# IBS and Eczema/Psoriasis



## marleen18170 (Nov 24, 2002)

It seems to me I remember reading that there is or could be a conection to IBS and eczema or psoriasis. Anyone remember reading this posting? I can't find it. I have been diagnosed with IBS-D type. I now have a problem with eczema/psoriasis which only showed up two years ago. I have had IBS for many years. Thnaks for any help.


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## KatieCC (Aug 27, 2002)

There is a connection between Psoriasis and Crohn's disease/Ulcerative Colitis, both are autoimmune diseases, people can have skin manifestations of Crohn's/Colitis, and are also more likely to develop psoriasis than the average person. But by definition, IBS does not cause, and is not linked to, any other condition, including eczema and psoriasis. If you have both it is purely coincidence.Kate


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## BQ (May 22, 2000)

Busy Mom If you are taking any anti-spasmodic meds they Do have a habit of drying everything out, skin included. I have only had eczema crop up since using the anti-spazes. I just read today that some folks have had some easing of their eczema by drinking oolong tea. I'm thinking of trying some. I'll let ya know how I do.BQ


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## marleen18170 (Nov 24, 2002)

Thanks for the information. I am not taking any anti-spasmodic medicine so that can not be the culprit. BQ good luck with the tea! The only time I have a flare up of the eczema/psoriasis is in the winter. I dry up terrible and I only get the eczema on my arms, belly, and scalp. The medicine I get from my dermatologist helps but I was wondering if there was any connestion.THANKS!!!


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## ect (Nov 13, 2002)

I've been wondering too. Maybe the skin has receptors that overact like the ones in the belly. Where's Eric or Mike on this?Love,Ect


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## flux (Dec 13, 1998)

> quote:But by definition, IBS does not cause, and is not linked to, any other condition, including eczema and psoriasis. If you have both it is purely coincidence.


Let this be common knowledge.


> quoteo have a habit of drying everything out, skin included.


Well, an idiosyncratic reaction, I guess.


> quote:Maybe the skin has receptors that overact like the ones in the belly.


Humans, no. Martians, maybe?


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## freshsandwiches (Jan 22, 2001)

I get water filled blisters forming on my fingers and on my wrist which tend to dry and crack. They started appearing when the IBS did.For something which is a syndrome, you can't be sure of what else it does/does not cause.I find steroid ointment from my GP can keep this at bay.


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## Mike NoLomotil (Jun 6, 2000)

