvement

Well - I must say I'm feeling some improvement. My skin on my chin area is no longer red at all. it's somewhat dry - but looking 10 times better. The skin on my belly button area/chest/back are all still red - but the flaking is not there anymore. The skin in the groin area is no longer red - which makes me feel much better. The spots on my legs seem the same and the spots on my elbow/arm seem the same - weird because those are the smallest spots.

So far I've completely eliminated any wheat/gluten.
I do not eat anything processed or manufactured. I try to eat things that are natural in nature. I have cut back on all nightshades - but still have spaq. sauce or ketchup about 1 time a week.
I do not drink milk at all - but I do eat eggs and I use cheese sparingly.
I drink lots of water and herbal teas - and limit myself to 1-2 cups of coffee a day (no cream).
I also don't have sugar unless it's naturally in something like fruit.

For supplements I take probiotics/zinc/kelp(for iodine)/Multivitamin/Calcium w/ Magnesium & OPC3.
The probiotics are because I had so many years on antibiotics my good bacteria is pretty much gone. The zinc because I've heard it's good for psoriosis, the kelp because I have an under-active thyroid and need iodine, multivitamin and calcium because we need it and OPC3 is a powerful antioxidant and inflamation fighter.

I know the diet process is slow because your body has to re-adjust - I'm just glad to see some improvement and knowing my body is getting healthier.

I ordered some american yellow saffron tea and slippery elm bark powder online to start drinking as tea. I should get them soon.

Oh Crap!

Apparently I'm getting the hang of this eating thing! I read somewhere that if you eat a diet based mostly on fruits and veggies your crap will float. I thought at the time that was the weirdest thing I had ever heard of. It does not float - it sinks to the bottom like a rock.
Well this morning I realized - wholly crap it floats! They were right. I just had to share that with someone and since no one else would understand I am sharing with you :-) I can't just go up to someone and explain I'm excited because my crap is floating now - so no right :-)

Goat's milk soap

This is what I'm using right now for soap. I really like it and it's fragrance free and doesn't have any extra "junk" in it. I get mine at Hannafords for $2.79 but I see you can order it online a little cheaper. Of course that depends on shipping costs.

Day by Day

Taking it day by day :-) I have eliminated the gluten and am so proud of myself for it. I never noticed in the past how sensitive I was to it - but once last week I though I'd "try" to see if I really had an issue with it. I ate a burger - didn't really enjoy it either. Within an hour my face looked like a red tomato, I itched everywhere, my stomach was very upset and my psoriosis flared bad! I have officially proven to myself the gluten is bad for me.

This is how an elimination diet works. Eliminate what you suspect you might have issues with - for about a month if you can (I did 3+ months on the gluten free diet). Then try the product. I only needed one try - but they say you should go back to eating it for several days and see how you feel.

I have to be honest - it took my many tries to stay gluten free. I started in August. I'm not in the process of doing the same with dairy.

Today I was dehydrating zuchini chips w/ sea salt and vinegar. (My version of potato chips because I'm avoiding all "manufactured foods".) My husband suggested I make zuchini bread with the rest of the zuchini. I told him I could - but it would be gluten free because I was out of reg. flour. He told me it's all in my head - he thinks I've just "decided" I have an issue because the doctors don't direct you towards diet. It was extremely discouraging. He's never made any comments about my skin - but thinks I'm a little crazy to be trying all these food eliminations. I am just having a really discouraged day. I will keep going though. I've heard some say it took them like 7 months of changed diet to see a change in their skin. I also know if nothing else I'm going to be healthy ( and thin ) once again.

Feeling Good/Losing Weight

Well I made it to day 7 on my detox cleansing week. Yeah!!! Once I got about half way through the week my energy picked back up and I wasn't so tired. It's normal to be tired at the beginning and more energized at the end. Right now I have no desire to go back to eating the bad stuff. I'm loving the ease of making my green smoothies for breakfast and prefer the fruits and veggies. I have a ton of new recipes to try that I found online. Today we're snowed in - so far about 12" and it's only 10 am. The storm is suppossed to go until around 7 tonight. Today is a good day to cook. I'm making some homemade baked beans (that way I can control the sugar amounts) and tomatillo guacamolie for a potluck on Friday (I have lots of avacado's right now). I'm also making a mushroom lentil bake and I have an awesome recipe for eggplant caserole that I'm making for the potluck also. As I see it the trick to a potluck is bringing stuff you can eat so you're not starving and everyone brought desert or something.

Well so far I've gone from 171 lbs to 162. That's almost 10 lbs without "trying" - just changing the eating habits. I'm happy about the weight loss though. When you have psoriosis your self esteem can really be damaged. You feel like your damaged and you don't want anyone looking at you. Because I have psoriosis between my breasts so bad I can't wear anything remotely low cut. I also have to wear longer shirts because I don't want anyone to see my lower back or my belly button area. For a women this is tough because we want to feel sexy and attractive - that's really hard when the last thing you want is for anyone to ever see you naked! I remember when I was younger and fit I felt good about myself. I wore sexy bras and underwear and even if no one was seeing them I still felt sexy in them. I'm really happy that I'm starting to loose some weight as at least then I'll feel good in tight jeans or something. I'm praying for the skin to clear - at the very least in the more private areas. I met a guy on facebook that has psoriosis on his private areas. My heart just breaks for men who have that problem. He said it was causing issues with his wife and his sex life - I can only imagine the pain he must go through (physically and emotionally). I'm so happy to have an understanding husband. He has never made a negative comment about my skin.

Here's to more weight loss and clearer skin. Cheers! (I'm toasting myself with a cup of hot green tea - no alcohol for me).

