Just Two Weeks!

Upon reflection I am amazed at how fast the psoriasis spread on my body. Just three and a half weeks ago I was pretty much under control with Soriatane and a lower dose of Narrowband UVB. My scalp, nails, hands, and feet left much to be desired yet I could function well each day. The Soriatane peel of my hands and feet had passed through some nasty phases over the past six months, but seemed to settle down. In just two weeks my skin went from fairly clear to raging mad. It's pretty scary to think about.

Of course, these were two of the more stressful weeks I've had in recent memory. I wonder how much stress plays a part in it all. When I saw Dr. Koo at UCSF in Dec. 2005 he said that about 50% of psoriasis patients are adversely affected by stress. I didn't think I belonged to the wrong half--now I am a believer. The problem is my life happens in spurts. Another spurt is coming again in August too.

So why change medications in the first place? My hope was to stay on the Soriatane for a year, then rotate with something else (probably Cyclosporine). Cellcept was introduced by a team of doctors who examined me in March. They didn't have any other ideas since I had failed just about everything else out there including the new biologics Amevive and Enbrel (all those shots!). 6-Thioguanine is also out there. But if two weeks of not suppressing the disease takes such a toll I'm not at all sure I'll take that step soon.

The plan--stay on Cyclosporine for 3-6 months then get back on the Soriatane and NUVB. Hopefully the peels will not be so intense (but I'm sure they will be) on the feet and hands and the scalp improves. For now I'll live with the NEW set of side effects that cyclosporine and immune suppression bring. At least I have history with cyclosporine and my doctors are EXTREMELY careful monitoring me.