Psoriasis

eeloe wrote: »

I'm due my shot tonight, looking forward to it also, because i'm having some tiny flare ups!

How often are you getting it now?

suttonboi1 wrote: »

Can anyone tell me what is the situation with vaccines here for people on immunosuppressant medication? Should I be offered a vaccine outside of the normal aged rotation due to being “high” risk? If so who is in charge of ensuring that, consultant or GP?

Background is I only started on Adalimumab last week so not sure if I have missed any list that I should have been on.

Any insights greatly appreciated.

According to this link, there is no evidence that Biologics put you at higher risk for Covid - https://www2.hse.ie/conditions/coronavirus/weak-immune-system.html


For the vaccine rollout, the specification for cohort 4 for immunosuppression by medication is:

treatment: - included but not limited to Cyclophosphamide, Rituximab, Alemtuzumab, Cladribine or Ocrelizumab in the last 6 months

This seems to have been interpreted differently by different consultants/departments. I have heard of several people on various Biologics who have already gotten their first jab, but my own rheumatologist told me they are only putting people on Rituximab on the list. Maybe the people who already got listed have other co-morbidities, or maybe their consultant acted differently. No way to know unfortunately.

Cohort 7 includes:

Immunocompromise due to disease or treatment, for example: high dose systemic steroids (as defined in Immunisation Guidelines for Ireland Chapter 3), persons living with HIV.

Again, that's very open to interpretation. Are they referring to https://www.hse.ie/eng/health/immunisation/hcpinfo/guidelines/chapter3.pdf only for the definition of "high dose systemic steroids", or are they saying all conditions in Chapter 3 are included - biologics are in section 3.8 Immunomodulatory treatment.
My consultant said they may be including people on biologics/methotrexate/combination treatment in cohort 7, but that they haven't yet been informed of exactly what to do.

The bottom line seems to be that no-one can tell you for sure except your own doctors. You may need to get in touch with them and ask. You could also contact your GP and ask if they are putting you on the list, or even if they can put you on a backup list if they have leftover vaccines after completing the over-70s.

suttonboi1 wrote: »

Do you know how you managed to get vaccinated early considering your consultant said category 7 which hasn’t started yet?

I think there was a quoting error there, the first sentence was from my post.

I think this is probably a example of a consultant/department who decided these medications were in cohort 4, rather than 7.

Psychedelics as a novel approach to treating autoimmune conditions


Case Report: Resolution of Rheumatoid Arthritis in a Patient Consuming Psilocybin Mushrooms

He was given a diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis and offered low-dose prednisone and advised to start methotrexate. The patient declined the methotrexate but took prednisone for two weeks.

Shortly after that he consumed some psilocybin mushrooms and was surprised to observe that his joint pain and swelling completely resolved for about 24 hours. In addition, his seasonal allergy symptoms also completely resolved. When he had another flare of joint pain several years later, he took four doses of psilocybin mushrooms of 2 grams each over a two-week period and again had complete resolution of his symptoms. That was one year prior to the writing of this paper. Subsequently he has been using psilocybin mushrooms periodically and he has not experienced any signs or symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis since then.

"Classic hallucinogens" (e.g. magic mushrooms, LSD, cacti) are gaining popularity for the treatment of depression. Mushrooms are being legalized in some US states for medicinal use. People are also using minimal "microdoses" for depression and just general alertness. This means taking a small dose so low there is no normal influence of the drug, it would be like having a shot glass of beer.

For many years they have been known as a treatment for "cluster headaches", there were online groups of growers who would send them out free to sufferers.

There might be some classic hallucinogen analogs which are still legal here.


Psychedelics and Immunomodulation: Novel Approaches and Therapeutic Opportunities

Thus, these compounds emerge as very promising candidates in many diseases with chronic inflammatory etiology and pathology, such as atherosclerosis, psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, type I diabetes, multiple sclerosis, schizophrenia, depression, and Alzheimer’s disease.

