Feeling Better After Treatment - Psoriasis Question for jmjm530

[nobhillhepc]

Well, almost 3 weeks off interferon, almost 2 weeks off Ribavarin, starting to have "good days" again, have been able to walk home up the steep hills in my neighborhood after work, something I have been unable to do for months.  Got my appetite back a few days ago, eating good again, a few people at work said "your color looks good", guess I am on the mend.  Starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, just a waiting game now to see if I remain clear.

jmjm530:

I forgot what you did post treatment?  Did you maintain UV therapy after finishing or did you just let psoriasis run its course?  I know you did UV (correct term?) during treatment.  Have noticed armpits and inner thighs have cleared, itching a lot less, scalp seems to have less psoriasis, does seem months away before I would go park or beach without shirt on, I am planning 2/3 months to get at least to pre-treatment level of psoriasis (which really was not a big deal), guess my thoughts are to just leave it alone and avoid any risks with UV.  Any thoughts?  Just doing occasional medium strength steroid cream and antihistamines.

Marcus

[jmjm530]

I pretty much stopped UV treatment for the guttate by week 42 of 54 and tapered off the X-Trac laser for my feet and hands shortly thereafter. My post treatment problems were mostly with rosacea and seb derm although the diagnosis was sebopsorisis, so I guess some psoriasis was layered in on face and maybe chest but it was a fuzzy diagnosis. I'm about one year post tx now, and for the past year my psoriasis is pretty much all gone but the seb derm and rosacea still remain although quite manageable. Hopefully, it will stay that way when the summer sun hits but I'm not being overly optimistic about that. May have to make a lifestyle change moving forward in life, in terms of fun in the sun, but things could be a lot worse. Sounds like you have a good plan, just make sure you're pulsing the steroids correctly under a derm's suprevision and hopefully not using any topical steroids on your face. Have you heard about the Dead Sea treatment? Surprisngly good results but you got to hop a plane to Israel to take advantage. Your psoriasis def should get better on its own solely due to stopping the inteferon but may take 2-4 months to kick back to pre-tx levels. Sun, while bad for rosacea, is good for psoriasis, so you might try out the Spring sun in short doses.

All the best,

-- Jim

[nobhillhepc]

Hey Jim, looks like you replied to this, but I can't see what you wrote, something wrong with site?
Marcus

[bobbyullc]

HOWDY,

my psoriasis is almost gone 7 months post tx and aurora tx helped the rosacrea. i still itch out of habit now. fatigue still my worst problem.
bobby

[jmjm530]

Hi Bobby,

Glad the Aurora helped. A bunch of questions if you don't mind but I'm still thinking of laser treatments:

1. Is Aurora IPL (intense pulsed light) or PDL (pulse dye laser). Only PDL is actual laser.

2. How many treatments and how much for each treatment?

3. Did the treatments affect beard growth?

4. Can you remind me a little of how severe was your rosacea, where it was, and how much the Aurora treatments helped.

5. After treatments, do you notice less flushing and/or breakouts with typical rosacea triggers such as heat, sun, red wine, etc.

6. Do you plan on follow-up treatments? Any other thoughts?

Thanks for any help you can give.

All the best,

-- Jim

[bobbyullc]

i had moderate rosacrea basically red face only that was made much worse by tx. i took 3 txs of it and it was $800 a tx. it is rf freqs combined by light supposly the newest tx. it helped a lot and MAY do follow ups in 5 years if it starts to return. my symptoms return slightly with alcohol or stomach acid but it is far better now. i wish it did slow my beard but no. it did make the sun damage caused by tx look worse for several days but not long. i would do it again and will if needed. it is a little more expensive per tx but can use only 3 - 5 txs so it cheaper. if needed i would recommend it and you may get a better price as my dr is expensive. ps get pain pills as it can be very unconfortable.
i hope you stick around med help as you are the voice of reason.

[nobhillhepc]

Hey Jim, got your feedback, thanks!  I rarely use any topical steriods anymore, maybe 3 times a week, have only used over the counter 1% cortisone on face, but have not done that for several weeks (face was normally pretty clear).  I'll try and get some sun soon, but skin still looks so scary I'll have to find a friend's backyard, or perhaps roof of my building, somewhere semi-private, very self-conscious of appearance still.  

Marcus

[EK3]

I feel for you.  I just finished Hep C treatment (48 weeks - Genotype 1) about 3 weeks ago and I also have Psoriasis.  It went ballistic soon after the Interferon treatment and it is still pretty bad.  If I can hang in there, I am going to wait a few more weeks before I decide to pursue treatment for the Psoriasis.  Hang in there though.  The outcome is worth the trouble I think.