Psoriasis?

[Emily T]

I have been suffering from psoriasis for about 8 years now. It started out mild but in the last year or 2 it has become worse. I've also had chronic joint pain in my toes and fingers. Dermatologist basically diagnosed me with psoriatic arthritis but blood tests came back as negative from rheumatologist. My mother has Celiacs and I am being tested this week. I started gluten free yesterday because they now feel that even though I have no stomach issues, the gluten can be causing the psoriasis and joint pain. Anyone else have such issues? I also have terrible fingernails and toenails.

[itchy]

I hope that you will report back any benefits of your gluten free diet, because there are many people who post on this forum with symptoms that don't sound like classic DH, but could be caused by gluten.

Please note that if you aren't consuming gluten, your test for celiac disease will probably come back negative. You need to be consuming quite a lot of gluten for the test to work.

[mushroom]

I have been suffering from psoriasis for about 8 years now. It started out mild but in the last year or 2 it has become worse. I've also had chronic joint pain in my toes and fingers. Dermatologist basically diagnosed me with psoriatic arthritis but blood tests came back as negative from rheumatologist. My mother has Celiacs and I am being tested this week. I started gluten free yesterday because they now feel that even though I have no stomach issues, the gluten can be causing the psoriasis and joint pain. Anyone else have such issues? I also have terrible fingernails and toenails.

Hi Emily, and welcome to the Board.

What tests did your rheumatologist run for you? Did he do the celiac blood panel or did he just test you for Rheumatoid Factor? If you have psoiratic arthritis, as I do, your RF will most likely be negative. I was never tested for celiac because I figured it out myself and stopped eating gluten - in fact told my doctors that's what my problem was. My new rheumy said, "Well, it's too late to test you now." So, in the event he didn't do the celiac panel you should have it done right away. If you did have the celiac tests it would be useful to see the results posted here with the ranges the lab uses. Sometimes tests that are really borderline are called negative

Now, that being said, it is also possible to have problems like psoriatic arthritis caused by gluten and not test positive on anything, even the CRP or ESR, let alone the celiac panel. I did have the GI issues, not the major issues some posters on here have, but other sometimes alarming symptoms and the only one I attributed to food was my reaction to lactose which I realized was an intolerance but did not know of its association with gluten.

So what took me to the rheumatologist was pain in my shoulders wrists, fingers, toes, balls of my feet. Many rheumatologists are ignorant of the relationship between gluten and joint problems and do not think to test you. I did not develop the psoriasis until later, so had had joint symptoms for a couple of years before diagnosis. I see now, going back to your post, that you are being tested for celiac this week. Try to get them to run the full panel, which consists of the following:

Anti-Gliadin (AGA) IgA

Anti-Gliadin (AGA) IgG

Anti-Endomysial (EMA) IgA

Anti-Tissue Transglutaminase (tTG) IgA

Deamidated Gliadin Peptide (DGP) IgA and IgG

Total Serum IgA

Often doctors will run only the tTG and total serum IgA, but the newer DGP seems to be the most specific, reliable test so far developed. I would specifically request that they run that one. And it is best if you stay on the gluten until testing is finished (they may want to do an endo with biopsy) because it is important that you keep the antibodies active because that is what the tests are looking for.

Good luck with your testing and do let us know how things turn out. By the way, my fingernails and toenails have gone to hell, and they used to be my star feature

[bartfull]

My Mom had psoriasis, and for thirty years she was under a dermatologists's care. Then in 1985 or so, after years of digestive problems, she was diagnosed with Celiac. After she had been gluten free for a while her psoriasis cleared up completely and permanently. And she had it BAD.

So, when I started with psoriasis that kept getting worse, I went gluten free. I saw immediate relief (within two days it started healing.) Unfortunately, I also discovered that corn causes it to flare badly, and I recently discovered that almonds do it to me too. The same may happen to you. There are often other intolerances that are masked by the gluten. I'm still learning and I'm sure over time there will be problems with other foods too.

Start out with plain cooked whole foods - meat, brown rice, and vegetables. But try to stay away from bagged salads and baby carrots - they are washed in a citrus wash derived from corn. I didn't even eat fruit at first because of all the fructose (which can be another thing that causes problems).

You will most likely start to heal and then have ANOTHER problem pop up, just like I have, but try not to get discouraged. You are DEFINITELY on the right track. If you need any more advice on the "psoriasis diet", feel free to PM me.