Cortisone masked psoriasis successfully treated with homeopathy
M.S.W, a female child of 10 years, patient identification number 18418, visited the clinic with her mother on 29 February 2012. She presented with psoriatic patches on knees, scalp, and hands.
Her psoriasis began 3 years back. She would have dry scaly patches on her knees, scalp, and hands. These patches were better after taking steroid-based medications. Being frequently on steroid-based medications, the patches on skin had reduced however the scalp scaling still continued. Being tired of trying conventional medicines without any relief and seeing their daughter suffer so much, they started with Homeopathic treatment.
Her patched were reddish in appearance, there were constant scaling and dryness which caused severe itching. She couldn't tolerate the itching and couldn't help scratching all the time. There were excess scaling and dandruff formation on the scalp, her mother said all the time you can just see her daughter scratching and pulling off the scales and scabs from the scalp. This would also cause watery discharge and bleeding from the patches.
She also presented with constipation, stools were very hard and required straining.
She was a vegetarian in her diet. Her appetite was average. She had craving for fruits and aversion to sweets and meat. Her thirst was very less, she had to be forced to drink water but in vain and this habit of hers was one of the causes for her constipation. She had excess sweating all over and thermally was a hot patient.
She was an obese child.
She was studying in 4th standard and had a sister who was also of the school-going age group. Her mother was a housewife and father was working in Religare.
As a person, she was very lazy and she didn't like any form of physical activity. This was adding to her weight and at 10 years of age, she weighed 44 kgs and was short framed in her stature.
She was shy and didn't like the way her skin looked and that people would ask about it all the time.
As a defense mechanism, she had started shying away from people in order to hide her skin and her fat.
She was very fearful and not confident as a child. She wouldn't open up easily and would never share her feelings with anyone. On the contrary, her mother was very extrovert and also pressurized her daughter to go ahead in everything. The patient was not very comfortable with this situation as she was very shy by nature and couldn't find the courage to face the public.
After the detailed case study, Dr. Shah prescribed her with Calcarea Carbonica 30 in doses and the parents were explained about the mild increase in psoriasis caused due to withdrawal effects of the steroids and the challenges that we have to face while treating such cases.
At 1 month follow up (on 21 march 2012) M.S.W reported with an increase in her psoriasis. The scalp itching and scaling have increased, she couldn't stop the itching and itching caused excess scaling and bleeding especially on the scalp patches. The parents were very anxious but they were explained about the adverse effects of the steroid withdrawal and her case being steroid masked. They were advised to keep patience and were explained about our challenge to tackle the steroid dependence in her case. She reported a slight improvement in her constipation.
At 4 months follow up (on 12 June 2012 ) M.S.W reported good improvement. The patches were clearing up and normal skin was appearing. The itching, dryness was less. There are no active Psoriatic lesions and only dark marks are left now. The scalp scaling had dramatically reduced, the mother was very happy with the response. She said in the last 3 years she had never seen such a positive response in her daughter's skin condition. She is still continuing the treatment as was advised to her. Her constipation is also less and the mother reported that now she is also trying to open up and socialize with her peer group.
From this case, one can understand the challenges that we face while treating a case of Psoriasis which have been treated with steroids in the past.
The patient is still continuing the treatment.
Uploaded on 25 June 2012 by Dr. Z.A.