My daughter has something related - eczema. When she was very young - I'd say from the time she two until she was about 11, the condition was terrible. Her skin was always red, raw and flaky. Her scalp was infected badly and we had to use the grossest shampoo for her hair - which always left it looking dirty. She had it on her face, her arms, her legs and hands. She had to wear gloves around the house to keep herself from scratching and irritating the infected areas.

I'd say it was something hereditary, as a lot of people in her father's family had it, but it definitely is - like psoriasis - psychologically exacerbated.

When she turned 11, left the special ed system and finally made a lot of friends, the eczema diminished. She still gets in the winter, but not to such a degree anymore.

It really is heartbreaking, especially in a child.

When I see things like this, I remember a fast food clerk I saw years ago. She was a young African-American woman, and easily the ugliest person I've ever seen face to face. Large, misshapen features, teeth askew, terribly blotched complexion, hair in scraggly clumps. Yet there she was, dealing with the public for hours on end, with all the efficiency and good cheer one could ask for.

I wonder, did fortune bless her with such a resilient disposition, or did she have to struggle to overcome a condition that would have weaker souls hiding in the closet? Either way, it's impossible to forget the lesson she taught, just by showing up.

An old friend of my family in Canada has severe eczema--his arms, legs, and torso are covered in white, crusty excrescences. It looks bloody nasty and he told me once it itches constantly and he has to wear gloves at night to keep from scratching. In his waking hours he uses sheer willpower. He finally cracked about 20 years back and became an alcoholic just to escape the constant suffering. Fortunately his inner strength and a loving wife brought him back. I look at him and thank god I am relatively healthy.
But one of the most horrible things about this is that he gets no treatment whatsoever under the Great and Wonderful Canadian health care plan. Why? The assessment is this: it is a chronic condition that is not life-threatening and responds poorly to treatment. Therefore it is not important enough to spend the limited resources of the system to deal with...he's on his own. What little treatment he can afford is delivered in Kalispell, Montana, where he drives and pays out of his own pocket.
This is what government controlled heath care gives you. Remember this well in case you are ever tempted to vote for it.
(I have other horror stories from the Canadian health care system as well--eg, a colleague of my father was diagnosed with prostate cancer. He was told he'd have to wait at least eight weeks to see an oncologist and begin treatment. Think about that.)

A Canadian friend likes to say that Canada has a three-tiered health care system:

Tier 1) Standard channels

Tier 2) Having friends who are politically well-connectd and/or are medical professionals.

Tier 3) The United States

I don't want Single Payer either. It's a lousy idea.

obesity -- morbid obesity -- has alot to do with one of 9 different causes for obesity. only one of these has a damned thing to do with eating and exercise. the rest are not something the individual can control without medical intervention.

1) pituitary tumors.
ACTH tumors produce excess cortisol. cortisol shuts the gastrointestinal system down (fight or flight syndrome). but with an ACTH tumor, the cortisol doesn't shut off. fat is stored in the cortisol sensitive fat cells -- typically around the torso. it produces rose/purple stretch marks which indent slight. severe fatigue (food isn't absorbed properly so of COURSE these folks are going to be exhausted). calcium is leached from the bones. damage is done to the cardiac system and excess cortisol also does brain and muscle damage.
prolactima tumors - these cause breast development and weight gain in both men and women. they also cause milk production in both sexes.
GH tumors. these can cause acromegaly-- weight gain, bone deformation (which is permanent, not treatable) of the hands, face and other bone tissue.
TSH tumors. these cause symptoms similar to graves disease -- high levels of thyroid hormones -- which cause loss of weight, edginess, moodiness, and osteoporosis. if hashimoto's thyroiditis is present with this condition, then weight gain occurs, not weight loss.
2. primary hypothyroidism. some doctors will tell you this doesn't cause weight gain. but it does. just ask any hypo thyroid patient. treatable with synthroid or armour thyroid supplements. this condition will cause eczema like flaking of the skin, dandruff, thin, brittle or flexible nails as well as memory and mind issues.
if hashimoto's is present, then hypo can become hyper -- and severe fatigue occurs as well as weight gain. there is no treatment for hashimoto's thyroiditis at present.
3. cushings syndrome (different than cushings disease because the tumor is not on the pituitary but located on the adrenals or another organ of the body -- can occur courtesy of oat cell carcinoma in the lungs). same symptoms as above.
4. human adenovirus 36. no commercial test for it, no treatment for it. and it is a highly contagious virus according to the doctor who occupies the obesity research chair at wayne state university.
5. MEN I, MEN II -- multiple endocrine neoplasia -- produces fatigue and weight gain.
6. hyperparathyroidism. weigh gain, migraines, skin problems. hypoparathyroidism (PTH levels going low when they shouldn't) also causes problems. treatment is surgical.
7. diabetes - requires medical treatment; in some cases diet and exercise can reduce the risk or obliterate the disease all together. but in many circumstances, nothing works but medical care.
8. GH deficiency -- typically caused by lack of pituitary function (hypopituitarism) or a pituitary tumor which pinches off the strand of tissue by which the pit hangs from the hypothalmus.tumor removal is required if one is present. treatment requires injections of GH -- child or adult.
9. carneys syndome, celiac -- both trigger weight gain. both are heriditary and typically found in people of celtic origin.

