Hi Nancy!

You're Welcome! I empathize with your struggle with psoriasis and psoriatic
arthritis.

I have heard from women in our support group here in DFW (www.dfwpsoriasis.org)
who have had a flare of psoriasis during pregnancy. I have also heard of people
who thought their psoriasis got better during pregnancy or at least stayed
unchanged. That's the frustrating thing with this disease. Often when you
think it should flare it doesn't and when you're least expecting it you have a
flare.

The concerns of women of childbearing age with psoriasis and/or psoriatic
arthritis are one of the biggest health challenges for us. The NPF has been
doing legislative work with the Natl. Institutes for Health on this issue and I
even took a position to paper to my local Congressional Rep. on it.

Hang in there!

David

nancymuller <nancywmuller@...> wrote:


David, I just joined this group and just went on Enbrel after battling
PA and Psoriasis for years. I've had a terrifically bad flare up over
the past few months. I think pregnancy/childbirth/breastfeeding had
thrown me into a "bad patch" as far as my immune system is concerned.

Anyway, I've enjoyed reading your comments, and wanted to say thanks.

Nancy

--- In Psoriatic-Arthritis@yahoogroups.com, David Bruce
<stubruce2003@y...> wrote:
> I think sometimes we just have what I call a bad stretch when it
comes to the immune system. If you have Psoriasis and/or Psoriatic
Arthritis you have an immune mediated disease to begin with, so your
immune system is on fast forward and working harder than it should be.
If you are taking meds that can lower your resistance or encourage
infection it just compounds the situation.
>
> I had a really bad year last year (2003). I have been taking MTX
since 1996, Enbrel since 12/2002 and NSAIDs for 20 years. I have
taken a lot of other meds in the past and many that were
immuno-suppresors. Last year I had no less than 6 upper-respiratory
infections and most were very bad cases of bronchitis that kept
knocking me off of my feet. I kept going from one antibiotic to the next.
>
> I am happy to report that I have not been sick or taken an
anti-biotic since the first week of this year. So, I'm hoping that
that bad stretch has passed.
>
> I think when things like this happen you really have to pull out all
the stops to help the situtation as much as you can. You need to get
as holistic as possible and do all of the right things. The biggest
is eliminating as much stress as you can. Stress makes any disease
opportunistic and Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis are not immune to
the effects of stress as we know. You need to combat stress as much
as you can with a healthy diet and exercise (exercise when you are
feeling better and not run down). Its easier said than done to
eliminate stress, but its essential to bolster the immune system.
>
> One of the best ways to eliminate stress is to be kind to yourself
and others and don't take things too seriously. Watch out for the
"mulling over the details" episodes. You don't need to be a push-over
(especially like when people send out SPAM on Internet groups), but
just doing good things for others really helps. If something makes
you feel good then your attitude gets better and your inner self
responds well. Making others feel good by being outwardly kind is
probably the best way to make yourself feel better. Capitalize on
stuff that is upbeat in nature and avoid the negative at all cost. If
something is a downer avoid it big time. Laugh as much as possible
and put yourself in situations that bring on laughter. Your stress
can't be nearly as bad if your chuckling as hard as you can, right? I
know it does work for me.
>
> David
>
> taschic6 <cookie6@e...> wrote:
> Thank you for thinking of us.
> A "compromised immune system" must be a double edged sword.If your
> system is too 'gung-ho'it eats you alive, but if it's running 'under
> steam' you're prone to everything. How can you work that out.I think
> a lot of deep breaths are needed at the best of times.You poor
> darling.I'm sorry I don't have any words of wisdom- we're just
> learning how all of this works.
> Thinking of you all
> Leanne
>
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