We don't usually link to unproven/untested/'alternative' remedies for psoriasis, but this one amused us in a perverse way. People with psoriasis endure so much, but it is often the 'little' things that really bother us. For example, coal tar is often used to treat psoriasis plaques, and many people with even painful psoriasis are more bothered by the tar smell than the physical pain of their disease.
Now, a review of garlic oil products on the internet suggests the intensity of garlic smell varies widely among products (some garlic oil capsules are up to 99% vegetable oil), but rest assured that if you grow tired of smelling like tar, you can always try smelling like garlic!
Here's to the continued development of odorless and clinically effective treatments for psoriasis in 2007. Happy New Year!!
[A]nnual research and development spending by the pharmaceutical industry increased 147 percent, to $60 billion, between 1993 and 2004. At the same time, the number of new drug applications to the Food and Drug Administration grew by only 38 percent, and it generally has declined since 1999.
By way of comparison, the federal government invests about half that--$30 billion--on biomedical research annually (and only about $6 million of that federal funding goes to psoriasis research).
Different people will draw different conclusions from this report, but for us it is a reminder that drug development is costly, high-risk and difficult. We're just grateful that even in this challenging environment, new psoriasis therapies have been reaching patients in recent years.
The over-the-counter drugs remain safe and effective when used as directed, the Food and Drug Administration said. However, overdoses of acetaminophen can cause serious liver damage, even death, the FDA said.
Aspirin, ibuprofen and other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs carry a risk of gastrointestinal bleeding and kidney injury even at the correct dose. The drugs are linked to thousands of deaths a year, but the FDA said the risk is rare when compared with the number of patients who take the drugs.
The drugs are found in hundreds of products to treat pain, headache and fever. Health officials worry that the wide availability of those combination products allows patients to overdose unwittingly.
... For acetaminophen, the labels also would warn of the risk of severe liver damage if patients take more than the recommended dose or consume three or more alcoholic drinks a day while on the drugs. The labels also would warn patients not to take multiple medications that contain acetaminophen. In any given week, an estimated 48 million Americans take an acetaminophen product.
For aspirin, ibuprofen, naproxen and other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs, the labels would have to contain additional warnings of the risk of stomach bleeding. The labels would note that the risk is higher in patients older than 59, or in those who have stomach ulcers, take blood-thinning drugs or steroids, use other drugs that contain an NSAID or remain on the medications for an extended period. An estimated 17 million Americans take an NSAID daily.
Question: if someone with psoriatic arthritis dies from complications related to extensive use of these pain relievers ("The drugs are linked to thousands of deaths a year..."), do you think the medical system records that as a psoriasis-related fatality? The answer is apparently not--a cost of these diseases that is not captured by those who make research funding or insurance coverage decisions but is nonetheless very real.
The National Psoriasis Foundation will be hosting its fourth annual Capitol Hill Day in February 2007, and we want to urge you to attend. Visiting the offices of your federal lawmakers is not only an exciting experience, it is also an important one, because you will be educating them about the seriousness of psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis. It is also fun to "hit the Hill" together with a bus load of other psoriasis patients. You can learn more about their event, held in Washington, DC, here.
If you are unable to attend their event in February, remember that Psoriasis Cure Now offers free, personalized visits with your federal lawmakers 365 days a year (well, ok, not on federal holidays, obviously). We set up the meetings for you, we prepare all the materials, and we attend the meetings with you. We just need two to three hours of your time while you are visiting Washington, DC for business or pleasure. (To read one man's description of his personalized Capitol Hill meetings through Psoriasis Cure Now, visit Ed Dewke's site here.)
"[S]cientists subjected hairless mice to stress while either blocking the production of glucocorticoids or blocking the action of the hormone. Some mice weren't treated at all. The stress was created by placing the mice in small cages in constant light with a radio playing for 48 hours.
The two groups of mice treated with a type of glucocorticoid-blocker showed much better skin function compared with untreated and stressed mice."
The scientists hope that "approaches that either reduce [glucocorticoid] production or actionmight benefit cutaneous disorders that are provoked or exacerbatedby [psychological]stress."
In the meantime, we recommend that those of you with psoriasis avoid small cages and constant radio playing.
(In all seriousness, this is encouraging research and we are grateful it is being conducted. But we try to avoid over-hyping basic research findings, especially in mouse models.)
But it's also an important reminder of how difficult drug development is, and how grateful we should be when a new treatment for psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis actually does come to market successfully.
If torcetrapib had worked as hoped, Pfizer would have made billions of dollars, and critics would have howled in protest. Will those critics now help Pfizer recover its $800 million?
Crude oil baths in Azerbaijan allegedly "cure" psoriasis
As if coal tar regimens and shampoos were not enough, those interested in exotic travel have a new treatment option: crude oil baths in Azerbaijan. As the New York Times reports:
Outside this improbable spa in a remote part of the former Soviet Union, oil rigs bob on a hardscrabble plain of rocks, shrubs and rusting industrial equipment that could easily pass for a stretch of West Texas.
Inside, Ramil Mutukhov, a lanky 25-year-old, prepares to be pampered and preened, scrubbed and peeled — in a bath of pure crude oil.
... The petroleum spas of Naftalan in central Azerbaijan, one of the little-known but once popular vacation spots of the Soviet Union, are making an unlikely return in a country so awash in oil these days that people are swimming in it.
Here in Naftalan, visitors can bathe once a day in the local crude. They and doctors here say it relieves joint pain, cures psoriasis, calms nerves and beautifies skin — never mind that Western experts say it may cause cancer.
...Naftalan crude contains about 50 percent naphthalene, a hydrocarbon best known as the stuff of mothballs. It is also an active ingredient in coal tar soaps, which are used by dermatologists to treat psoriasis, though in lower concentrations.
The next time you lather on the coal tar at home, just pretend you are at a fancy spa....
Finally, thanks to the geniuses at Google, we are able to offer a site search feature for the Psoriasis Cure Now website.
This feature will come in handy as we dramatically expand our site content during 2007. In the meantime, try it out: SEARCH OUR SITE. (We are still fine-tuning the results page so it will look better....)
You can access the site search feature from a link at the bottom of our website.
