The year that I sat my Leaving Cert (yes, again, circa 1842), I had an outbreak of the skin disorder psoriasis so bad that the only places on my body that weren't affected were my face, hands and feet.
I had to wear long sleeve tops and skirts to the floor to cover up the red raw, angry looking patches that appeared on every inch of my body. And I was mortified. I was seventeen, chasing boys, hoping to go on a sun holiday after the exams and this outbreak was putting a halt on everything.
I had been to the family GP on a number of occasions who continued to prescribe me so many different ointments that I could almost have opened up my own chemist. And I knew, I
knew, that the solution wasn't entirely going to be an 'outside-in' job; if I'd broken out because I was essentially stressed out over my exams, then surely the solution had to be an 'inside-out' job, no?
I eventually attended a local acupuncturist who allergy tested me for any foods that could be causing problems and the list was LONG. He called them 'heat foods' and said that it isn't that it wasn't that I had to cut them out completely, but that I needed to eat them in complete moderation.
They were:
Chocolate
Cheese
Tomatoes (including any tomato-based sauces)
Peanuts
Egg yolk (oh yes, everything has egg yolk in it)
Bacon (bye-bye BLTs & Sunday fry-ups)
Newspaper print (ok not a 'food' but I have to wash my hands after reading a paper)
Gulp! I went off all the foods on the list for a month and took some homeopathic treatments that he gave me. Within one month, I was all clear. Completely, 100%, all clear and I have never been as bad since.. until this year.
For some reason, it is flaring up all over again and I am noticing a very worrisome correlation between drinking delicious red wine, and horrible skin outbreaks. I can literally have one glass of red wine on Saturday night and by Wednesday, my whole scalp is on fire.
I am totally devo to have to say this but: I am going to have to do another major detox. It's been over twenty years, and I now have to attack this problem full-force again.
So...bye bye red wine. It's not me, it's you :o(
Psoriasis affects over 100,000 people in Ireland. For advice on how to deal with it visit
the MyPsoriasis website.
