Does anyone else have psoriasis?

I *think* I do, well, I'm pretty damn sure I do, but the doctors around here have this policy of never telling you what you have in technical terms so you wont be frightened or tempted to self-medicate or something. I constantly have the plaque thing on my knuckles and elbows, and the nail thing (oncholyosis) on my big toes is a pain. I even had a bit of the pustular thing on one of my feet this summer, but thankfully it went away.
I could really use someone to talk to. I dont mean that like I'm depressed or anything, I just want to exchange experiences and learn how to deal with this stupid thing.
I've registered on www.psoriasis.org. That site looks great

Oh, and if you dont know what psoriasis is, dont google for it. It's not pretty. But thankfully mine is really mild. If it weren't for the horrible nail problems I would be perfectly happy with it.
Basically it's a genetic condition that makes your immune system attack your skin or something, and then it starts growing three times faster than normal, hardens, cracks, itches, hurts, etc.

Hi Eggy. I don't have psoriasis, but I do have a toenail fungus! It basically makes my toenails thick and difficult to trim. Its lsometimes painful if the thickening occurs at the tip of the toe and inbeds in the skin. Anyway, I basically just wanted you to know that you aren't the only one with strange nail issues! I can make it go away with a strong drug, but prefer not to use that again. It actually cleared up for a year...then returned - happy as ever.

I am now trying a vinegar cure. Every night I put a couple of drops of vinegar on each toe. Sheesh - the things we do for normal 'stuff'...in SL I could just get some new feet somewhere.

Heh Ursa, my nail problems look exactly like what I read that psoriasis may cause - oncholyosis aka loosening of the nail.
In my case, loosening of the nail from the nail bed means that I now have these irregularly shaped mini-nails sprouting from the sides of my big toenail. It's horrible. A friend of mine once called it the "cancer" nail. I've had surgery twice. They basically removed the mini-nail. One of the sides actually healed for a couple of months, but now it's all back. Thing is, these mini-nails dig into my toe and it gets infected. Some days I have difficulty walking. And to add insult to injury, I think my other toe is getting the same thing. Sometimes it hurts for no reason, and it's a little reddish, so it may be that the nail is loosening.
If this is truly caused by psoriasis then it will probably happen for the rest of my life. So I'm wondering if I actually need to have a nail there to begin with.

An ex-girlfriend of mine that I lived with for about a year had psoriasis. It was onset by a bout of Strep Throat when she was 9 and would rear it's ugly head anytime she didn't take care of herself or had alot of stress. At one point during our relationship, it covered about 60% of her body in the form of red, rough patches of skin that to the touch felt extremely dry. Every night for almost a year I helped her put a special ointment on the bad skin only because it was hazardous to her good skin. Eventually, because it was a severe case, she had to take special cyclosporine pills. There are several ways of treating it but the methods and medicines used for severe cases can be dangerous and the patient has to visit the doctor every few weeks to make sure they aren't having any of the bad side effects. There is a wealth of information and an extremely supportive community available on the internet. A word of caution though: The reason there are so many ways to treat it is that it seems to differ from person to person. No one method of treatment is guaranteed to help.

Hope this helps

Eggy, I have lived with psoriasis for the past 12 years. I have it on my forearms, calves, scalp and all limb joints, legs and arms.

Everything you ever wanted to know about psoriasis (and then some) can be found at http://www.psoriasis.org, the website of the National Psoriasis Foundation, of which I am a member.

EDIT: DUH -- how did I miss the fact that you mentioned psoriasis.org?!?

Do your finger or toenails have little indentations in them, like craters? That's another way to diagnose psoriasis.

It sounds like you might need to find a new doctor, too. Any doctor who won't come out and tell you what the diagnosis is -- even possible diagnosis -- doesn't deserve your money. I would think if you ask outright, he should tell you. If he doesn't, search for a psoriasis specialist, which you can do in the Physicians Directory at the website I mentioned. They list only doctors who "know their stuff" when it comes to psoriasis.

If you have any questions, feel free to email me at aaronlevy (at) gmail (dot) com and I can help point you in the right direction. But know this -- if you do have it, you are not alone. The National Psoriasis Foundation puts the number at 4.5 million Americans who suffer with it. (I don't know what country you are in, but that's America's numbers.)

Hope this information helps,
Aaorn

As far as dealing with it, start with the OTR remedies.

Coal Tar creams
Dead Sea Salt creams and ointment

The stupid thing about the condition is that a treatment will work for 3 months to a year and then just stop, making you have to try other remedies. In 12 years, I've gone through so many cycles of treatment it's not even funny.

Hey Aaron thanks for the tips!
I do have tiny pits in a few of my fingernails. My big toes have had highly irregular nails in a couple of years. More than tiny pits, they seem to have horizontal indentations across them, as if they grew thinner and thicker over time. My doctor's answer was "that's normal". That's pretty much the standard answer you get from doctors around here. BTW I dont pay for medical services. I cant afford any private doctors so I just go to the government-sponsored corpse factories. Did I mention that there's 3000 malpractice suits every year in portugal, and also 10000 people die in hospitals of easily preventable infections? That's 1% of all people who go to a hospital!
The psoriasis.org website is a great resource, but it only lists american doctors

Oh, I forgot to mention. My doctor told me to just use hand lotion to hydrate my skin.
But I use my mom's cortisone cream now and then... she has it a lot worse than me.

I'm so unobservant, sorry I didn't see that you were from Lisbon, Portugal. Cool country! I was there once.

Try this site:

http://www.europso.org/java/index.jsp

It's the foundation for people with psorasis in Europe.

Also this was listed as a contact in Portugal on another site:

PORTUGAL
Fundación Dra. Maria Fernanda Pacheco Mealha (Portugal)
(Associacao Dos Psoriaticos de Portugal)
Rua Almeida Garret, 47 - 1º Esq. 8000 Faro
Portugal

That info was at http://www.pangea.org/~psoriasi/

I hope any of this can help you.

There also some data at this site

http://www.eadv.org/index.asp

Search for Psoriasis; some of it looked useful, though geared towards Doctors, since its a doctor's association, but there is patient information on there too.

Thanks for the help. The address you posted is on the southern edge of my country, but I will definitely check out those websites. Let me just turn image loading off... oO

Here is a portrait that I did from another thread. I didn't want you to miss it. Keep looking at it - its a bit slow to start!

http://artpad.art.com/gallery/?i7ybyd3rv4k

I have a problem with my back and scalp itching after I bathe/shower, but only if I lay down in bed or bend over for some reason.