My 9yr old daughter started with P last fall. By spring she had it all over her body{ As she lives with my former-wife it complicates treatment of the P} The derm.dr predicted the summer-sun swimming etc would help and it was like magic; she really cleared up. I need info on where to locate the differences in tanning/uv treatment . I'm even thinking about weekend trips to Florida for the sun & salt water for her.

welcome, you sure have come to the right place for reliable information. I'm sure you will get some good info on your uv questions, but as for bringing your daughter to Florida on occasion......... that would be awesome. I t really will help her, plus .......it is great quality time that you could spend with her (and that's something she will always have for the rest of her life).

Hi JPMMEG,
First, I'm sorry about your daughter's diagnosis. :( I'm not a parent. I'm 46 and was diagnosed with plaque psoriasis when I was 7, so I have a pretty good idea of what your daughter is going through. :(
Second, welcome to the Board. :cool: This is a great place to exchange information or to ask questions or to vent or even to have a couple of good laughs.
Since your daughter responds well to sunlight and saltwater, you certainly should look into having her go for light treatments this winter. (It's very time consuming. She'll have to go three times a week a the very beginning and you may run into insurance issues.) I'm going to give you the link to the NPF's discussion of the various light treatments that are available. It even includes a discussion of natural sunlight. (Tanning booths are the only topic that isn't covered. I've never used tanning booths, but I've read here that other people have used them with some success.) Here's the link:
Taking her to Florida sounds like a good idea. Unfortunately, I'm guessing that you're going to have to limit the trips to school vacations and the occasional long weekend. That may not be enough to help her and you may run into some bad weather which will defeat the purpose of the trip. (However, as Coach G said the trips will allow you to spend some quality time with your daughter and that's always a good thing. :))
Whatever you decide to do, just make sure that she doesn't burn. I know from personal experience that a burn on top of p is no fun.
Also, it sounds like your daugther's psoriasis came on rather suddenly. Has she been tested for strep? (Insist on a culture, the so called "quick test" is not always reliable.) Strep is a known trigger for a type of psoriasis called guttate. (Here's a link to it's description: .) Some people have strep without having any of the typical symptoms i.e., a sore throat or a fever. The only sigh that they have strep is an outbreak of p! :eek:

Hi jpmmeg,
Mike's information is reliable and accurate. If uv will help your daughter, trips to sunny warm locations will help. Time in the salt water, especially combined with some otc bath stuff will help her lots. You may want to try some Aveeno Oatmeal baths ( to keep the scaling and itch under control, or some Balentar soaks ( which will increase photosensitivity and soothe ).
You should be aware that her itch will be very intense anytime she is healing, and some medication for that may be needed. She will not be able to stop herself from scratching at such times, and will even do it in her sleep.:( The derm can give you a script for atarax, that will help.
Mike's advice about the strep infection is right on. Get her tested, as soon as possible. Other types of infections can cause an outbreak of p, but strep is by far the most common.
I am both a psor myself, and a psormom. Fortunately, my children that have p have mild cases that are the result of strep infections, and are always cleared with antibiotics and otc products.
There are some basics to know. First, keep the scale down to nothing as much as possible. Otc salycillic acid products and the others I mentioned above will achieve this. Second, it is really important to do treatments every day, even if it is only that day's topicals. Third, moisturizers are vital. Get a large stock, and keep them everywhere, by every sink and tub, in the car, near the tv, at her desk and nightstand.
However, all of that said, the most important thing is to see to her emotional well being. This disease is hard on the heart, most especially for the girls ( not to be sexist, but it is often the case that females have a harder time with the self esteem issues brought on by p than the males ).
Please let us know if we can help or answer any questions, now and later.

welcome to the boards! I certainly can't add anything new, but I thought I'd give you a warm welcome!!

