Psoriasis – My Story, from Plaques to Clear Skin
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2015 was the year my face exploded. There was no C4 or dynamite involved, but it looked like I might have been a burn victim. Sometimes it felt like my skin was on fire. It was plaque psoriasis.
It also scared me, as my mom dealt some sort of face rash before she passed away. She saw over 20 doctors, and the relief she got was temporary at best. Her skin used to itch so badly that she would scratch her face raw in her sleep.
Was I destined to be stuck with something similar for the rest of my life?
When I finally got a name for my condition – plaque psoriasis – all the overpriced dermatologist had to say was to smear some steroid cream on it and live with it.
I told her I was changing my diet to see if I could address the underlying cause. She told me that I was welcome to try, but food didn’t have anything to do with your skin.
Thankfully that doctor was wrong.
My Psoriasis Journey
I’ve been hesitant to talk about this because I didn’t have any answers. I was flat out miserable at times, and I felt like a failure.
My brother said to me, “You try harder then just about everybody I know to do the right thing.” And I do, darn it! But I still got sick and it took me quite a while to find something that helped.
The stuff I write about and share is how we live and what we care about. We grow much of our food, and source much of what we don’t grow locally and/or organically.
I don’t smoke, and rarely drink. Heck, I only drink one cup of organic fair trade coffee per day. We don’t eat out much, and don’t buy much prepackaged food.
But we’re not perfect. Sometimes when we’re in the middle of big project, there will be frozen pizza for super. We like some sweets. (And sugar is the devil according to many current diet fads.) I’m not binge eating bakery doughnuts, but I do know how to bake and am pretty darn good at it.
The Good Old Days Weren’t Always Good…
Most of the time I stick to talking about the good times I remember from growing up on the farm, but there were some bad times, too. My dad was an abusive alcoholic, and he beat mom while she was pregnant with me.
My sister told me how dad knocked mom down her knees on the concrete floor of the milk house when she was pregnant. Mom protected me, but it couldn’t have been easy for her.
Dad sued mom for divorce shortly after I was born. She had the milk check put in her name so he couldn’t drink it all up. He tried to force her to sell the farm and take the money, but thankfully the judge listened to mom’s argument that she needed the farm to feed us six kids.
My stepdad entered the picture seven years later. He did help mom with the farm and he didn’t drink, but the man was still not a nice person.
That’s a story for another day, but let’s just say that many aspects of my upbringing were less than idyllic. That may have all played a role in bringing my physical problems to a tipping point.
“You Need a Miracle.”
That’s what my neighbor told me in the summer of 2015, when my skin was at its worst. She was right. I did need a miracle, but I already had one – my momma’s love.
If she could fight so hard to protect me, and stay strong emotionally at the end of her life, even as her body was being ravaged by the skin crap and myotonic muscular dystrophy, then I had to keep searching until I found an answer – for her and for me.
I wanted to find an answer for my readers, too. So many of you offered suggestions for psoriasis treatment. Many others have shared their own stories of dealing with chronic illness and being let down by conventional medicine.
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Don’t give up hope, and keep asking questions and trying things until you find answers.
My skin cleared in 2016, and has been clear since, except a flare up on my hands in 2019. I quit my thyroid medication, and I suspect the flare up was a detox symptom. (More on the hand flare up here.)
Sharing My Psoriasis Story
This series (and book) shares my research and how I healed. I investigated psoriasis causes, herbal treatments, diet, alternative treatments, and underlying conditions.
Contrary to what the dermatologist said, diet was a significant part of clearing my skin. I avoided certain foods for a while, and added fermented foods and specific herbs and supplements.
Additional resources:
A Happy Ending
It’s been eight years since I originally wrote this series. I have more wrinkles and grey hair, but no more psoriasis. Don’t give up hope if you have a chronic condition!
I have friends who have battled everything from cancer to autoimmune diseases and found their way back to health. Stay strong, and we’ll make the journey together.
Other posts in the series:
- My Anti-Candida, Anti-Psoriasis Diet
- Candida
- Psoriasis Causes
- Toxic Skin
- Alternative Psoriasis Treatments
- Topical Psoriasis Treatments
- Psoriasis on my Hands
Get the Book – Psoriasis Healing
Now available in kindle or print, “Psoriasis Healing – From Curse to Blessing“. Released in 2020, this book shares my story and other tips for healing.
More Support
If you need support or ideas for dealing with chronic illness, check out our membership website, Bona Cresco. We have private forums (members only, not on social media) where we can discuss natural health options.
This article is written by Laurie Neverman. Laurie is a lifelong learner with a passion for natural remedies and holistic healing. She’s successfully improved her eyesight and cleared her psoriasis.
