As requested, the following is an article on my experiences with Psoriasis on the MP.

I have suffered from Psoriasis for as long as I can remember – my mother tells me that I was about 7-years old when I developed symptoms – it started as large rashes on the front of my legs and quite thick lesions in my scalp.

I was very self conscious about it at the time and refused to wear shorts – not good when shorts were part of my school uniform. I also tried everything in my power to avoid PE at school where I had to wear shorts. When friends asked me what I was suffering from I would always reply that it was eczema – they knew what this was and it was safe, but Psoriasis sounded dangerous and contagious.

No body in my family had Psoriasis – I now suspect my getting it may have had something to do with the fact that I had a blood transfusion at birth – but that is just speculation on my part.

I was treated using topical steroids such as Dermovate as well as other stuff such as tar shampoos, Dithronol and a whole host of complementary creams of a pseudo-scientific nature. I was also given topical steroid injections.

Nothing made it go away, but some of the treatments had a soothing effect. Generally, though, the Psoriasis seemed to have a will of its own – it flared and settled in irregular unpredictable cycles.

At the age of 13, I also came down with the Arthritis associated with Psoriasis – quite badly at first. I remember that I was continually in excruciation pain and I couldn’t close my hands sufficiently to hold a pen.

Within a year, the arthritis seemed to vanish. I had been prescribed an anti-inflammatory medication and my parents had put me on a very strict non-refined food diet handed down from a herbalist – I am personally very sceptical if either were a contributory factor to the disappearance of the pain.

My Psoriasis remained the same until I reached the age of 19 after which it seemed to spread. Over the years it spread to the abdomen, the chest, the arms, the hands and my back until I estimate that I had around 70% coverage: very little in the face, thankfully.

The Psoriasis didn’t affect my self confidence thanks to a wonderful girlfriend, Helena, who became my wife when I married her at the age of 21 in Feb 1985 – for her, beauty wasn’t skin deep (and there was plenty of that!!). I was also an accomplished martial artist and exercised vigorously – something that may also have contributed to my self confidence.

I was treated with ultra-violet light, fish liver oils and a multitude of creams which continued on for many years. This treatment did help at first but there was always a backlash after treatment stopped.

Later on, at the age of about 35, I was prescribed PUVA treatment which had no affect whatsoever apart from making me feel very ill. That was when I gave up – no more treatment again for Psoriasis – ever!! From then on, I considered Psoriasis to be other people’s problem, not mine. This attitude felt like a great weight off my shoulders and I felt really good about myself.

Then, in 2002, I was finally diagnosed with Saroidosis in the lungs after a period of time of feeling really ill. I was immediately put on Prednisone and the symptoms all disappeared (including the Psoriasis) – but it all returned with a vengeance when treatment stopped. I never felt good when the symptoms stopped as those symptoms were replaced by the nasty side effects of the steroids.

After the first failed treatment with Prednisone, I was put back on another course and the experience this time was similar to the first except that my original symptoms didn’t vanish completely. And, once again there was a horrendous backlash when I stopped the Prednisone.

This is the point at which Meg contacted me towards the end of 2003 to inform me about the Martial Protocol (as written in my previous posts). I did not have Psoriasis on my mind when I started the MP – for me, this was purely about fighting the Sarc.

The first year on the MP was very hard – not as much was known then and I struggled hard to continue training Karate, hold down a job and continue studying. This period in my life seems like a bit of a blur now and I have to concentrate hard to remember how I felt.

It took about a year before I started to notice that my Psoriasis was also improving and over the course of the next year it started to recede to about 10% coverage. Herx, as far as my skin was concerned, didn’t follow my other herx patterns – the Psoriasis continued to have a mind of its own and it waxed and waned as it had always done. But there was always a direction towards improvement till I reached about 5% coverage – where it remained for some time (all I had left were some lesions on my forearms and my hands).

I finished all the ABX combos late October last year and Trevor advised me to restart the 3-abx combos at full strength. This I did, and I started herxing quite strongly once again. I knew that I couldn’t have been done with the MP as I still had the 5% Psoriasis coverage left. This new herxing also caused the Psoriasis to flare once again. It flared quite badly – it was very angry, aggressive and painful and my coverage increased to around 30%.

I felt very disappointed at the time and I started to feel very self conscious again – I had gotten so used to having so little coverage that I must have started to take being without for granted. I really had to concentrate hard to recount to myself all the other symptoms that had vanished through the MP in order to keep faith and carry on.

It paid off. I remained on the first ABX combo (M + Z + B) until the beginning of June at which time my coverage was back to its 5%. I changed combo to M + Z + C and the last three weeks has seen the Psoriasis vanish to what is now an estimated 1% coverage.

The only symptom I have left (apart from my 1%) is the phlegmmy cough on exertion.

One of the most unwelcome things about having Psoriasis is the fact that there is no shortage of people that come up to you to volunteer advice: secret cures, supplements, poultices, magnetic therapy, crystals, chi, healing hands, prayer and other complete rubbish. These people are not the ones that have or have had Psoriasis themselves – but they all know of countless anecdotal cases that prove their own brand of quackery. Inside, you want to tell them all to piss off and mind their own business, but no, you politely smile and thank them for their concern.

So, here is some advice from somebody that has had Psoriasis – start the MP and stick with it. Forget your symptoms and stop monitoring them. Keep yourself distracted and let time and the MP to do its thing.

I hope this helps.

Cheers

Guss

Back