Correction: ________________________________________quote:----------------------------------------------But by definition, IBS does not cause, and is not linked to, any other condition, including eczema and psoriasis. If you have both it is purely coincidence.------------------------------------------------Let this be common knowledge. ________________________________________In the cae of psoriasis, "common knowledge" would be basically correct. In the case of eczema common knowledge would be, and is, incorrect. _________________________________________"quote:----------------------------------------------Maybe the skin has receptors that overact like the ones in the belly.-----------------------------------------------Humans, no. Martians, maybe? ___________________________________Humans, yes. Martians, no one realy knows about what happens in Martians. I think this is a bit speculative.If you want to learn about the subject you need to study the work of people who have actually studied the issue.I could given the time and patience post a litany of abtracts, for example, from Japan (there are some immunologists/allergists in Japan who are just fascinated with atopic dermatitis apprantly) over the last 10 years at least, where the role of cell-mediated immunity in food intolerant atopic eczema victims has been explored and manifest itself. Then we would need to link that work to the body of work in (primarily) Europe which has discovered the role of cell-mediated hypersensitivity reactions to foods in a population of IBS victims...then trace it back to and explain all about atopy, cell-mediated immune reactions and the oral tolerance mechanisms, differentiate the different T cell types and their activities..and spend the day explaining why this is not a phsyioligic fairy tale but that there is a relationship in a subpopulation of patients.If one does not underatand the subject the best thing to do right now is get this book...then read the whole thing...AND look at all the referecnes in the book and read them. Or at leats pick out all the references relative to the conditions descibed in this thread, and one can see where there is and is not any relationship between them.FOOD ALLERGY AND INTOLERANCE, Professor Jonathan Brostoff, MD, Stephen Challacombe, MD (NEW 2002) http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/070...product-details Instead, in simple terms (which are inherently not perfect ina ccuracy but which convey the point) there are some IBS patients with lost oral tolerance (IBS symptoms provoked by food intolerance seondary to abnormal cell-mediated immune reactions....best documented is T cell responses CD[x]) whose abnormal cell mediated immune reaction to foods can also provoke eczema. In some it is classic "atopic dermatitis" 9think "allergy"). So they have a comorbidity of an allergy atop whatever their causal basis for IBS is. Sometimes their IBS involves "mast cell reactions" to so their is a link between "the cells in the skin and the gut" which I think is what ECT is trying to articulate.This reaction in part is indeed from cells "in the skin" similar to cells in the bowel reacting (mast cells...that is documented as well). PLUS it has been well documented that some patients show weird t cell proliferation and reactivity as well. Thsi also happens in IBS patients and has been subtantiated and reported a number of times...heck can see it every day live, on humans, if you are in the right place.So while the population is not huge of people who present with both symptom sets, it is not correct to say it does not occur in humans since it does...and it usually is first seen in childhood when the oral tolerance mechanisms of the immune system are not fully developed. Often as the child matures the sensitivity decreases as the immune systems oral-tolerance mechanism continues to "mature".Its an interesting subject but time runs short...MNL


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## BQ (May 22, 2000)

Busy Mom Forget what I said, apparently anti-spazes don't dry out the skin... My Doc told me that, but forget what he said too then.Perhaps it is merely coincidental; perhaps it is an "allergy"; perhaps the oolong tea won't care and it will work for me, or perhaps it won't.Sorry I wasn't that helpful.







BQ


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## dianne (Jan 16, 2000)

I'm 100% with Mike -- there is definitely some connecting link between eczema and IBS that has shown up in our clinical research for Ibsacol and our formula for atopic eczema, which is almost identical. Many patients suffer from both.In fact, it has been difficult to find adult eczema patients who do not suffer from either asthma or IBS.And I'm also happy to say Ibsacol and our skin formula Meradex has worked for 95% of them.Kind thoughts DianneFor the record, I am a director of the New Zealand company that developed and produces Ibsacol.


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## BQ (May 22, 2000)

Well I'm glad that showed up then Dianne so at least we know there might be a link.I also read that the flippin Levsin may inhibit sweating, which _could potentially_ dry the skin out, no?I read it here: http://www.drugs.com/xq/cfm/pageid_0/htm_D...in/qx/index.htm I dunno, all I know is I didn't have it b/4 the Levsin. However I was given it because my symptoms went from mild to like severe so it could be either reason right?Or I guess neither too. Who knows, lolI'll still try the tea and see what happens.BQ


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## flux (Dec 13, 1998)

> quote:in our clinical research


Published where?


> quote:In fact, it has been difficult to find adult eczema patients who do not suffer from either asthma or IBS.


Of course, they are common conditions.









> quote:ur skin formula Meradex has worked for 95% of them.





> quote:we know there might be a link


Or not.This number sounds suspicious.


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## dianne (Jan 16, 2000)

Bye bye Flux. I will not play in your games.Kind wishesDianne


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## Nikki (Jul 11, 2000)

Are you sure its Psoriasis (can't spell). My bes friends boyfriend used to have it as a child and he was red raw and totally covered with it until he hit his teen years.I used to get exema,but not related to my IBS>


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## marleen18170 (Nov 24, 2002)

Thanks for all the imput! The next time I see my dematologist or my other doctor I will ask him what he thinks about any connection. I will keep you posted as to what he says. Take Care All!!!!!!