Dunno about microdoses but i can tell you my experience wirh regular doses of shrooms or lsd: does nothing for psoriasis other than your mind will certainly be elsewhere for a while.

As for depression I would say I could see it being effective as for a day or two the lingering after effects often had me still feeling that positive 'at one with the cosmos' feeling, but it always wore off and I went back to being a miserable git with an itchy painful epidermis.

The little shrooms that grow out of the cow shíte in Ireland you need a couple hundred to trip on so id say a microdose is maybe 50? You can make tea with it also. I always found the big ones like you get in america a lot more reliable and potent. Be aware they dont agree with everyones stomachs, they are a poison after all but microdoses should be okay for most people I'd imagine.

Got the Pfizer vaccine yesterday.
Not feeling 100% but nothung dreadful either

I got the moderna one a week ago. Was tired that night and had a pain in my arm for a day or so.

Phil69 wrote: »

Has anyone found any types of food to make their Psoriasis worse?

I have tried giving up potatoes, bread & rice and have had big improvements. 6 weeks ago my arms were so bad I was worried about getting a vaccination, where they would actually be able to inject. Now I can wear a t shirt. I was fasting a few days too, and dieting in general.

I am also doing UVB light treatment at home, but was having no real success until changing my diet & calorie intake.

I am only treating my upper body with light. My legs were improving and then last week I drank a lot and ate chips, and my legs were really bad in the next few days and have since healed a lot again.

Phil69 wrote: »

rubadud, do you think potatoes, rice and bread are all a trigger? I have left potatoes and rice in my diet but took out the bread, I hoping potatoes are not an issue as eat a fair few of them . I think fasting definitely helps.

I am not sure about rice but reckon potatoes and bread are (for me anyway).

Some potatoes are higher in solanine than others, which is the "poision" in the "nightshade family" that is often recommended to be avoided (tomatoes & bell peppers in that group). I had eaten some fried potatoes which were not cooked very much and think that gave me a terrible reaction, so I gave them all up. Last year I went on a similar diet with fasting and cleared up very well, and very quickly. But then I went back to my old ways in the run up to christmas.

If potatoes are cooked in different ways it reduces the amount of solanine.

I am cutting out rice to cut calories to lose weight, and also as I think the starches are not good for the (my) gut. Some think psoriasis is linked to candida, if you search "fasting" in this thread you will see another poster who had great success.

The causes/triggers and things seemingly causing remission is definitely not the same for all people, so trying to rid yourself of possible candida might have no effect at all.

Yea i think so.

Thanks. I paid 80 euros for a tube over a tear ago, still got around 20% of it left. Find it very good

Finally after 20 years of suffering with this I got to see a dermatologist. I went to Dr. Rupert Barry as another poster recommended and found him very good. I am going to be starting on Stelara hopefully after I go back to get blood work done, and he gave me a script for protopic for my face as well.

Even though I havent started the meds yet I have noticed an improvement in my skin already, I think it must be because I was so relieved to get prescribed something that may actually work as opposed to stupid steroid creams that do more harm than good.

It's crazy that I had to take the bus from Donegal to Dublin to get this seen to and that the public system is such a joke you can't even get an appointment for over 2 years. My GP retired and the one took over his office is a complete arsehole it's like pulling teeth to get him to give you anything and he's clueless about psoriasis anyway.

After hearing for so long how psoriasis is incurable and how much the biologics cost I had given up on ever getting relief. I also had a terrible experience around 10 years ago I did manage to get into a derm in Sligo on the public system. After being seen to 2 hours past my appointment time, last in group of about 15, half of whom arrived after me, I was made strip off and sit waiting for the derm while a nurse stared at me (i realized later she was staring at my tattoos not my psoriasis but still). Only to get prescribed the same BS creams at the end of it and so I never went back.

Hopefully this has a much happier ending. The fact that psoriasis is not on the long term illness list is a diagrace it is chronic and incurable what more criteria could there be? We really need to fight for people to be able to access the meda that work not just throw creams at them and fob them off.