..... all of these things impact the immune system. particularly GH deficiency.

and of course, there's always overeating and refusing to exercise. are these conditions rare? well, you really need to ask yourself that. its not reasonable to assume that more than 60% of people in michigan are overeating when the doctor at wayne state has found the virus in more than 30% of the overweight subjects he's studied and in 11% of the thin folks he's examined.

additionally, if you're sensitive to fluoride or chlorine in your drinking water and toothpaste -- those chemicals can and do suppress thyroid action... since the thyroid controls body temperature, suppression reduces it -- and the enzymes which process food no longer work -- as they only work at a given temperature range. (and weight gain ensues).

...... rare? or rarely diagnosed? ..... look at what OSHA's MSDS state for fluoride or chlorine and then ask yourself whether these might have an impact on increasing the number of tumor cases...

My wife's late father, Stjepan Prasnjak (the J's are pronounced like Y's in Croatian names) had an advanced and severe case of psoriatic arthritis which all but crippled him.

Despite his discomfort which frequently bordered on outright pain, "Shtevo", as his wife called him, never lost his fundamental cheerfulness, and I got along with him well. In 1978, Stefi and I brought Shtevo and his wife Marija over here to America and Wisconsin from their home in Croatia. They lived with us and we all cared for one another, right until Shtevo died in July 1983. His wife Marija survived him by two years.

They both had lived through poor childhoods, the invasion and breakup of their country in World War II, and the sufferings of life under Tito's communist regime in Jugoslavija after the war. They were both thankful we brought them here, because Stefi was their only child, and living with us in our own home, they knew and helped care for their grandchildren before they died. Marija, who had never met my father until he was carried up here to live with us in early 1979, provided daily care for him for the last five months of his life.

I still remember Stevo's ready smile and his excitement about everything he saw around him in the United States, even if we could hardly speak to one another in our respective languages.

Family is everything in the short lives we all have.

Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI

That's terrible. A Google image search turned up some photos of severe cases that I decided to skip for now.

I had no idea that it could get so bad. I have relatively mild psiorasis on my lower legs. I've pretty much learned to ignore the itching, though I'll sometimes absentmindedly scratch and regret it soon thereafter. I use cocoa butter moisturizer to minimize the annoyance and the scaling but I haven't bothered with any other treatment yet.

There was a medical special a few months ago where a woman with really terrible full-body psoriasis who's skin was treated with a coal-tar mixture not too different from asphalt. Apparently it's a very old technique, and it certainly did work wonders for her. It's not a permanent cure though, and there's apparently a small chance (very small, from everything I've seen) that the tar could cause cancer. But, hey, what doesn't?

Bryan, I used a tar-based shampoo for my daughter's eczema. It worked, but smelled horrid.

Hi Everybody,

My husband had severe psoriasis, as did his mother. This may not help, but its worth a try. About five years ago, my husband started covering his body in the shower with just plain old baby oil. His psoriasis is completely gone. He takes a very hot shower and then coats himself with baby oil before getting out of the shower. It may not help, but then again, its at least worth a try for all of you who suffer with it.

I have mild case of psoriasis compared to the pictures seen in Dean's post but still large patches are on my elbows, lower arms, knees, thighs and scalp. I see dermatologist once or twice a year and use three prescriptions which control the worst parts of this condition nicely provided I don't get lazy and stop applying the ointments. The ointments are a big improvement over the smelly coal-tar remedys I used in the beginning (about twenty years ago).

There is no reason not to get medical help and if I did not have these medications my arms would be covered in large bleeding, white scaley patches which I would scratch at constantly. The meds are 1)Ultravate (contains steroids so must be used sparingly but is very effective in reducing both redness and scaling) 2) Dovonex - a vitamin B derivitive which is not steroidal and can be used quite liberally 3)Tenovex - a liquid applied to scalp which allows the scaly thickened skin to be scraped off easily when dried. I have also tried UVA light treatments which are effective but very inconvenient as they are needed about three times a week and I had to leave my office during the day each time I went and after about 4 months I had to stop because it interfered too much with my job.

Psoriasis runs in my family. My mother had a very small patch of it on both temples and no other place. I have a niece who has a worse case than mine. This condition can be very unsightly if you don't take care of it but is really not all that difficult to deal with if you just include application of the ointments has a part of your daily grooming habits.

PS I have never noticed that stress had or has any effect on my condition getting worse or flaring up. A few spots have disappeared spontaneously from time to time. I know one person who's psoriasis just went away mysteriously on its own.