Re: methotrexate-a

[Guest guest]

I am so glad the MTX is helping you. It has been a life saver for me also.  My

goal now is to get my diet fine tuned removing as many triggers as possible so I

can be on the lowest possible dose of MTX.  God bless, Patty

[Guest guest]

Is there a short list of known triggers?

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R-)

[Guest guest]

I found this at www.psoriasiscafe.org.

The first step is reducing the severity of your psoriasis, is DRINK LOTS OF

> WATER. Drink at least 2 litres a day. The second step is to IMPROVE YOUR

> DIET and eat lots of green leafy vegetables. This will not cure your

> psoriasis, but it may dramatically reduce it. You will find each doctor or

> dermatologist will give different advice. That is because they have probably

> found something that works for a variety of their patients. It is not

> uncommon for dermatologists to try a combination of treatments until they

> find one that works particularly well for you its basically trial and error!

> The following foods are popular triggers (worsen psoriasis;) Coke-a-Cola,

> red wine, red meat, MSG, chilli, hot spices, junk foods, oily foods, berries

> (such as strawberries) tomato, most acidic foods and vitamin-c. People with

> poor diets will likely have much worse psoriasis.

I am questioning the Vitamin C. Has anyone heard this before?

--

R-)

[Guest guest]

Hi All,

I believe that " as usual " with P & PA there can be as many variables with

" possible " triggers as there are with our own manifestations of the diseases.

For some Nightshades are a trigger, for others red meats.

Me: As best as I can figure out, I have NO food triggers. I believe I am very

likely in a majority on this. I strongly believe that there are a some folks

that have genuine food triggers or allergies and some of these folks CAN

effectively treat their disease by eliminating these foods.

I do NOT believe I am one of those folks. I eat a varied diet, I really do not

avoid anything. Of course I do have personal dislikes and I do limit alcohol

intake to an infrequent glass of wine.

I have never noticed any increase or decrease in my P or PA levels based on what

I eat. I have very infrequent flares and have managed very successfully with

12.5mg of MTX per week for over 6 years.

That said, since I have not eliminated anything from my diet, I can not judge if

elimination would allow me to decrease or stop MTX.

If I knew with great certainty that eliminating certain foods from my diet would

allow me to decrease or stop MTX, I suppose I would need to think long and hard.

Depending on what would need to be eliminated would determine whether or not I

would follow through.

Most " suggested " elimination diets are FAR TOO restrictive for me to keep with

any regularity.

I mean, I'm a 49 year old male in fairly good shape, but could lose 20 lbs.

I'm active, try to eat a balanced diet.

Stay Well,

[Guest guest]

Thank you, , for your sensible contribution.

As far as I can find out, there is no evidence to suggest a link between diet

and PA. That's not to say some of us may find certain foods trigger symptoms,

nor that a healthy diet doesn't help all of us to deal with the disease. But

we're all different, and PA affects us all in different ways.

There have been a lot of recommendations for diets, supplements and so on in

posts recently, all of which may help some people -- but they're not going to be

magic answers to PA. If only it were that simple! The nightshade family of

foods, for instance, makes no difference to my PA, and drinking 3 quarts of

water a day would actually make me feel worse. But that's just me. The jury's

still out on things like vitamin C and other supplements, and we should be very

careful we're not being hoodwinked by another snake-oil salesman.

Even " conventional " medications work on some people and not others. In the main

though, I prefer to put my trust in things that have some scientific evidence of

efficacy, and not the anecdotal " cures " that well-meaning friends and colleagues

recommend to me on an almost daily basis.

Good health to you all

Marcus