Detox Week

I started my 7 day detox on Tuesday. So far so good. Things are "moving" so to speak. I'm comfortable though and not having any issues like really loose stools. Work was a little tough because everyone in my office ordered out almost every day - I did good though and just thought of my skin and was able to eat what I brought. I made a large batch of veggie soup at the beginning of the week so I had it on hand in case of hunger. I've had some raisins and almonds as well as fruit for snacks. I've been drinking lots of hot tea - I love the stuff. I've been making a large smoothie to drink in the morning and on the ride in to work. I have refused to bring them in to work because they look horrible - depending on what I put in there it's either dark green or poop colored. People would be really grossed out if they didn't understand. I'm really getting to like them and find it's much easier than actually cooking breakfast. The hard part for me is making dinner for everyone else in my family and then eating something else myself.

I've been searching and doing a lot of research on diets people have results with for psoriosis. I have the book by Dr. Pagano called " Healing Psoriosis the natural alternative". I also have one called "Your healing diet" by Deirdre Earls. I've also been studying the diet from "how to beat psoriosis.com" All recommend the usual: Drink lots of water, get plenty of rest at night, exercise, etc. Dr. Pagano's book and howtobeatpsoriosis.com both show the importance of having regular bowel movements. As far as diets go ... howtobeatpsoriosis.com is the most restrictive, followed by Dr. Pagano's book and then Deirdre Earls book.

Here's my summary....
Eat more Alkaline forming foods and less acidic (80%/20%)
Drink at least 8 glasses of water or herbal tea daily
Make sure you're going to the bathroom daily
Get in your fiber - flax seed is a great way to add extra
Stay away from the nightshade veggies (tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, peppers)
- black pepper is fine and sweet potatoes are fine
- Nightshades contain solanine which contributes to inflammation.
Avoid shell fish - they are bottom feeders (Eat freely swimming fish instead)
Limit or cut out beef and pork. Beef is very hard on your liver.
For gluten and dairy you'll need to do an elimination diet to see if they affect you.
- Gluten intolerance if very high among psoriosis sufferers
Watch out for citrus fruits and berries (strawberry, black berry, etc)
- Blueberries seem to be ok per 2 of these sources.
Fresh squeezed lemon juice is great to add to water, tea or smoothies.
Nuts - one source says all nuts are bad, one says nothing about them and one suggest they're all good except peanuts. I for one itch with peanuts but have no issues with almonds or sunflower seeds.

My conclusion: I'm going to due my best to follow these suggestions until my psoriosis is pretty much clear. Then I will try adding in the nightshades and watch for any reaction, etc. I for one never ate very many nightshades - so I don't think they caused much of my problems - but they can contribute to inflammation. I spoke w/ my nuetritionist about them and she felt if I ate them I should just take extra omega 3 (anti-imflamatory) to combat it some. She didn't feel veggies of any kind are a problem - fruits either. She did warn me beef is very hard on your liver though and we determined peanuts normally have a mold that grows on them - which is probably why I itched so bad after eating them.

I have noticed since starting to detox things have gotten worse - yes worse. That's normal though. The redness is incredible right now - but the thickness of the scales is almost gone. The skin is very uncomfortable and sore also. I'm taking things a day at a time. I know it can take a long time for your body to heal naturally - but I feel it's worth it.

Happy New Year

Today is the start of a new year. I'm hoping today is the start of a new body also :-) I went to see my neutritionist yesterday and had another colonics. We talked about how things were going. I haven't seen a whole lot of changes yet. Things look good then bad then good. You know how that goes. She said basically my body is in a state of toxicity right now because the toxins are going to my skin. My liver is obviously on overload right now and not functioning at it's best. She wants me to do a 7 day detox before the next colonics session. She looked over the 7 day detox system I've used in the past and felt it was a good one. I also like it because it's fairly gentle and I can still work while doing it. I need to eat mostly fruits and veggies. For protein if needed I can have eggs/chicken or fish - without cheese or added fat, etc. My smoothies are good in the morning - but she wants me to up the amount of flax seed meal I was adding from 1 tbsp to 2-3 instead (more fiber). I'm starting this on Wed so I need to prepare by making some veggie soups to have on hand, etc. It's not good to get to a really hungry stage and not have things on hand to grab.

My colonics session went well. More came out than I normally see. She thinks my colon may be tipped a bit so that when I'm laying down on the table the angle's not working with my body as well as if I'm sitting on the toilet. From what did come through the machine she noticed I had a lot of mucus and we could see a lot of hard metal coming through. I asked about that and she said it comes from environmental toxins mostly as well as dental work. (Yikes). I'm glad most dentists have swithed away from the metal fillings.

I found some really awesome lotions that I like recently. They're from a company called SheaTerra Organics. They have a website and are made from shea butters. I got Shea Gold and Cape Lavender. The Shea Gold says right on it for psoriosis and the lavender smells heavenly! The products don't have any preservatives/parabens and other toxins so I feel safe putting them on my body. Right now I'm so leary of what I eat and what I put on my skin because I am seeing what all the toxins have done to my body over time. It's time for me to put an end to adding more in there. If you sign up with your email address at SheaTerra Organics they add you on the email list - then you get coupon codes sent to you. I signed up and waiting about 2 weeks before getting one - but I got a coupon code for 30% off. It was well worth the wait. I'm always one for a sale :-)

Last night I went to a New Years Eve party at my sisters. After we ate some I came down with an immediate migraine headache. I haven't had one in awhile so I knew it was something I ate or drank that caused it. After going back through everything I ate I narrowed it down to the punch. It had fruit punch in it with artificial flavorings and colorings. I was so good on what I ate I didn't even think about the punch. I was trying to avoid the soda! Ugh - very discouraging. I'll stick to water & tea like I have been doing.

I wish all a happy new year and also a year of clearer skin and less aches and pains!