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## alongtin (Jul 30, 2002)

Hi all!I believe that I have eczema, and just the other day, I was lamenting the fact that I seem to have every non-fatal disorder on the books. It seems that if there's something out there- I have it! I'll read a health magazine and be like, "Damn, there's another thing I have!" So I just added eczema to my list. I'm constanatly surprised at the little health problems that are troublesome to me that, in the end, seem to be in some way related to IBS. For that, I thank this board. I was finally diagnosed with Mitral Valve Prolapse because I heard about it on the board. So thanks for sharing, everyone! It makes me feel less like a leper and more like someone with a disorder that is far from being totally understood!Amy


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## Popeye (Oct 26, 2001)

Coincidence or not, I was diagnosed with a skin condition called "sebhorreic dermatitis" a few months after I had been diagnosed with IBS.I also have a very strange looking skin that's often very itchy just below my buttocks and I'm going to see a dermatologist about that in February. I did not have any of these skin conditions before IBS.


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## flux (Dec 13, 1998)

> quote:"sebhorreic dermatitis"


This is just a fancy word for *dandruff* and of course, it has nothing to do with IBS.


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## Popeye (Oct 26, 2001)

Flux,seborrheic dermatitis IS NOT dendruff !!!!! What is Seborrheic Dermatitis? This condition is a red, scaly, itchy rash in areas various locations on the body. The scalp, sides of the nose, eyebrows, eyelids, and the skin behind the ears and middle of the chest are the most common sites. Other areas, such as the navel (belly button) and skin folds under the arms, breasts, groin and buttocks, may also be involved. These areas have the highest concentration of sebaceous glands.Is this Condition Associated with Other Diseases?Seborrheic dermatitis may occur in patients with other illnesses. There does appear to be more seborrheic dermatitis in adults with disease of the nervous system, such as Parkinsonï¿½s disease. Patients recovering from stressful medical conditions, such as a heart attack, may also develop this problem. People in hospitals or nursing homes and those with immune system disorders appear to be more prone to this disorder. People with seborrheic dermatitis have no increased risk of other skin diseases. This condition does not progress to or cause skin cancer, no matter how long it remains untreated.So, you see, trivializing other conditions that you don't know too much about leads you nowhere, Flux. There clearly seems to be a connection between seborrheic dermatitis and immune system disorders (and some may say that IBS has something to do with auto-immune system dysfunction). So, I don't see how you can be so certain that IBS and some skin conditions aren't connected in some way? I am not saying that the ARE, but that they MIGHT BE.


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## flux (Dec 13, 1998)

> quote:seborrheic dermatitis IS NOT dendruff !!!!!










Dandruff is the commonly used term for this condition. You could probably look it up on a bottle of shampoo for this condition at pharmacy shelf.


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## flux (Dec 13, 1998)

Iï¿½m looking at multiple sources and seeing inconsistent information.Some sites http://www.pennhealth.com/ency/article/000963.htm http://www.skinsite.com/info_seborrheic_dermatitis.htm consider these terms to be the same thingbut many others http://www.aad.org/pamphlets/seborrhe.html http://www.reddingdermatology.com/seborrheic-dermatitis.htm http://www.nationaleczema.org/lwe/seborrheic.html http://jhhs.client.web-health.com/web-heal...dermatitis.html make a distinction.So it is *not* wrong to say they are different as I state above.







So please accept that image with myself pictured below...


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## Popeye (Oct 26, 2001)

Flux,mmmmmmmmm----BEER....Well, I don't want to brag about this stuff anymore, but I just have to say that those websites that imply seborrheic dermatitis and dandruff are the same thing do not make much sense. And even the symptoms that they describe for seborrheic dermatitis do not go in accordance with dandruff symptoms...I have a therapeutic shampoo, which says it helps treat psoriasis, seborrheic dermatitis, and dandruff (meaning 3 different conditions). S. dermatitis is a more "serious" condition than dandruff. My dermatologist says the two are clearly different and that s. dermatitis has more to do with conditions such as rosacea than dendruff...But, anyway...