Originally posted in 2016, last updated in 2024.
Can’t wait to hear the rest of the story! Glad you’ve gotten better and can now sit down to tell the story from hindsight. Just say no to pills/drugs/salves/etc as you say, you have to treat the problem, not the symptoms.
Having had my own battles, and working to eliminate causes, I have learned how much of food and what we eat affects us. But also, particularly I think for women (we of the wonderful hormones) the affects of food at various times in our lives changes. I think this is why we suddenly have something affect us one day that wasn’t a problem the day before. For each of us it is about finding what works, and what doesn’t, and as we find solutions we can enjoy a little thrill that we are taking charge of a problem rather than giving into it.
I very much look forward to your further installments. Bon courage!
I too suffer from psoriasis. Diagnosed in the late 70s. I was given the standard protocol of meds at the time. I have found over the years, that when I took mega doses of B vit complete complex at the time it started to heal. I have stopped the vit as I now eat so much better than I did and feel you should get your nutrients from food. I do, however, now make my own cleaning products and use my own handmade soap. I no longer put chemical things on my body. I also found that I needed to tone down (but really should eliminate) wheat from my diet. My skin is so much clearer and I can tell within a day or two when I’ve indulged in more of something than I should have. Good luck to you. It’s not called ‘the heartbreak’ of psoriasis for nothing!
I, like most of you, am so disappointed with traditional medicine and believe in organic, local farm fresh, herbal remedies etc. About five years ago, after probably the hardest point in my life, I heard about Biomagnetic therapy (not the same as magnet therapy). What it does is by using the positive and negative poles of medium size strong magnets on very specific points in the body, it balances out the pH where a specific virus, bacteria, fungus, parasite, or even a negative thought pattern or emotion is found. It’s amazing! It cured my tennis elbow, my daughters urinary tract infection, my kids pre-teen and teen hormonal like moodiness, friends migraines, friend and family cancers, high cholesterol, and so much more. I recently got shingles and after a few days of doing a treatment, I no longer had pain and my entire shingles episode lasted less than 10 days (4 of those being before the breakout). Psoriasis is typically caused by a bacteria that will reinfect the person through his/ her clothes, toothbrush, cosmetics, bed sheets, towels. The bacteria is typically found in the brachial nerves and in the bladder, but can hide in other organs/parts of the body. If you can find a biomagnetic therapist nearby, I highly recommend, but if not, try drinking water with a quarter teaspoon of baking soda each morning. Wear clothes and use towels once before washing. Also, the toothbrush reintroduces germs so brush with baking soda a few times a week and after each use, dip toothbrush in baking soda to neutralize germs. I hope this helps!
Laurie:
Thank you for posting about this not-uncommon real life issue. My brother has had severe psoriasis for years. More than the physical implications, he has had a barrage of emotional/mental symptoms to deal with. Adults can be cruel with their facial expressions and staring. He too has tried “everything” and does not want to rely on pharmaceuticals with all their side effects. I am forwarding this along to him and I hope he can find relief as you have!
The staring can be so rude and hurtful. Most folks are pretty decent, but once in a while some are just downright rude. I’ll be talking about the whole gamut of treatments I’ve used, so hopefully there will be something that helps your brother, too.
I am so glad that your blogging is so candid. My father and an elderly woman in our church had psoriasis. And both of their conditions completely disappeared when they began taking Herbal Fiber Blend. Psoriasis really is tied to the gut. My own health conditions would probably improve if I took HFB, but I could never get over the appearance (though they have it in capsules now which my husband took).
My husband lives with horrible plaque psoriasis. It’s so bad you would think he had early stages of leprosy. The worst areas are from his hips (belt line) down. Some years ago we took a trip to Kauai and with the sea salt swims and sun exposure he amazingly healed up in 9 days. I tried to talk him into moving but it didn’t pan out because of our jobs. I’ve tried him on different homemade essential oil and base oil blends to keep him comfortable and that is working but there is no clear-up in the covered clothing areas. So basically he needs to live on a warm sunny tropical island and walk around butt naked! He needs to return to the Garden of Eden.
I’ve heard of sea water clearing up psoriasis. I include a weekly soak with Epsom salts and dead sea salts are part of my routine. More frequent would be better, but it’s hard to make time to just soak.
I’ll be talking about all the things I’ve tried in coming weeks, so hopefully something will help your husband.
Thank for sharing your story. You are so strong willed & I’m with you on food does affect your skin along with every part of you body. I dropped a Dr. when she said I was lying about my pain. I wasn’t there to get drugs all I had been taking was arthritis pain formula for yrs. I started a journey with smoothies, making my own kiefer an then I found diatomaceous earth -food grade- it has helped me with the pain no more Tylenol that had messed up my stomach. Good luck in your continued journey.
