Son with Psoriasis

[vickio]

Hi. I'm new to this chat thing. Austin, my 7 1/2 year old has had psoriasis for a year and a half. We live in Northern California. We haven't found anyone in the family with this yet. He is at the worse he has been for the past 2 months. He is doing light treatments 3 days a week and all the creams, etc. My question is he is extremely itchy at night and can't sleep, so no one really sleeps. We tried hydroxizene (sp?) I think it is generic for Atarax. It worked for a while but not anymore. We now give him a benedryl at bedtime and that helps get him to sleep but wears off by 1 or 2 am. Does anyone know anything that can help with the itching and burning. His legs are pretty much covered especially his shins. The meds burn and sting his legs. We go for another appt with derm this Wed. and they are talking about referring him to a pediatric derm in Oakland. He has been on everything from dovonez, tazorac, clobetasol, etc. nothing is working. He recently started protopic (eczema cream) it is working well on face and groin. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Vicki and Austin

[Shana Hansen]

HI Vickie & Austin,
Welcome. I have a daughter who is 21mo this week and she was born with Psor. so we have had many itchy scratchy nights. When she was a baby, mittens would do the trick but she's a little too smart for that now. I give her atarax syrup every night before she goes to sleep and that seems to be working for us right now. You might check and see if they need to raise the dosage on what you are giving Austin. I don't like to be giving her medicine unecessarily so every now and then I won't give it and about 11pm she is up itching and so I give it then but while it is kicking in she is very uncomfortable so what I have found works is putting her tummy and bottom(the main areas) under running cold water in the bath for about 10min. I know it wakes her up even more but it releives her so she can get back to sleep. Hope you get some sleep soon, and I would recommend going to see a pediatric derm.. Good Luck,
Shana

[PJ Leary]

Hi Vicki,

Since nothing seems to be working, I might begin asking questions about possible auto-immune triggers. Did he have a cold or other type of infection prior to the first outbreak?

The hydrox. is a pretty old standard for controling the itch. Have you tried re-medicating him with that when he wakes in the middle of the night? Check with your Dr to see if that would be okay. I often take it in the middle of the night if I wake from itch. It is a better solution than scratching and digging in my sleep ( not that I would get much without the medication ).

I think you might do well with another opinion from a ped. derm.

Good luck, and keep us posted on how Austin is doing.

PJ Leary

[vickio]

Well, I think we are finally turning a corner with Austin. He has been doing the light box for 3 weeks now. He has dramatically improved in the last week. I'm sure spending a day in the sun at the A's game helped alot. He also went swimming this weekend and that seemed to help. He even wanted to wear shorts to school the other day!!! His derm put him on different bedtime medicine and increased the dosage so he is now sleeping at night and not itching. I'm sure that is helping with his healing also.

Thanks for all the great tips...
Vicki and Austin