Utilizing a holistic approach to support healing with psoriasis by recognizing internal and external triggers. Learn how to strengthen your body’s own defenses and reduce the impact to your body from numerous inflammatory triggers.
Looking At Everything
With a Psoriasis diagnosis, an MD or Dermatologist has confirmed that the skin is affected by an auto immune condition which may be causing scaly rough patches, burning, itching or cracking on the skin, occasionally joint pain is involved. These can outbreaks can happen when your body is triggered by things like stress, cold and infections, like bacterial in the digestive tract. Standard care through a dermatologist doesn’t always look at holistically supportive options, they may include something like a topical steroid to calm the flare that’s appearing on your skin. They may not point out internal or external factors which may contribute to the imbalance where it all began.
Here, we will look at the many things that you can do to try to shift that state of imbalance that is happening to strengthen your own body’s defenses and reduce the negative impact from inflammatory triggers. To start, there is information about all the various things that can trigger a skin reaction, these are all things to help recognize what may be contributing to the overall condition itself. Then to follow, are a multitude of possibilities to consider which may improve the diagnosis and potentially (ideally) contribute to a reversal of the symptoms.
This article includes dietary, supplemental and herbal recommendations for support to help achieve that balance. All should be taken into consideration under the care and guidance of your own personal physician. These are things that have been seen work to improve a psoriatic condition, but they should be verified first and foremost for your health; to ensure that what you are using isn’t making something potentially worse; to make sure that you are spending your hard earned money on what your body will actually benefit from.
When looking at these impacting factors, please keep in mind that not all of it will apply to you. Listening to your body, talking with your practitioner and testing are crucial factors in moving forward with positive changes. These are factors that I have seen impact various people on various levels, not all of my clients have been impacted by all of the same symptoms nor will they all respond to the same recommended course of treatment. Everyone is different…please keep that in mind.
External Factors Impacting Psoriasis
Environmental impacts can make a significant difference depending on where you live. Cold weather is probably the biggest culprit to trigger issues with psoriasis, the dry cold especially, as it can further increase the dryness that your skin is already experiencing. Keeping the humidity up inside the home can be helpful, simply having a pan of water simmering on the stove can add additional moisture into the air if you don’t have access to a humidifier. It’s helpful to apply a protective barrier layer over the skin during the day, one that can help keep moisture in and help to soothe any tender or flared skin, some sort of a clean and non toxic calming, rich oil blend.
Skin Care Products will make a difference on your skin overall and can certainly impact a psoriasis flare. Staying away from chemical peels, abrasive exfoliation and really anything that is going to cause trauma to the skin. An abrasive exfoliant can potentially aggravate a flared patch, as can products that contain artificial colors or ‘fragrances’. Keeping products clean and as simple as possible is going to be the best to care for your skin.
Not over washing is important as well, cleanse only at night with just a warm water rinse in the morning. If you are using powder or cream base or concealer or a sunscreen it is great to wash twice in a row (at night), the first time to remove the dirt, oil and products from your skin, the second to actually cleanse the skin. Try to avoid extremely hot water as that can aggravate it as well. A mild and gentle cleanser is best, not one that you feel strip your skin after use, often milk or oil based may be a good direction to lean towards for psoriatic skin.
Oils in your products like Avocado, Almond, Acorn, Coconut, Shea Butter, Hemp Seed, Argan, Tamanu or Olive are all worth considering. A patch test is always a good idea before applying all over, especially to an already flared area. This is also where a consultation can help recommend specific products to consider that would be best for your skin based on your concerns.
Internal Imbalances Can Be Extremely Impactful to Psoriasis
So many things impact the body through the digestive tract, and when it becomes compromised, we often get clues that show up on our skin. Foods, medications and alcohol can all impact intestines in a negative way. Things like GMO’s (genetically modified organisms), non organic foods, nitrates/nitrites, sugar, processed, refined and fried foods, while they may taste delicious, can each wreak havoc in the digestive tract. They can be especially harmful to us when the lining of our digestive tract has been weakened from any sort of damage, known or unknown. Sometimes it is mild symptoms like a little indigestion after a meal, or perhaps a tad bit queasy after eating something, or maybe, you feel like your guts are strong as steel and don’t notice a thing after eating an inflammatory trigger, only that coincidentally, you have a flare in your skin soon after you have eaten some of your favorite foods.
What this diagnosis paired with these symptoms indicate is that there is an issue in the digestive tract that could potentially use some additional testing and support. There is a delicate balance of good and bad bacteria in our guts that can easily get thrown off, and when that happens, it’s usually the bad bacteria take over. We may not notice that takeover happening until our body responds with some sort of physical reaction, here it’s psoriasis.
Working with a Naturopathic Doctor or an MD who is familiar with the various aspects of digestive testing can be very helpful at this stage. They can help determine the best test(s) to utilize, based specifically off of your unique history and symptoms. Having knowledge of exactly what sort of imbalance is happening will dramatically help facilitate the healing process when it is properly addressed. It can take time and may need multiple points of support to fully heal and recover. Improvement could happen with diet modification and/or a supplemental regimen that might also include a particular strain of supportive bacteria, or probiotics.
