Psoriasis

Dear Dr. La Guardia,
I have several auto-immune issues.
I have pretty severe psoriasis that is not being cleared up by
traditional medicine.
Do you have any natural treatments that you could recommend for me?
Any supplements that I should be taking?

Thank you for your time.
Anna

Dear Anna,

Auto- immune issues are almost always the consequence of a leaky gut. You have to heal your gut and then everything else will fall into place. Leaky gut just means increased intestinal permeability, where large undigested molecules squeeze between the intestinal cells or enterocytes and enter your bloodstream causing an autoimmune reaction. Many factors contribute to leaky gut including stress, ingestion of toxins, infections and medications.

Your small intestine is colonized by beneficial bacteria that coat the surface of the gut and work to help digest the food it finds in the intestinal lumen. These probiotic bacteria help digest food by fermenting the food and partially digesting it . This food then comes in contact with the intestinal villi. The villi are millions of small finger like projections that are perpendicular to the gut. They in turn are covered with microvilli that extend from their surface .These microvilli look sort of like a shag rug. The reason they are shaped like this is to increase the surface area for greater absorption.

At the base of the villi are the enterocytes, these cells have a coating on their surface which helps further digest food. These enterocytes do not live on glucose like normal cells but rather use the amino acid glutamine. I would take L-glutamine in powder form 5 grams two or three times a day. I would drink aloe vera juice, take a very strong probiotic like VSL #3 twice a day along with the proper probiotic foods like bananas, fermented foods, lots of organic fruits and raw veggies. I would not drink any tap water that might have flourides in it. I would also take enzyme supplements such as creon 36,000 lipase units, take two with every meal and one with every snack. That is the only prescription med. The VSL is non prescription if it is not the double strength. You can also take Quercitin 500 mg three times a day. Go crazy with fermented foods like Kimchi, kefir, sauerkraut etc . That should help your leaky gut .

Psoriasis is helped greatly by healing the leaky gut. However, you need as much sunlight as your skin will tolerate. If you are fair skinned then get a half hour during the early morning hours and again after 4p.m. Do this without sunblock. If it is winter time make sure you take 50,000 units of vitamin D3 once a week with a fatty meal or you will not absorb it, since vitamin D is a fat soluble vitamin.
You also need to be on a high omega 3 supplement daily , along with 50 mg of chelated zinc (with food) daily. If you are on the zinc for any length of time, you will need to also supplement with copper since zinc will interfere with copper absorption. I would also get some black seed oil and apply some of that to your lesions at bedtime and wash it off in the morning. Vitamin C 1,000 2 x day will also help. This combination is very powerful at healing skin problems. Sometimes I also add iodine supplementation in the form of iodoral 12.5 mg daily. That is over the counter and you can easily find any of the supplements I mention on Amazon.

You will be pleasantly surprised at the results , give it a month or possibly longer if your case is very severe. I would love to hear how you are doing then, so don’t forget to get back to me.

 

This disclaimer provides that such medical information is merely information – not advice. If users need medical advice, they should consult a doctor or other appropriate medical professional.