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The Painful Truth About Psoriasis--Dietary Considerations

Just as with many other chronic health conditions, diet plays a role in disease management.  Here is a quick overview of dietary considerations for people with psoriasis: First off, if you are a psoriasis patient you may notice that some foods tend to trigger flare-ups more than other foods.  To this point, it's good to be observant and do what your body tells you to do. As long as you follow a healthy diet, this is good! It has been suggested that people with celiac disease may be at higher risk for psoriasis than other persons. A gluten free-diet is the mainstay of treatment for celiac disease,and it may help keep psoriasis flares at bay as well. But the relationship between gluten intolerance, yeast exposure and psoriasis is not well understood at this point in time. You can try eliminating gluten or yeast if you suspect it to be a problem and see what happens. Fatty red meats are known to increase heart health risks...and people with psoriasis have an increased

The Painful Truth About Psoriasis--Traditional Medical Treatments

As previously posted, psoriasis is a chronic immune mediated disorder that causes raised red scaly patches to appear on the skin.  You might not think of it as a chronic pain disorder, but it's not exactly comfortable to be living with this condition all the time. If left untreated, psoriasis can develop into psoriatic arthritis. Other possible complications include eye issues, type 2 diabetes, obesity, hypertension, heart disease and more.  So it makes sense to manage and treat it, because it certainly is much more than a simple skin condition. There are several methods that are used to manage psoriasis in traditional medical practice. Here are some examples: Biologics --usually administered via IV infusion, these drugs are usually used for more severe cases or cases in which other treatments have been ineffective. Systemics --these are for moderate to severe cases of psoriasis.  Some are injectable and some are oral medications. They include drugs such as cyclosporine and

The Painful Truth About Psoriasis--In A Nutshell

The National Psoriasis Foundation defines psoriasis as "an immune-mediated disease that causes raised, red scaly patches to appear on the skin." The exact cause of this disorder in not known, but genetics and the immune system play a big role in its development. Men and women are affected equally, but Caucasians are more susceptible than African Americans. Most people are initially diagnosed somewhere between 10 and 15 years of age. Psoriasis is not a contagious disease! There are five basic types of psoriasis: Plaque psoriasis is the most common form of psoriasis. It appears as raised red patches with a silver to white buildup of dead skin cells on top.  It looks something like this: Guttate psoriasis appears as small dot like lesions on the skin.  This form usually starts in childhood, and is the second most common form of the disorder.  Here is an example: Very red patches that appear in body folds, such as armpits, back of the knee, or groin might be a

A Picture Says It All: Back Pain

Source:Flickr

A Picture Says It All: Headache or Migraine?

Source:Axonoptics

A Picture Says It All: Fibromyalgia

Image source: Wikimedia

Pain and Pregnancy, Part Three

The FDA has clearly established guidelines for safe usage of medications during pregnancy. Generally speaking, there are five categories of drugs:  Pregnancy category A Adequate research has been done with the conclusion that drugs in this category are not likely to cause any harm to the fetus in the first trimester as well as later in pregnancy. Pregnancy Category B Studies carried out on animals have shown no adverse effects on the fetus; however, there is a lack of controlled studies on human pregnancy. Pregnancy category C Animal studies have shown evidence of harmful effects on the fetus; however, no controlled study has been done on a human pregnancy. The medicines may be prescribed in cases where the potential benefits outweigh the possible adverse effects. Pregnancy category D Studies done on human pregnancy have shown positive risks to the fetus. However, doctors might prescribe them in certain cases where the potential benefits outweigh the risks