Trying Diet to Treat P for 5-Year-Old Daughter

Trying Diet to Treat P for 5-Year-Old Daughter
from Aggie D.

Ed: My daughter Maria, who will be 6 yrs old in July, was diagnosed with Psoriasis Feb 1, 2007. I tried the rational steroid creams, solutions and NSAIDS for a couple months.

In the meantime, I researched Psoriasis and treating it from a natural approach. I've been doing an anti-inflammatory diet menu The Anti-Inflammation Diet and Recipe Book by Dr. Black for 2 months now, I just ordered Dr. Pagano recipe book, and to be honest his recipes don't seem to be as "pure" as Dr. Black, who is nothing but organic everything you put into your mouth. I'm sure Pagano's menu will be easier to follow in the long run. But right now I'm so desperate to get the "flare up" over with that I'm sticking mostly with Dr. Black's recipes.

I started Pagano's regime a month ago. Using the Saffron, Slippery Elm Teas, Olive Oil, Lecithin. plus other vitamins and herbs, my naturopathic MD has ordered. Weekly chiropractic for a month now. Epsom salt baths, Castor Oil hot packs over the liver every afternoon, during naps. We are not doing enemas, she is having 1-4 BM's / day. Diet has been as he describes for 2 months now.

Maria is flaring up, and going deaf. I've had her hearing tested and she has significant loss in the left ear and complete loss of conversational tone/pitches in the right secondary to psoriasis lesions/scales in her ears that are obstructing the sound waves. Inner ear test are normal, so I'm assuming once this clears, so will the ears.

Pagano mentions nothing of hearing loss, in his Alternative Healing or his cook book. I scanned your site and I didn't see anyone write in on your site that talked of hearing loss. Are you familiar with this?

Also Maria's itching is getting bad, she never had any before. Pagano mentioned on your interview with him, that decreased itching is a healing sign.

She also complains a lot more this past week that her stomach hurts and the lesions themselves "hurt" but she isn't real specific about that. She does make a distinction between itch and hurt however.

I'm just getting real discouraged. I guess when I read Pagano's books, I hoped that she would be like most of his patients who had the disease for a short time, that they seemed to heal faster. I would have thought that with the amount of flare up she's had that things would start looking better soon, but they don't seem to be.

Can you think of anyway of finding out if their are any doctors in Portland, Oregon area that have or are working with Pagano regimen. Even though my ND and Chiro MD are very nice and supportive, they have never worked with anyone with Psoriasis or Pagano's methods.

Thanks, -Aggie D.

*****

Ed’s Response: Hi Aggie. If you haven't already, I urge you to contact the National Psoriasis Foundation directly (they're IN Portland). I doubt if they'll know of dermatologists who specifically advocate the Pagano regimen, but if there are any such derms in the area, the Foundation probably knows about them.

Maria's hearing problem really bothers me. Has no Dr. suggested a chemical wash that will loosen the scale and clear the passage? My father had this problem, too, but being the tough ex-sailor that he was, he conquered the buildup by chipping away at it with a bobby-pin. Not recommended.

That Maria's experiencing stomach aches and apparent worsening of her lesions after one month on the all-organic diet doesn't surprise me. (Just THINKING ABOUT an all-organic diet gives ME a stomach ache.) The folks who see improvement inside 60-90 days are usually seeing SOME improvement — and they're watching for the teeny-tinyest sign of anything suggesting their efforts are paying off. The fact that Maria has P this bad at 5 years old suggests to me that it's probably not a build-up of toxins in her body that's triggering her flare, but a major immune system miscue that's probably rooted in her genes.

Let us know if you obtain some references or other assistance from the National Psoriasis Foundation and how it works out. We're all pulling for Maria. -Ed

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