My dd develped a rash weeks ago which looked like classic pityriasis rosea. After a couple of months it suddenly all joined up and started flaking and looked really bad so went back to the GP who got us an appointment that day with a dermatologist. She was diagnosed with psoriasis. It is widespread covering all of her neck, most of her face, lots of large spots on her tummy, legs and arms and patches on her scalp. This was four weeks ago.

We were given several creams for her and treatment for her head. The first cream we used on her neck and back for three days only as it was not for children. After the three days we thought she'd be better within a week the progress was so great. Since then we've been using the milder cream (which is also only for adults so can only use a little bit) twice a day and a different cream on her face. The creams sting when they go on and I don't think they are helping much. Some days the psoriasis looks less red and her skin seems smoother and other days it looks big, red and angry. There is hardly any difference between the parts that are getting the cream and the parts (legs and arms) that aren't. She's also on the list for light therapy.

My dd is four and a half and has never really had any problems with anything until this started in the summer. My dh used to have excema but that cleared up after living in South Africa for a few years and has never returned. None of the rest of us have skin problems.

Does anyone have any advice on things we can try or just how to cope with it? I really hope its not going to be like this for the rest of her life. At the moment she isn't too self-conscious but I'm sure when she gets older this could change. We've changed our washing powder, reduced baths as these seemed to make it worse and have cut right down on dairy.

Sorry it's so long and thanks in advance.

Lucy X

sage oil can be very helpful with psorasis - it cured my brother in law's up.I have had great success treating mine with accupuncture

I have had psoriasis ever since I was six weeks old (the onset seems to have coincided with my mother weaning me from breastmilk).

I have had all treatments in the book, from tarry ointments and baths, to prescribed UV exposure, own blood injections and steroids.

At the moment I keep it nicely under control with the natural product range from SALCURA. (cream and spray) www.salcura.com

Andrea from London

My friend's grand daughter suffered like your little one.  Her mother tried all sorts of creams from the doctor, herbal remedies and homoeopathy.  The latter helped for a while but did not get rid of it completely.  She was then recommended to try Health Kinesiology and the change was incredible.  After just one session the affected area had shrunk and the itching was greatly reduced.

 The little girl had 3 treatments and all trace disappeared.  That was 2 years ago and there has been no re-occurance.

It's got to be worth a try.

Try Propolis Cream from Forever Living Products - Aloe Vera + Bee Propolis - natural anti inflammatory, anti-bacterial products with no chemicals.

Margaret

Hi,

Either the aloe vera gelly or aloe propolis cream fromForever Living could help. We know of a number of people who have been helped in this way, including a friend who had suffered since she was a young girl and was now 25 found that it disappeared within two weeks after using the aloe propolis!

Regards

Peter R

Hi Lucy,

I would recommend seeing a homeopath who will look into posssible reasons of rhte psoriasis starting.  A shock of some sort is often an aetiology for psoriasis specifically, do you know of any physical or mental traumas that may tie on with the onset?  A homeopath would look at that and end then treat on the causation thus addressing the underlying cause.  Try and Alliance of Reg. Hom or the Society of Hom. for details on practitioners.

Good luck.

Hello

Try Dr Bach Crab Apple put 2 drops into milk and dab with cotton wool this will keep for a day in cool air tight container.

I read about this, as I am a Dr Bach practitioner, and I told my friend who suffered with psoriasis on her elbows for ten years, and she now shows them off telling everyone how good the remedy is.

Good luck

Veronica

1)
It's very likely linked to something in the diet, first step could be to go completely organic and see what happens - unless the trigger is avoided, the psoriasis could return, and although there may be creams that would keep it down, I'd personally prefer to fix the problem rather than apply external short term fixes or take medicine.

2)
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) will definitely help, but make sure you go see a proper chinese doctor (ie. there are TCM clinics on many highstreets, I use my local one for both myself and my 5yo. and 1yo. children, as well as hubby).

If you're in London, I can personally highly recommend www.instituteofchinesemedicine.org/welcome.htm, otherwise ask around to get a recommendation for a clinic near you.

---

If you wanted to do a food trial, I would start by only letting your daughter consume truly organic food and drink, be strict with this, or your data would be useless and your time wasted, so read the labels on everything.
Note, that "supermarket organic" is not necessarily as organic as you'd hope - I can test this on my own skin, and my 1yo. daughter get asthmatic wheezing from "organic" bread from the supermarket :0).

I get organic foods at a local organic farmers market and local health shops.

I would particularly avoid all additives, even "natural colouring" etc. and in particular avoid artificial sweeteners (beware of the ones called something not indicating an artificial sweetener), and if possible, also all processed foods, which means cooking everything yourself for a month or two, to see if you get an improvement.

The point of this is to see if the psoriasis goes away, and then you can introduce foods again, to see which make the psoriasis flare up.

There are also some nutritionists that are aware of this, you could try finding one of those, or alternatively, search for "psoriasis" on eg. Yahoo Groups, http://groups.yahoo.com/ , to find other psoriasis sufferers and read the latest inside info.
The following site, for example, looks interesting:  http://groups.msn.com/psoriasisisavoidable




All the best, hope you get some results soon.
Susanna

To deal with Psoriasis you have to work on the inside rather than just the outside. I am a homeopath and have seen terrific results with a constitutional remedy given for the patient as an individual rather than just the symptoms. One of my patients has had psoriasis for 40 years before she tried homeoapthy and she can't believe the results. It has also worked well with children.

Make sure you see a Classical homeopath who will give 1 remedy only. I suggest you see someone who has been in practice a few years. Check the Society of Homeopaths web site for a list in your area.

Hi there

I have suffered with Psorasis on the scalp for the past ten years and have recently had a food intolerance test and found that I ahave an  intolerance to mustard , grapes and corn. By eliminating these items , the psorasis has cleared up and its only when I have the odd glass of wine that it recurs. I have found that a glass of Merlot is ok but anything else and it erupts again.I suppose it could be any food not necessarily grapes  but thats my individual problem.???? I had a few warts and they have gone too .