jpmmeg
Welcome! A P mom here with a beautiful 7 year old daughter who has P. She was 95% covered and is now about 5% due too UVB light sessions. Like Mike said it does take a lot but the results are outstanding. We did 5 months of 3x a week. Our derm did not like the idea of tanning booths. The lights are not regulated and are not all lights are UVB. She has been maintaining her 5% by the natural sun but it is starting to get cold and less sunny days already. Mike and PJ were also right on about the strep issue. My daughter does not get any symptoms except her P comes out. She was diagnoised in November 2002 and has had strep at least 6 times with no symptoms. So you might want to get her check with a culture. Also after they do the 10 days of meds for strep get another culture. Jessie (my daughter) would still have strep after taking the meds.
If you need anything feel free to ask. We are all here for each other. You are now in good hands.
Talk to you soon
M

I live near the beach & know the benefits of swimming in it for p. However, I live in NJ, so swimming at the beach year round is not an option for me! Try using epsom salt in her bath water. That's what I do, then I shower off and use losts of moisturizers afterwards since the salt water isn't great for the other parts that don't have p.
Good luck!
Babs - njmom

hello my 9 year old son is covered in psoriasis so i know what your going through. We have tried every topical treatment and none have helped. we are now doing light treatments and after only 3 treatments i have seen a big difference. go for the light treatments im so glad we did

Welcome Kerri
I hope it helps your son like it did my daughter...How are you feeling about everything? How long has his P been out? Is this the worst he has been? My daughter has just a few spots now but was covered. Well Welcome to our family and I will talk to you soon.
M

hello marielle, my sons has had psoriasis since he was 4 years old but it started with only 2 spots on his butt. when he entered the second grade he had a very nasty teacher and the stress of her constant yelling at the class made the psoriasis pop up everywhere! its very hard for him and for me as a parent it breaks your heart. thanks for replying hope to talk with you again real soon kerri

Kerri
Hello again...Sorry these are so short and to the point chats. I am only allowed to spend my 15 minute breaks online. Is he still in that classroom? I hope not. What we did to help with some of the stress with school is we introduced P to her class. The NPF has a great school action pack that has stickers and books and tons of info to introduce to the kids. It worked great and Jessie seems to feel better about it showing. She even handed around pictures of herself when she had P on 95% of her body. She want the kids to see what she might look like again. I know how much it breaks your heart... I used to cry myself to sleep but now we take it one day at a time and I have this wonderful P family that keeps me strong. Talk to you soon. I hope he is getting results with the UVB. Keep me updated.
M

marielle, does anyone else in your family have p? my dad and my son have it. i also have a 13 year old daughter and i pray every night that she does not wake up someday with it. my son no longer has that horrible teacher thank god! and like i said the light treatments are helping but not clearing him yet. how many treatments did it take to clear your daughter? it feels so good to talk to a parent who knows how it feels to have a child with p. finally someone who understands what im going through!!!! my son is very open about his p and shares his experiences with his classmates and i am very proud of him for having the guts to get in front of his peers and discuss his disease. most of the time hes very postive but he does have his moments. i dont know if you have my email but if you do please feel free to email me anytime with tips or questions. maybe we can learn and help each other talk to ya soon kerri

Kerri
Sorry this took so long to reply. I have had the flu and have been in bed for 4 days. Jessie ended up with 42 light sessions total. The Insurance company would only pay for 30 and then the derm and I protested and got another 12. Which did the last of what she needed. We did not see great results until about her 22nd session. Her derm uped the light when he was not afraid of her burning. I thought it was terrible that we would go 20 miles acrossed town 3x a week for 23 seconds of light. It ended up getting more later. I think her final session was 2 minutes with a secondary on her scalp of 1 minute and 45 seconds.
No! Jessie seems to be the only one with P. We have no idea where it came from. Jessie says that God made her special. She even wants to become either a bio researcher or a derm. Either way she says that she will come up with the cure. I guess that is what she wants to be this week...Last week it was a ballet teacher. :) Where are you located? We are in Western Michigan. Now that it is getting cold we are hoping that it won't get worse again. Well my 15 minutes is up.
Talk to you soon
M