A gentle reminder for you that while you are on this healing journey, it took a while for these symptoms to show up, it will take a little while for the healing to take place and the symptoms to reverse once you start on the proper course of treatment. Be patient with yourself, recognizing the need for changes is one thing, but actually implementing those changes where they can be most supportive, can be extremely challenging.
Food Intolerances
Foods and definitely the pesticides on/in those foods as well as flavoring additives and color enhancers certainly can play a role in skin issues, especially when there is an imbalance (or flare) happening. At any time our body can change and not like a certain food, especially if it is one that we have had repeatedly for a long time, sometimes our body just says it wants a break. This is where a test for food sensitivities is really helpful, it shows exactly what your body reacts to without the trial and error method (aka elimination method) which can take several months to determine all of your triggers. Knowing what you react to makes recovery go so much smoother. When consistently avoiding foods which cause inflammation (which causes tissue to further break down in the gut), the restoration and healing can happen much faster. If particular foods do cause reaction, asking your Dr to run a food intolerance test (FIT) can be extremely helpful.
General Inflammatory Foods
There are several standard food allergens that we could look at to start with. These are foods that are known triggers that cause allergic reactions or inflammation in many people: wheat, gluten, peanuts, eggs, soy, dairy, chocolate, sugar, corn (esp gmo), caffeine, beef, shellfish and nightshades which include; red and white potatoes (sweet potatoes are not nightshades), eggplant, peppers (all colors), tomatillos and tomatoes. While tomatoes are often seen as anti inflammatory, I see them more often as hugely inflammatory triggers, especially in issues like rosacea. There are also spices that are inflammatory like chili, paprika, cayenne and curry. Each body can react differently to these foods and your body may react to some of these at various times in your life.
Again, this is where food intolerance testing is so helpful to know specifically for you sooner, not later. This is a big list, if you cannot get testing right away, start with just avoiding these things and see how your skin responds, do your flares start to diminish at all? Keeping a food journal is often really helpful to recognize triggers and patterns that come up when you track symptoms as they relate to your food intake.
Personally having celiac and microscopic colitis, strengthening my gut is a constant challenge. I find that any time that I introduce an inflammatory food, if I haven’t been following my supplement regimen or I have indulged in one too many from my list of no no’s, it sets back my overall health. It may show up as blisters with a rash in uncomfortable places, it is often paired with joint pain, or more often, gut discomfort. Your sensitivity and reaction levels will be different, but if you notice that avoiding nightshades, eggs and wheat make a little difference, and your condition improves during that time of avoidance, that is definitely something to pay attention to as you go forward in your healing journey.
Additional Internal Factors To Consider
Hormones can play a large role in psoriasis flares as well, especially around menstrual cycles when estrogen decreases. If you notice flares happening related to hormonal times of fluctuation, working with an herbalist or naturopath who can test your hormones to see specifically what is going on and provide herbal, nutritional or supplemental support during those times can be extremely beneficial.
Stress can play a large factor in your body’s (in)ability to heal. Perhaps it is after a particularly stressful week that you notice your small patch of roughness has spread into an all out flare. Let’s look at the things that could be done to address the stress in your life and bring down that level of response to one where your body can find a place of relaxation to calm and heal it’s overworked systems. Family, work, finances, cooking, grocery shopping, school, politics, pandemics~there are so many things to manage in our days, it can all get so out of control and while some situations may not be changeable right now, hopefully, this article will provide you a suggestion to help find a tiny moment of respite in our ever changing, wild world.
Heavy Metals can also wreak havoc on your skin as well as so many other organs and systems in the body. Skin issues are but one of a plethora of symptoms that can be associated with heavy metal toxicity. These can potentially come from the air we are breathing, the dishes we use, the lead in our pipes and the water we drink and bathe in, foods we consume, paint in our homes, our work environments and sadly, so many of our body care products and makeups. An occasional exposure to any one of the heavy metals in our environment can be tolerated by most bodies, compromised systems or those which are bombarded with heavy metals will begin to show signs… fatigue, hair/nail/skin damage, respiratory, digestive, and hormonal issues, weight gain or loss, the list is exhaustive.
MD’s may have some awareness around testing methods but don’t have much experience with detoxification of those buildups. Again, ND’s can provide immense support, utilizing various methods of chelation from gentle herbal formulas to deeper more active methods like suppository or IV. Heavy metal detox takes time, and learning where your exposures are coming from will help to aid in reducing the overall load to the body.
General Supportive Considerations
Breathing, taking a few moments to notice your breath, close your eyes and relax into your breath, just for a few slow ins and outs…can you feel your body soften, just ever so slightly? If so, try to pay attention several times a day to what your breath is doing, allow yourself just a moment to relax into that breath. If you notice that softening, it could be very beneficial to try to find ways to build on this little practice. Finding a meditation practice that resonates with you can be extremely helpful if only for a few moments a day. It can help train our body to relax easier when we might get into a triggered state.