Thank you for keeping it real and sharing your story. It had to be a difficult story to tell and how frustrated you must have felt through the experience! So glad to see that you’re on the (fingers crossed) upswing of your healing journey.
My husband suffers with psoriasis over his entire body and has done so since he was a teenager, so about 20 years now. No conventional doc has ever offered anything other than steroids and said when it affects his joints and such then the $$$$, dangerous immune system attacking drugs will be the route. Neither of us want that. We’ve had one person mention doing some thorough blood testing to see if there are underlying allergies, but before we were going to do that we went into the worst two years of our lives with him losing both parents and assorted other issues all unexpectedly. Your Dad and his had the same issues, only his didn’t hit, just verbal and alcoholic. His mom had an autoimmune disease, as did her mom. Different ones, but I think they are connected. I worry for my kids, I worry for my husband. I am very, very, very grateful to you for writing this and I we will be reading with open hearts as we now are ready to start moving forward with how to help him. Thank you for being brave and sharing it with us!
First off, let go of some of that worry if you can, because that’s not healthy, either. Trust me, I’m a chronic worrier. 🙂 We’re found each other for a reason, and I’m going to share all the different healing options that I’ve tried, and you can take a look and see if any of them work for your family.
Well done Laurie for sharing this. Both my maternal grandmother and my mum suffered horribly with psoriasis and although there’s time at the moment it’s skipped my sister and I but my niece has it. Diet definitely helped Mum, before she died I became her carer and she only ate good home made food, restricted as she had bouts of gout and in the last couple of years of her life she just had a couple of patches one on her elbow and one on her lower back. She had previously been covered in sores cracked and weeping. The only salve that helped was an aloe Vera based one all natural. So I am looking forward to hearing the rest of your story and good luck with your continuing journey back to full health!
Thank you for sharing your story Laurie. It has some weird similarities to mine. I do understand. And I so admire your spirit and fight.
As Winston Churchill said We must “never, never, never give up”. I have multiple autoammune diseases, and have been fighting for over 20 years. You are inspiring although I am sure the story was not easy to share. Thank you, and God bless your journey.
Your story is a touching one and I know many others will be helped by it. My uncle has awful psoriasis and I suspect a very traumatic childhood and evil father had a lot to do with this, too.
I have CRPS/RSD full body since 2005, and one of the fun things that has started up is skin sores. I have had them for about 2 years bow, and different doctors have told me everything from bug bites to pre cancerous. I’ve tried every medicine out there it seems, and many made it so much worse. Like you, I decided to change my diet, and amazingly, that has worked better than anything else! I have gone 100% wheat free, and it was not easy. However, it is very much worth it! The sores are getting better. I hope it works on the rsd! I’m so glad to hear you are doing better. I hope it keeps getting better, then stays away!
Laurie I was aware sort of that the struggle was hard but had no idea how much you were struggling with. Thanks for being brave and sharing it with us. Who knows when we may have to walk a similar path and this may be information we need.
Thanks, Janet. Hopefully some of the different treatments I’m planning to talk about may help with more than just psoriasis, too.
Laurie, I applaud you for telling your story. It couldn’t have been easy deciding to share it with everyone. I hope you continue to improve and figure out what the triggers are and what skin remedies work. Maybe a homemade salve? I will continue to keep you in mind as I continue on my journey of making more and more homemade remedies and skin creams and salves. I have no doubt your skin will be back to normal. You got this!
thank you for your kind words.
I’ve tried over a dozen different salves and creams, homemade and otherwise. Some helped, some made it worse, but nothing really tackled the problem.
Sending love. Evening Primrose capsules taken orally have been proven as effective as topical steroids.
Oh my goodness, I can’t wait to hear the rest of your story! Your face and mine could have been twins, except it was my whole body, weeping, burning, itching for the entire year I turned 36. I’ve been mostly symptom free since then but am on a fairly restrictive diet and wondering what my next step is/should be.
I eagerly await your further installments!
I’ve recently beaten Rheumatoid arthritis using diet, and your next step should be adding foods back in to your diet one at a time to see which ones you react to. It’s important to do this slowly and keep a careful record of everything you eat and put on your skin. The worst problem for me was the chlorinated drinking water, but I also have to avoid all chemical additives and dairy produce. You may well find that you only react to a few ingredients.
