OLIVENOL™ livin' Malaysia

Finding Alternative Therapy for Psoriasis

This is the fourth installment in the ongoing series of articles on “The Heartbreak of Psoriasis”.

Psoriasis (sore-EYE-ah-sis) is a medical condition that occurs when skin cells grow too quickly. Faulty signals in the immune system cause new skin cells to form in days rather than weeks. The body does not shed these excess skin cells, so the cells pile up on the surface of the skin and lesions form.

Psoriasis is complex, scientists are still studying what happens when psoriasis develops. We know that the person’s immune system and genes play key roles. In studying the immune system, scientists discovered that when a person has psoriasis, the T cells (a type of white blood cell that fights unwanted invaders such as bacteria and viruses) mistakenly trigger a reaction in the skin cells. This is why you may hear psoriasis referred to as a “T cell-mediated disease”, as we discussed this in our previous article.

Current treatment for psoriasis still places strong emphasis on attacking the symptoms (skin) rather than the cause (immune system). One of the most widely adopted treatment for psoriasis is to use steroids.

When I was diagnosed with plaque psoriasis six years ago, the dermatologist who treated me prescribed the use of topical steroids on my affected body area. I followed this treatment faithfully, hoping that my condition will improve after a few weeks. However, I had to continue using steroids for over 2 years. Every few weeks increasing dosage and switching brands when dermatologist was not satisfied with the results.

I was getting concern about the ineffective treatment for my condition. The plaques which started out to affect 10% of my body, continued to grow larger to over 30% of my body. About two three years ago, I decided to stop using steroids completely and seek alternative natural treatment. That was the beginning of my worst nightmare!

Soon after I stopped using steroids, my psoriasis plaque flared and grew to cover 80% of my body in a matter of weeks. The itch and pain on my body when these plaque cracks to expose wound became unbearable. I found out later that what I went through was called “rebound”. It is one of the many negative side effect from the long term use of steroids. I did not realize the treatment I was using for my psoriasis could actually make my condition worse.

Since then, I have decided to avoid steroids completely and find a solution to my problem from alternative therapies.

After undergoing several failed attempts, I was introduced to try OLIVENOL livin’. Initially I was skeptical as nothing had worked for me so far. After determining that the ingredient is natural and does not contain any steroids, my pharmacists, recommended me to take 2ml per day. Immediate effect I could feel was reduction in redness and higher energy level. After 2 months, some of my stubborn plaques started to thin and fade.

It has been about a year since I started on this olive juice extract, my plaques are not totally clear yet, but they have reduced by 50%. Unlike steroids, my plaques do not flare up when I stop taking it. My dermatologist calls this the “stable” state. He is happy and I am happy. I do not expect 100% recovery, but I am confident OLIVENOL livin’ is keeping me on the right track and helping me regain a quality of life I used to have.

Calvin Lam, 36, Kepong

Like Calvin, many psoriasis sufferers do not fully understand the side effect of the treatment they undergo.

Since steroids are such a commonly-used treatment in psoriasis, and their side effects seem to be misunderstood, or over- or under-played, we are devoting this page to an explanation of the common effects as we understand them.

Overuse of high-potency steroids can lead to thinning of skin, internal side effects, treatment resistance, and even worsening of the psoriasis. Steroid use is known to thin your skin, accumulate inside organs such as liver and kidneys, cause and contribute to hair loss and other undesirable side effects

Side Effects from Steroids.

Softening or Thinning of the Skin, Stretch Marks.
Long term use of steroids leads skin atrophy (thinning) or striae (stretch marks). Both conditions are very difficult to reverse.

Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) Axis Suppression
The Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) Axis provides a feedback loop to regulate our body’s natural production of steroids. Topically-applied steroids get absorbed into the skin and blood stream. This “fools” the HPA Axis into thinking the body is producing too many steroids. The natural production of steroids will be reduced accordingly. This leads to the problem of “rebound,” but can also cause other problems (see below).

Rebound
One function of steroids in the body is to regulate the amount of inflammation in an immune response. This is why topically-applied steroids reduce psoriasis symptoms, the “extra” steroids in the skin signal the immune system to reduce or shut down the inflammatory response.

Rebound occurs from sudden termination of steroids. Once the HPA Axis is making steroids at a lower level due to systemic absorption of topical steroids, stopping the “extra” steroids too quickly will leave the body with a large deficit in these inflammation-controlling substances. The immune system can then “run wild,” and a large flare-up of psoriasis may be possible, as was the experience of Calvin.

Cushing’s Syndrome
Cushing’s syndrome is characterized by muscular weakness and obesity. It is usually caused by overproduction of steroids by the body itself through “hyperactive” adrenal or pituitary glands.

Secondary Infection
The steroids normally produced by the body counteract inflammation, which is a primary immune-system response to infection. If such a response is suppressed, by adding extra steroids to the body, infections may thrive since the immune system will be unable to do its job properly. Most steroids come with the warning to not use them if an infection exists.

Hyperglycemia and Glucosuria (Diabetes)
Overuse of steroids can lead to hyperglycemia (high blood sugar) and glucosuria (high sugar in the urine). Hormones and other chemicals secreted by the adrenal glands have wide-ranging effects throughout the body, that suppressing their function can lead to suppression of the creation of insulin.

Glaucoma
Glaucoma is a disease in which the pressure inside the eye increases to the point of damaging the optic nerve. There are isolated cases reports of people developing glaucoma after long-term use of topical steroids around the eyes.

Effective Alternative to Steroids

OLIVENOL livin’ is an organic olive juice extract that is clinically proven to be effective on improving skin disorders such as psoriasis, eczema and dermatitis. Its active ingredient, hydroxytyrosol (HT) is a polyphenol that is found to inhibit pro-inflammatory T-cells in the immune system from triggering rouge inflammation that causes psoriasis.

Although 60% of psoriasis suffers found positive improvement to their condition, OLIVENOL livin’ is not a cure for this chronic auto immune disease. Dermatologist have adopted it as adjuvant (secondary) therapy and some have begun to test it as an adjunctive (co-primary) therapy for psoriasis.

There is a need for more discoveries to determine if this alternative therapy is effective. As part this endeavour, Triniaire Sdn Bhd, the distributor of OLIVENOL livin’ in Malaysia initiated a public trial with psoriasis sufferers who will consume OLIVENOL livin’ over a 90 days period. These participants are hoping to achieve similar results as Calvin and have all stopped steroid treatment.

In the spirit of openness, all participants in this project maintains an online journal of their OLIVENOL livin’ experience and condition throughout this 90-days period that is freely accessible on the internet.

Interested parties – doctors, pharmacists, psoriasis sufferers, general public – are able to follow their results personally by reading the following blogs:

For more information on the use of OLIVENOL livin’ as an alternative therapy for psoriasis, you should consult your dermatologists.

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Tags: heartbreak of psoriasis, immune system, psoriasis, side effects, steroid, t-cells, untold stories