hello marielle, we live in connecticut and for some reason my sons psoriasis gets better in colder weather isnt that crazy! we had a little set back last week my son got a mild burn from his treatments so they had to lower the intensity on the machine. so far he has had 9 treatments and i do see some improvment but we are hoping this is just the begining. going three times a week is really tough when you have to work around everyones schedule and school!!! but i try to make the trips as fun as possible for him and we are lucky that the doctor is right down the road. right now my son is so into the world series that he has not been thinking of anything else which is good in a way. i guess we just have to take one day at a time and do alot of praying that the lights work!. thanks for writing back great chatting with ya! kerri

Kerri
Hello! You were saying that his P gets better in winter. There is a guy at our church that is 75% covered in the summer and has nothing all winter. So what boggles me is that the UVB is working??? The guy at church says that the UVB makes his worse. That is why he thinks his gets better in winter, less sunlight. Well I hope everything works out. I know how it is with the traveling 3x a week and dragging them out of school. Yes! keep making it a game. We even make a game out of putting on meds. Well talk to you soon.
M

hi marielle, the only thing i could think about when it comes to my son psoriasis is maybe hes a little more stressed in the summer with shorts and short sleeves and that stress makes him flare. now when its colder and hes all covered up hes not so stressed out. who knows with p. all i know is we are seeing little changes for the better with these light treatments thank god!!! and we will stay with it until hes cleared hopefully that will happen. are you a stay at home mom or do you work? i work just one and a half hours a day at my sons school if i had to work full time and run him to his treatments 3 times a week i dont know how i would manage as it is now we are eating alot more sandwiches and take out for dinner! everythings rushed! have to go talk to ya soon kerri

Hello Kerri
I am a mom who works full-time but I have a wonderful husband who is a stay at home dad. So he took her to her UVB sessions. I would go when the derm wanted to see her progress to keep up with what he was doing. Believe me, about sandwish suppers and lunches....We still have them...Between Dance, Girl Scouts and Church...So I am kinda glad right now that we don't have to go and do her sessions. Keep me updated on your sons progress with the UVB. Like I said before it is going to be awhile before you see a big difference but it is really worth all the time. Well back to work.
M

marielle, so is your daughter still having the light treatments or did she stop all together? how does that work? does her p stay away or does it come back when shes not getting the lights? i hope all these questions are not driving you crazy but i just want to prepare myself for whats comming. my sons p has not been looking to good lately because we are geting our bathrooms renovated and hes only been able to take showers and thoose bath soaks were good for his skin. ok then i will make this a short note thanks for taking the time to chat with me kerri p.s. what type of church do you go to?

Kerri
No question is going to bother me or drive me crazy, that is why I am here. Jessie is no longer doing the UVB. She was done in May. Like I said before she was covered everywhere but her hands, bottoms of her feet and some of her face. She now only has a few spots on her eyelids, ears, inside of her elbows, mouth and her scalp. She was seeing the derm once every month and now she has not seen him since May. Her P has not come back full force yet but she has only had it since November so I think the true test will be this winter. Jessie right now is using the "natural sunlight" which is slowly fading away as winter approches. Jessie loves bath soaks....So I feel for your son. Have you found a nice soap for him? Jessie is using a homemade honey and rosemary soap. It makes her skin soooooooo soft. We go to Church of Christ. How about you? Well I better get back to work. I only have 20 minutes left and then I am off to a Girl Scout meeting (I am the leader).
Talk to you soon.
M

hello marielle! well about church i grew up with really no religion. dont that sound terrible! but its true. my dad is jewish and my mom is catholic so i guess they could not agree on weather we should go to church or synagog. so we got gyped! after my kids wer born i decided i wanted them to know god and belong to a church so not knowing anything about god or churches i just got the phone book out and started going to the first church that answered the phone!~and that happened to be a penacostal church. i went there for a year and a half and then stopped going because i realized not only the people at church did not live anywhere near godly lives but they were just a little to lively for me and it started to get weird! since then we are still looking for a more suitable church. enough about that does your daughter have psoriasis in her mouth or around it? i have heard horror stories about kids having p internaly. what do you do for work? i know all these questions! i am a playground aid at my sons school not a bad job hours are great! and my husband is a state trooper oh have to go someone at the door talk to ya soon kerri

