NatPro

[Aliantha]

I don't know if you're aware or not, but I suffer from fairly severe psoriasis. I get it on most parts of my body to a greater or lesser extent. It tends to be a bit mobile. It starts out as a little flaky bit of skin that sort of looks like a ringworm and then just grows until it covers a large area, but here's the thing. Whilst I was pregnant with Max, it completely, and I mean totally 100% disappeared. I was so hopeful that once he was born it would stay gone, but alas, it is back bigger and better than ever (or so it would seem). I've had strong suspicions for obvious reasons that it could have been a hormonal difference which caused the change, so I consulted with a number of people on the subject, including my cousin the midwife about whether or not this could be the case. Ultimately, most have come up with the suggestion that it's the increased levels of progesterone during pregnancy which would be the most likely culprit, so I've decided to invest in a product called NatPro which in short is a natural progesterone suppliment. The same thing women use during HRT.

So anyway, I've ordered a batch and it should arrive in the next week or so. Unfortunately I wont be able to use for a further two or three weeks after that, but such is life. It's a small sacrifice if it happens to provide a cure.

Anyway, I thought I'd post this because there are others here who might benefit from this even if it's not the cure I'm looking for. Also, I was wondering if anyone else had in info on this sort of thing that might be helpful.

[Clodfobble]

Were you taking a prenatal vitamin that you aren't taking now? Or was your diet significantly healthier or include different items than normal? Just some other possibilities. I've heard a lot of anecdotal evidence about people with both psoriasis and eczema that turned out to be due to food sensitivities that the person was unaware of.

Why can't you use it for 2-3 weeks after you receive it?

[Aliantha]

Good questions. My diet and lifestyle really haven't changed in any significant way other than the huge lifestyle change brought on by having a newborn around. If anything, my diet has improved slightly as I'm not ingesting huge quantities of chocolate and I'm more mobile now my blood pressure is under control. The only other change is the season. Winter is always rough on my skin thanks to the lack of humidity and westerly winds we get, but winter in itself isn't exactly the cause.

I get what you're saying about lifestyle changes though and have intentionally tried to maintain a very similar one to that which I had during pregnancy simply because I wanted to minimise the possible variables if my psoriasis indeed returned which is has. I do know my moods are suffering which is obviously a symptom of my weariness, but could also be in part due to lower progesterone levels (or higher oestrogen). I intend to get these levels tested when I go to the doc in a few weeks anyway, so I'll know more then, but I figure anything is worth a go. I'm sick of using cortozones. It bothers me that I'm absorbing them constantly again, and I wonder if the steroid could also influence my moods.

So I'm going to give this stuff a go unless my doctor has a pretty good argument as to why I shouldn't. Basically, when you have a skin disorder, you pretty much give anything a go to see if it helps. To be honest, I've even considered whether I'd be best off just getting pregnant again it's that bad. And I mean that seriously...and I really don't think we need another baby, especially right now, and that's not the right reason to have one anyway. I'm sure you understand what I mean though. It just sux and I'd do just about anything to get rid of it again.

[Aliantha]

Oh about the pregnancy vitamins. I didn't take any. I just continued with my normal diet which includes all that stuff you're supposed to take as a suppliment anyway.