Case Study: Overcoming Acne And Psoriasis

Sahar is an 18 year old girl who came to see me for help with overcoming acne and psoriasis. She had been suffering with acne since she was 14, when her menstrual cycle started. The psoriasis was a more recent problem that began a few months ago. Psoriasis ran on her father’s side of the family, so Sahar wasn’t surprised when she developed it.

The psoriasis seemed to be triggered by stress. The family owns a café and staff problems caused a great deal of stress for the entire family. Sahar first noticed the psoriasis when those problems began. The acne bothers her more though, because it’s on her face, while the psoriasis is on her ankles and knees.

Sahar had taken antibiotics for acne for one year. They reduced the acne but she didn’t want to be taking antibiotics long term anymore because she knew it wasn’t healthy and she thought long term antibiotic use may have contributed to the psoriasis. She also had a sensitive stomach and antibiotics always aggravate it.

Sahar’s doctor had prescribed the oral contraceptive pill to control the acne but Sahar only took it for six months. She found that it made her depressed and it made her gut problems worse.

Even when not on the contraceptive pill, Sahar felt bloated and gassy most days and the bloating got worse as the day progressed. Some days she was constipated and other days she had two or three loose bowel motions.

My recommendations for my patient

• Sahar ate a great deal of carbohydrate. For breakfast she typically ate fruit toast with margarine and honey. For a mid morning snack she had a fruit smoothie or a fruit juice. Lunch was a sandwich and dinner consisted of pasta or rice. The skin on your outside is a good reflection of the health of the skin on your inside (your gastrointestinal tract). In Sahar’s case, the skin in both places was inflamed. I asked Sahar to remove gluten and dairy products from her diet, as both of these foods can irritate the gut and create leaky gut syndrome. I also asked her to reduce the amount of carbohydrate she ate because carbs can cause a spike in insulin, which triggers sebum production and makes the face more oily. Because psoriasis is an autoimmune disease, I asked Sahar to follow the eating guide in my book called Healing Autoimmune Disease: A plan to help your immune system and reduce inflammation.
• I gave Sahar a glutamine supplement because it is wonderful for soothing and healing the lining of the gut. It would offer her good symptom relief but also calm the inflammation in her gut.  I also asked Sahar to take BactoClear capsules because they are a natural antimicrobial for the gut. They kill harmful gut bugs that can be responsible for bloating, gas and abnormal bowel habits.
• Magnesium is wonderfully calming to the nervous system. It is brilliant for stress and tension, and helps to improve sleep quality. I asked Sahar to take a teaspoon with dinner.
• Sahar knew she ate too much carbohydrate but she didn’t realize the strong relationship between sugar, carbs and acne. Not everyone who eats a lot of sugar gets acne, but if you do suffer with acne, sugar usually makes it much worse because it causes your body to produce a substance called insulin-like growth factor 1, which can trigger acne. In order to help reduce her carb cravings, I asked her to take one Glicemic Balance capsule with each meal.
• The health of your liver determines the health of your skin. This is because your liver is the cleanser and filter of your bloodstream. In an ideal world your liver would detoxify your body perfectly, but unfortunately we live in a polluted world and we don’t always eat the healthiest foods. I asked Sahar to take Livatone Plus capsules.

The above statements have not been evaluated by the FDA and are not intended to diagnose, treat or cure any disease.