It’s taking longer to drive and park than to get zapped. Rash is mostly gone. They think it was from soap/detergent or clothing that’s too tight. I’m skeptical but the cream I’m using seems to have worked. It is a little early to have side effects.
I showed another patient and his wife the Dekalb Farmers Market today at lunch. They’re from Charlotte; he’s had chemo and is now following up with radiation. They’ve been eating a lot of fast food and did not know about the FM. They were excited by the choices in the restaurant, but I thought it was funny because they ended up getting pizza and mac and cheese. Well, at least it’s not McDonald’s.
Thought this article from WebMD was interesting…
Psoriasis is more than skin deep
The 7.5 million Americans who suffer from psoriasis are at increased risk of a number of other serious medical conditions including heart attack and cancer.
One new study, presented this week at the annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology in Atlanta, suggests people with psoriasis are more likely to have heart attacks and strokes than people who don’t have the skin disorder.
Researchers from Copenhagen University Hospital in Denmark tracked rates of psoriasis, heart disease, stroke, and death in the entire adolescent and adult population of Denmark between 1997 and 2006.
They found that people with psoriasis were 54% more likely to suffer a stroke, 21% more likely to have a heart attack, and 53% more likely to die over a 10-year period than people without the skin disorder. They were also more likely to need a procedure such as angioplasty to open up clogged heart arteries.
“Psoriasis sufferers were at highest risk for cardiovascular problems,” says study researcher Ole Ahlehoff, MD. The analysis took into account other risk factors for heart disease, including age, sex, medication, and other health conditions.
“People with psoriasis should not only seek care for the symptoms of that disorder, but should also be screened for heart disease risk factors and make lifestyle changes to minimize their risk of future cardiovascular problems, such as maintaining a healthy weight,” said Ahlehoff .
Another study shows psoriasis is associated with an increased risk of cancer, including skin cancer, prostate cancer and lymphoma.
Researchers from Health Economics and Outcomes Research at Abbott Laboratories combed through their insurance claims database that has information on about 93 million Americans. They identified 37,159 people with psoriasis and compared their rates of cancer to 111,473 people without the condition; their ages were similar. People with psoriasis were more likely to have high cholesterol, high blood pressure and heart disease.
Over an average period of about two-and-one-half years, 34.8% of people with psoriasis were diagnosed with cancer. In contrast, only 23.2% of those without the skin condition developed cancer. That translated to a 56% higher risk of cancer for people with psoriasis, the researchers report.
As for types of cancer, people with psoriasis had a 87% higher risk for lymphoma, and 22% higher risk for prostate cancer, the study showed.
Some of the treatments used for psoriasis may have increased their risk of skin cancer, says Alan Menter, MD, chair of the psoriasis research unit at Baylor Research Institute in Dallas. But the link to the other cancers can’t be explained by therapy, he says.
According to Menter, the underlying inflammation that drives the development of psoriasis appears to predispose people to cardiovascular disease, which also is thought to be fueled by inflammation. But in the case of the other medical conditions, “we are unsure whether psoriasis causes other diseases or that these other diseases cause psoriasis,” Menter says.
The important thing is that people with psoriasis undergo a thorough health evaluation, he says.
Thanks for checking on me!
Thoughts and Therapy for my Cancer Experience 