HRT and Psoriasis

[Michelle S.]

Hello everyone!

So I've been on Spiro and Estrodial for 8+ months now and progesterone for about 3. In the beginning my psoriasis was pretty mild, a few patches on my arms and my legs nothing too severe. I did a bit of research and found that most people's psoriasis seemed to respond well to hormones which seemed to by my body's response too. Before I started progesterone I did some research specifically about p and psoriasis, most people said it help significantly stating it doubles as an anti-inflammatory. Well, 3 months on progesterone and my psoriasis is the worst it's ever been. I went from maybe 5% psoriasis, to being covered 50%+. At this point I'm trying to figure out if it's stress induced or maybe the progesterone is causing me to flare up. About the time I started progesterone is also when the stress dial on my life was set to extreme and it still is. My psoriasis has gotten so bad, I can't even stand to see myself in mirror... I break down crying nearly everyday. I hate it. I hide my entire body with sweaters and pants, and I live in Florida... So I like look a weirdo no matter what I do 🙁 Unfortunately, I don't have insurance to see a derm and I'm seriously considering dropping the progesterone because I'm freaking out.

Any thoughts?

[Michelle S.]

Is that good or bad?

[Michelle S.]

Unfortunately, yes or at least that's what two derms have said. I'm 24 now and my first outbreak which led to my initial diagnosis happened when I was 18. The derm biopsied some skin and said it was psoriasis. I tried some of the injections and light therapy with little success. From 18 to 3 months ago my psoriasis was in the mild range with only a few isolated patches (arms, elbows, knees and legs). I went and saw a derm about 9 months ago, got some topical creams and that seemed to get me down to <1% psoriasis. I lost my health insurance when my dad lost his job - I'm still on their insurance as a college student - and it's been a choice between paying out of pocket to go back to derm and afford the creams or keep paying the hundreds every other month for my HRT. Also, I'm also at 50%+ coverage that the topical creams are now out of the question... I think I'll need the hepatoxic injections that run $1500 a month!

[Michelle S.]

Sadly I don't, I only know what they were for my hrt bloodwork (pre-any hrt) which I believe was in the 500 range. I see an OBGYN for my HRT and she was absolutely convinced the HRT would help. The actual spiro and estrodial seemed to at worst not affect it at all, but I think helped slightly. It was just within about two weeks of starting progesterone that it started quickly getting worse and worse. This was also the time though that my stress level went through the roof.