Concerning ‘allergy diets’, you should first get down to as base (and sadly, boring)a diet as possible (think baked chicken, very little to no seasoning, and white rice). Then start adding foods/seasonings ONE AT A TIME, until you find your triggers. And try them in different ways. I was allergic to apple juice, but not cooked apple products (even including one of my faves, cider). Also remember as you age, allergies can go ‘into remission’ or appear for the first time (again, in my example, I drank GALLONS of apple juice, but when I hit puberty, I couldn’t touch it, now that I’m older, I can drink it in moderation). Another option (if you have the money or insurance for it) is to go to an allergist and get an allergy panel done. It won’t cover all allergens, but it will hit the major ones and some of the less ‘popular’ ones.
Thank you so much for sharing your story and posting your photos. Many people are too scared to discuss reality on a blog when it gets this real. They want to share the pretty pictures, the spotless homes, the perfect cookies, the happy children, and the adorable animals. But in the grand scheme of things, it’s sharing the down-and-dirty that really helps people and gives them hope, because that’s what real life is like. I have a feeling you are going to touch many people with your story.
Thanks, Miss Daisy. This one was a tough one to write.
The best ones always are. 😉
Amen!
I have Psoriasis that bad, I, like you, I eat relatively clean and when the steroid was prescribed I did not accept it. I take Turmeric in capsule form and use coconut oil as a moisturizes on my skin. I would say that I am 90% irritation free. Stress will cause an outburst for me but the Turmeric seems to bring it back under control I no longer have any bloody, cracked and dry scaly spots. I understand how difficult this disease is and I am sorry that you are going thru it.
Lorraine
I’ve been using turmeric to control my extreme sensitivity to poison oak. I understand it reduces the immune response. Like you described for its effect, I would say it brings the condition under control. If I take it daily, I have no problems. If I don’t and am exposed (thru the air -yes, i’m that sensitive), I can feel the poison oak beginning (both on top of my skin as a rash and swelling from under my skin (systemic). I take the turmeric, and I can feel the reduction of swelling and backing off of the symptoms (which otherwise would continue to escalate to misery). I haven’t found anything else that works like this. And no side effects (vs conventional medical alternatives). Tumeric is up there as an essential in my kitchen (along with an Aloe plant).
Thanks for sharing your experience, Jill.
I was going to say the same thing, Daisy! When we just present our whitewashed selves, we’re not being authentic. Then others feel they have to do the same thing and the facades continue.
Thanks, Laurie, for being real.
What keeps my husband’s psoriasis in check is 4.5 mg low-dose naltrexone daily.
Your pictures right off made me think you were allegic to some kind of face mask? the red area looked just like the area under a face mask?
Nope, no mask, and not the only area affected, just the most visible.
I am suffering with a very similar face right now…I am vegetarian, dont use chemicals, take vitamins and herbs, use essential oils..eat almost no fried or fast foods.. however, my RN daughter and son in law swear it is my nerves…in 16 months we sold our NICE home to move in a small,old trailer 100 miles from grandkids to take care of mother in law..who was never very close to me…and 3 weeks later, my oldest daughter suddenly died..many problems with old trailer..then my hubby of 45 years suddenly died from effects of Agent Orange(viet nam) leaving me to raise our teen daughter…STRESS???? so I have this face right now..not going to DR..cause I dont want RX..
Mind and body are absolutely connected, and it sounds like you’ve been through a lot lately.
I had this. For years. On my face,scalp, my eyelids. My face was bleeding. No sugar or wheat ( gluten ) for 2 years, tea tree oil , bio health care products and makeup,and some stress relief pills. Only those things worked and I figured it by myself (and my pathology profesor at my University) after giving over 2000 euros to dermatologists and doctors.
I haven’t had it for 4 years now.
I paused my college year how bad it was. I ate on a straw and couldn’t talk, got ripped my lips once by laughing, have a scar. Stopped going to buplic places after I made some kid cry.
Really bad 2 years.
I’m glad you found a solution, too. I’ve been clear for around 2 years now, but it was hell while it lasted, and made even more frustrating by the doctors who insisted that diet had nothing to do with skin health.
My doctor told me that diet had nothing to do with my psoriasis as well and I told her that diet is everything when it comes
to ANY health issue!!! I have healed myself from several health issues with food and supplements!!! Today’s’ doctors only know about medication they
can prescribe not foods and supplements that can actually help heal!!! I don’t listen to doctors much anymore, I do research!!!
Love & Peace to you from Sharon
Doctors are good at putting labels on ailments, and repairing trauma, but chronic health issues – not so much. I’m glad you were able to hep yourself to heal.
Is that over the counter?
can cause severe night mares..naltreone
Laurie…thanks for sharing your story and findings…very helpful