Allergy Relief?

Hay Fever & Allergy Relief Tablets to treat severe itching from Psorisis - What are the dangers in using?

• My husband has suffered from psorisis for many years and absolutely nothing the medical profession has done has given him relief. The one treatment that might work is deemed to be too expensive and is therefore not available under the UK NHS. Recently his skin has erupted again and the itching has become unbearable. He is in pain, he cannot sleep, his skin bleeds and at night he feels as if his skin is on fire. It's trully awful. Before we went on holiday, he took anti-histamines - hayfever and allergy relief tablets which contain loratadine - and they have brought him relief from the itching. Question is, how long can he continue to take these tablets? Are there nasty side effects from continued use? His local GP and the dermatologists at the hospital he has been attending for years insist he goes through every single topical cream and light treatment they prescribe before they will even contemplate alternative treatments. NONE of those treatments work - they're a waste of money

• Answer:

  I am afraid it is a bit sad to base your comments on management on an uncontrolled trial of one. Tens of thousands of individuals worldwide, over many years have benefited from those same managements, it is just a pity that your husband is not one of them. Long term use of antihistamines to relieve the skin itch is both harmless and has no specific long term safety issues. Often old fashioned Vaseline is the best thing to soften plaque psoriasis. I assume you have tried Dovonex and it has either failed or just stopped working. It is quite important not to get your skin 'hooked' on steroid creams or Dovobet, as this can produce both long term damage and 'rebound' flare up. You can always turn to good old fashioned tar or dithranol. The problem is there aren't many old fashioned doctors left who are good at manipulating these older preparations, and they do have to used with skill and care. Dithranol can only be used if the skin is not inflamed and the psoriasis is fairly quiescent. You need to start with very low percentage cream and go for short contact initially. I usually start at 30 minutes/day. Tar is used in a similar way. These days pharmacists unfortunately no longer mix it up themselves. It thus takes a few days to get each batch made up and delivered to your local chemist. I usually ask for 1/2% CCT in diprobase as it is easier to apply. This is left on overnight and then showered off with the help of olive oil. Assuming that this does not burn the skin, I increase to 1% after about 2 weeks and so on. If you are starting on one of these regimes it is a good idea to purchase a prescription pre-payment certificate to reduce your costs, you can then even get the olive oil on prescription!