Dr. Mercola December 01 2004 13,254 views
Natural Treatment
Eczema can be "cured" but psoriasis is a multifactorial disease that requires a multitreatment approach that is daunting for most people.
Natural treatment begins with detoxification, especially for psoriasis. Saunas, exercise that makes you sweat, bowel, liver and kidney cleansing and removal of mercury amalgams in your teeth are all important considerations. Stress reduction is also an essential part of dealing with skin conditions. It's often said you wear your heart on your sleeve. You also wear your emotions on your skin.
Meditation, journaling, and just plain taking time for yourself are very important tools for calming your body and feelings.
Dietary Treatments
For both conditions, you will need to begin by eliminating sugar and refined and processed foods from your diet. This means avoiding table sugar, foods that contain sugar or high fructose corn syrup, any white food, like white bread, biscuits, pizza dough, baked goods, anything that comes in a box and most canned foods.
The next step is to avoid food irritants and allergens. For skin conditions that may be caused by food allergies or intolerances, I highly recommend the Elimination Diet. Go to www.yeastconnection.com for a detailed plan to eliminate suspect foods from your diet and then gradually re-introduce them, making detailed observations to determine which ones may be causing your problems. (Look under the Yeast Fighting Program section.) You can suspect a food allergy if you have continual craving for that food, or eat it every day.
Dietary Recommendations
Add foods rich in vitamins A and B-complex, like green leafy vegetables, carrots, squash, sweet potatoes and dried beans.
Add foods that are high in magnesium. These include nuts, seeds, whole grains, and fresh green vegetables -- organic if possible.
Magnesium is so essential for helping to prevent allergies, detoxify, improve skin quality and relaxation that you might consider adding it as a supplement. The most common form is magnesium citrate taken at 300 milligrams twice daily.
Increase the omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids in your diet -- the healthy fats -- by adding wild salmon (be sure it's free of mercury), walnuts, vegetables, nut and seed oils, especially flaxseed oil, evening primrose oil and black currant oil.
I'm going to depart slightly from the dietary recommendations here to recommend two substances that must be taken in supplement form: probiotics and digestive enzymes. I consider them foods and essential for optimal human function, so I'm including them here.
If you are not doing so already, start taking probiotics! While they are not technically foods, I've seen positive results over and over. If you correct the imbalance in intestinal flora by adding "good" bacteria to your system, many systemic problems will resolve themselves. I highly recommend that everyone take a probiotic daily.
In fact, there is a growing body of research that suggests that people with unbalanced intestinal flora have a higher risk of developing skin conditions like eczema, but probiotic supplementation diminishes or even eliminates the problem.
Along the same lines, taking supplemental digestive enzymes will enhance digestion and rapidly improve the condition of skin. Digestive enzymes not only digest the meal you are eating, but, taken between meals, they have been shown to digest inflammatory proteins in the body that could otherwise cause skin irritation or other inflammatory conditions.
Supplements That will Help
Here's a list of natural creams and supplements that I have found to be effective in relieving eczema and psoriasis:
Calendula: These creams are very popular in Europe for the topical treatment of eczema and psoriasis. The cream is often combined with soothing chamomile for a variety of skin conditions. It should be applied topically two or three times a day. Chamomile: The German Commission E approves the use of chamomile for treating a variety of skin conditions. Topical chamomile treatments can reduce inflammation and allergic reaction activity. Look for a cream containing 3 to 10-percent crude drug chamomile content and follow the label for dosage directions. Dandelion: This lawn "weed" has been used to treat skin conditions in traditional herbal medicine on the premise it detoxifies the blood, thus eliminating allergens, inflammationy-causing toxins and chemicals from the body. It's most commonly used as a tea or you could take 250-500 mg. of dandelion extract daily. Omega-3 fatty acids: People with skin disorders frequently have low levels of omega-3 fatty acids. Studies indicate that supplementation with omega-3s will reduce severity and inflammation of eczema and psoriasis. Look for a good fish oil or flaxseed oil supplement that contains both EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid). The best forms also include an omega-6 component as well to achieve a balance of the two oils. Take 2 to 4 grams daily.
Calendula: These creams are very popular in Europe for the topical treatment of eczema and psoriasis. The cream is often combined with soothing chamomile for a variety of skin conditions. It should be applied topically two or three times a day.
Chamomile: The German Commission E approves the use of chamomile for treating a variety of skin conditions. Topical chamomile treatments can reduce inflammation and allergic reaction activity. Look for a cream containing 3 to 10-percent crude drug chamomile content and follow the label for dosage directions.