Sounds, like those used in Vibrational Sound Therapy, could be helpful. Certain tones resonate with our body and can help facilitate the relaxed state that is so supportive to our healing process. Or start with playing relaxing and soothing music when you are able, how does that affect your overall feel of stress in the body and your ability to let some of it go?
Acupuncture is incredible to help relax the body, stimulate circulation and facilitate healing. If finances are an issue, some clinics may offer a sliding scale if you ask. Traditional Chinese Medicine offers many options for supportive herbal therapies based on thousands of years of science. If you are comfortable with the needles, acupuncture and its traditional supportive medicinals can be incredibly restorative to our body.
Topicals that may offer some support could be coconut oil or shea butter, aloe gel~ideally using the gel straight from an aloe plant. CBD oil could be beneficial as could Tamanu. I only mention this as some have found support from Tea tree and Lavender oils but they risky to try because they are strong and they must be in some sort of carrier oil (coconut, shea, olive, almond) as they could potentially cause additional aggravation. Vitamin E oil directly onto the flared patches could provide relief or additional support to healing.
Prescription Medications like topical steroids can help get the flare under control just for that short term to bring it down. When this is combined with the avoidance of trigger foods and stresses and the addition of supportive herbs and/or supplements, they can all work together to bring the flare down and heal internally. Ideally there doesn’t become a need to continue the steroid for any great length of time.
Light therapy can be helpful as well, infrared light or sunlight~in the earlier and later parts of the day, can help to stimulate healing within the body. Infrared saunas can be very supportive to the overall system as well.
Exercise to circulate and flush toxins, and stimulate lymph flow, making sure to drink plenty of clean water to help facilitate that flushing and proper hydration to keep skin plump.
Internal Supportive Considerations
Water, are you drinking enough pure, filtered, clean water? It is important to help flush out toxins, which we want less of in the body. It’s also important to stay hydrated. Signs of dehydration: skin on cheeks may look like crepe paper; lines at your cheeks where you smile may be more pronounced some days; if you stick out your tongue and you see your teeth imprints on the edges of your tongue; all indicate that you are in need of water.
Green Tea* is a great antioxidant, it contains something called epigallocatechin-3-gallate (aka EGCG) which helps to prevent cell damage. It is just as effective in decaffeinated form if you want to avoid the caffeine. If you work with a practitioner, they may recommend that you take EGCG in supplement form which would provide a greater amount of anti oxidant support. Vitamin C-great for connective tissue and so many other aspects of skin and overall health.
Collagen* is an essential component of healthy skin, it helps keep skin strong and without it, we get dry skin and wrinkles. We start losing collagen stores in the body around 30 and excessive intake of sugar or use of tobacco and pollution exposure can deplete stores as well. It is ideally included in food daily, from an organic, non GMO source, like bone broth but supplemental forms can be effective too.
Omegas* are supper anti inflammatory which helps to combat any inflammatory activity happening in the body from sugar, environment and other inflammatory triggers. Omegas from pure fish oils are super, but if you don’t like getting omegas from fish then incorporating Borage, Flax and Chia could be something to ask your Dr about.
Herbs* like Horsetail (Equisetum Aravense), He Shou Wu (Polygon Multiflorum), and Nettles (Urtic Dioica) are high in minerals, reparative and restorative qualities. These would be great in tea form but will be stronger in a tincture or capsule form, however it is always best to work with a practitioner to find the best fit for you with your health concerns and ensure there are no contraindications.
Neem* is another powerhouse for skin conditions but again, best to work with a practitioner.
Zinc* is a critical mineral for skin health as an anti inflammatory and is very supportive in the wound healing process. Dosing should be calculated by your doctor.
Vitamin D* is another vitamin that our skin (and body overall) needs for a healthy immune response. Levels should be tested prior to taking it to make sure you are consuming a dose appropriate for you.
Melatonin* in high doses (20mg) have been shown to improve restoration at a cellular level, again, this one should be discussed with your doctor before using.
Curcumin (Turmeric)* is incredibly anti inflammatory, including more turmeric in your diet is a great way to bring those anti inflammatory properties through the day supporting your system in the foods or drinks your consume. It can be taken in supplement form as well, again, under the advisement of your doctor.
*All recommendations for dietary changes, herbs or supplemental consideration should be taken by advisement under the care of your MD, Naturopathic Doctor, Herbalist, Nutritionist, Ayurvedic Practitioner or other qualified health care practitioner you are working with as these may need direction specific to your health care needs.
Naturopathic doctors understand the necessary aspects of a healthy balance and can utilize the testing available in western medicines to find what standard western medicine does not do in terms of testing. If your MD is familiar with these recommendations that is super, unfortunately, many MD’s are not familiar with supplements or herbal formulas and often discourage their use over a pharmaceutical.
Web MD offers information about where to find mental health support for Psoriasis if you need more support.
If you would like to find a professional to help support your concerns separately from your MD who may not be familiar with many of these, please let me know, I have several options to help find someone right for you.
These are all very basic and general instructions, for more specifics tailored to your needs, especially as it relates to skin care products, please schedule a complementary Discovery Call or full consultation with Tanya here.
I look forward to connecting with your soon!