Hey Kerri
I will find out if we have any churches in your area. I grew up the same way. No church at all. My parents are ex-hippies....Sorta still are. So God was the last thing from their minds. I found this church through a friend and liked it. Studied for about a year and was baptised in Oct of last year. What is weird is Jessie was diagnoised right after my baptisim....So the big question was why did God give Jessie this....I have come to the conclusion that God has a bigger picture for both Jessie and I. I think Jessie and I have become closier because of her P and my involvement in researching it. I work a lot of hours for a book printing company. I am a electronic pre-press tech/designer. So Jessie has felt the struggle of a mom on the job. My husband, like I said, stays at home with her and our 16 month old. He will be going back to college next fall, but right now edits books, writes, and designs websites. I would love to work at Jessie's school. But being the "mostly" sole provider for our family I can only make it to parties and then become the troop leader of her Girl Scout Troop. Jessie right now has P around her mouth....but she has had it inside her mouth, and inside her ears. The derm did not seem to be worried. That is the first thing I think people with P have to have is a good derm that they can trust. We got really lucky. Both my husband and I are very studious and when we found out about Jessie having P we researched everything. Books, this site, articles, you name it. So by her second derm appt. we were prepared with tons of questions and suggestions. He really liked that and was up on everything. I even asked him about a med and he told us that the reason why he did not give it to her the first time was because our insurance did not cover it and he wanted to get it approved by the insurance company before giving it to her. Hey, can you tell I am at home and not on my 15 minute break......lol.....I want you to know that you are part of this family of ours and that you can come here and vent, talk or help us all out. I have had a few parents that can't believe how strong I am, and I say it is all because of this site. Reading, talking and become part of this extended family. You learn a lot. Boy, I wish you were closier. It would really be cool to have a mother here to talk to over coffee while the kids are playing. Well my husband just called down and said that dinner is ready so I better get going. Talk to you very soon.
M

marielle, i wish i lived closer to but even just being able to chat with you has helped me out so much and i'm so grateful!!! and i agree psoriasis has mad me and jacob much closer. as far as research i am with you on that every time i go to the doctor i always have print outs of different "cures" for him to look at. i have tried so many miracle cures and searched so many different sights. you cant trust half of them and i have wasted lots of money. there was even this one web site about a women who turned gray from the inside out from applying an all natural cream with silver in it and theres no reversing it!!! dont you know the cream i bought over the web had that natural ingredient! that cream cost me $40.00 for a tiny jar and i was afraid to use it so i threw it away! well i have to go for now hope you have a great day my kids have no school today for some reason anyways talk to you soon kerri

marielle, If your still out there i would love to chat with you. Jacob is almost all clear from the light treatments!!!! I am so thankful my prayers have been answered. he is down to 2 treatments a week and this summer they will end until fall. so i guess its a waiting game to see what happens. but we are very happy! kerri

Thumbs up Kerri
It is so good to hear the update on Jacob. The summer is going to treat him well if he is anything like Jessie was. She was done with her light sessions in May and has been mostly cleared up until about 3 weeks ago. She got a strep infection. We caught it in time, sorta. She has it bad on her legs and ears and a few spots on her arms and eyelids. We are taking it on by force and it is fading fast. Which is good. I never want to be back where she was last year. I would love to chat anytime you would like. I am always here. Talk to you soon. Sorry this was so short. Slumber party going on and have to watch the girls.
M