Dandelion: This lawn "weed" has been used to treat skin conditions in traditional herbal medicine on the premise it detoxifies the blood, thus eliminating allergens, inflammationy-causing toxins and chemicals from the body. It's most commonly used as a tea or you could take 250-500 mg. of dandelion extract daily.
Omega-3 fatty acids: People with skin disorders frequently have low levels of omega-3 fatty acids. Studies indicate that supplementation with omega-3s will reduce severity and inflammation of eczema and psoriasis. Look for a good fish oil or flaxseed oil supplement that contains both EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid). The best forms also include an omega-6 component as well to achieve a balance of the two oils. Take 2 to 4 grams daily.
In addition, be sure you're taking a good multi-vitamin that contains beta-carotene and vitamin A that promotes tissue healing. Another helpful vitamin is vitamin E because it helps moisturize skin from the inside and promotes tissue healing. Taking selenium will help the body use vitamin E. Finally; taking Zinc is a good choice, as it helps with wound healing.
Carolyn Dean, M.D., N.D., is health advisor to Woman's Health Connection at www.yeastconnection.com and is featured on the website's "Ask the Expert" page. She has written Hormone Balance (to be released Spring 2005), Everything Alzheimer's, The Miracle of Magnesium and Natural Prescriptions for Common Ailments.
Dr. Mercola's Comment:
The author of this article, Carolyn Dean, is a key medical advisor to www.yeastconnection.com, a Web site I highly recommend to women based on the pioneering work of Dr. William Crook.
Dr. Crook, one of my first mentors and a friend who has since passed away, was the author of the classic book, The Yeast Connection, and many other bestsellers that helped millions of women. He was instrumental in helping me recognize that there was a wide network of physicians who understood the importance of nutrition. He indirectly helped connect me to this network and I will be ever grateful for his guidance in this area as that was really the beginning of my journey into high-level natural health.
His great legacy is being carried on at www.yeastconnection.com, where you will find out all the latest insights on how Candida yeast causes problems in your body, and how to alleviate them.
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The reason psoriasis is considered to be somewhat treatable but not actually curable is because its true cause is not understood. Prof. Tullio Simonicini has concluded that the cause of psoriasis is a fungus and found that it responds to treatment with tincture of iodine. I have had chronic psoriasis on my elbows, upper arms and lower legs for more than twenty years. At times I could not even go to public swimming pools because the condition was so unsightly. I started applying tincture of iodine on 2. January 2009 and the condition was basically cured within ten days. Of course, it takes somewhat longer for the skin to recover completely. I applied the tincture multiple times a day for four to five days, until the surface of the skin peeled off, revealing healthy, psoriais-free skin underneath; one must be careful in letting it peel by itself and not force the peeling. A long bath will help the peeling process without causing damage to healthy skin. In some isolated spots the fungus may not be killed completely with the first treatment. In such a case wait about a week before reapplying the treatment. By all indications this is a permanent cure. This is the first time in over twenty years that I have been entirely psoriasis-free. One last remark: you need to use the classic old-fashioned tincture of iodine that dyes your skin deep purple. Iodine povidone solution is not effective at all.
Dr. Carolyn Dean and Dr. Mercola offer wonderful advice for sufferers of exzema or psoriasis. I came to the diagnosis of psoriasis by way of a drug of the beta-blocker type that I took after having a mild heart attack. I see that the ACE inhibitors are also implicated in triggering psoriasis in some, so I am trying to wean myself from the latter. It takes a lot of personal soul searching and acceptance of at least part of the blame for your condition. But these steps are important and necessary steps to take in order to become free from horrible skin attacks. I have found that daily supplements of good quality fish oil, vitamin D in winter, and diligent willpower to resist sugar, wheat or dairy binges, and a comittment to not drink any alcohol--if I manage to follow a relatively straight path, my skin will improve, as well as my energy level and social contacts. Psoriasis in its fullblown ugliness contributes zero to ones love life, or any life for that matter. Fight off all naysayers who insist that steroid drugs are the only way to heal. If the skin becomes unbearable, try soaking in the tub with a good handfull of salt and a cheesecloth wrapped package of uncooked oatmeal. Also, if you put a squirt of tea tree oil in the water, you will help to heal the cuts. It takes a couple of weeks of keeping an eye to eating only good food, mild exercise, exposure to sunlight of the affected skin, regular baths and fish oil and other supplements, and you will start to feel the skin healing. These methods work, especially in the long run. These methods are safe and drug-free. These methods will help you reverse the lifestyle choices you made to contribute to the progression of your skin problems. I believe my own psoriasis had many contributing factors, including medication, stress, poor nutrition, food and animal allergies, smoking and alcohol, lack of exercise, and not enough sun exposure. All of these things can be changed my me and only me. A good lesson learned.