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## eric (Jul 8, 1999)

I have Eczema and know Stress can aggravate for sure although other things can to, but I notice for one it acts up most under stress for me. http://hcd2.bupa.co.uk/fact_sheets/Mosby_f...ets/eczema.html


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## marleen18170 (Nov 24, 2002)

Thanks for all the input. Eric, I checked out that site. But the best question is how to deal with all the stress that aggravates the IBS & the eczema.


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## BQ (May 22, 2000)

BusyMom, I found Mike's Hypno tapes to be an invaluable tool for helping me get my IBS symptoms and stress managed. It also had a habit of negating any anxiety. I also find that relaxation exercises help as well as regular exercise helps with stress.BQ


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## dianne (Jan 16, 2000)

busy mom .. did you get the private emails I sent to the address given for you here ? If not, you might like to pse email me your correct address to dicad###ihug.co.nzthx and kind thoughts







dianne


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## MALI (Jul 8, 2001)

Flux Put a sock in it! I,m amazed you have not been booted from this BB yet! MALI


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## Mike NoLomotil (Jun 6, 2000)

I been away a few days with an exciting bacterial pneumonia...and codeine cough supressants, while fun, do not leave one 100% cogent.














So just popping around a minute and looked here and all I can say is SHEESH.....vis a vis seborrhea.Yes seborrheic dermatitis, whose symptoms come from basically excess sebum production by sebacious exocrine glands in various bodily locations can mianifest itself as dandruff....but that is not the only way nor place it manifests itself so don't act like anyone who says it is more than dandruff is stupid.







Tighten up or lighten up







...the characteristic red scaliness sometimes with itching can and often does appear in other places than those which make "dandruff"...in the skin folds on the sides of the nares, in the skin folds behind the ears, in the scalp (there is your "dandruff" flakes)or only along the frontal scalp line, or even below the scalp line where the scalp line USED TO BE when the patient was younger and before the scalp line started running away from his face towards the top of his head.You can get it in the eyebrows which indeed will result in redness of the skin and the characterisric flakes...which are not really "dry skin" its the opposite...oily buildup...It can slao appear in the middle of the forehead...yikes all kinds of annoying places. Sometimes its just ugly and annoting and sometimes it hurts to the touch.The severity of the lesions wil wax and wane...even in accordance with external environment like the temperature and humidity changes that accompany seasonl changes and what happens INDOORS with the HVAC system when the weuater turns cold and the person is suddenly in hot dry air (since they did not invest in a humidifier for the house)....Things that can help the lesions NOT on the scalp are simple OTC 1% hydrocortisone cream you can get at any drug store. Also it is better to use a high quality hypollergenic skin cleanser designed for oily skin instead of bar sopap to wash when you have an outbreak....The head is treated with the old fashioned stuff like T-Gel shampoo, or the Selsun Blue shampoo too. But it is expensive and it often seems that the extra strength head and Shoulders in the Dark Blue bttle will work just as quickly on the old scalp.The problem with using the corsyosne cram all the time though is eventually you start to get thinning of the pithelium...so here is an old estheticians' trick that can reduce the need for the cort cream:When you wash you hair with Selsun Blue or the H7S in the dark blue bottle WASH YOUR AFFECTED SKIN AREAS WITH IT TOO.take some of the shampoo and just rub it on the affected are and leave it there for a few minutes wjile you are leaving it work on your dome a bit. Then rinse it off along with rinsing the hair. This can help. Having also suffered from seborrhea since Iw as a teenager besides my IBS, and as it has gotten more difficult to keep in remission as I get older, I have had the chance to try a lot of different solutions and talk toa lot of dermatolosists about it over the years as it is annoying...and when sever can make life much a drag for some who have it really bad on their visible skin (to be around people).And I have had a chance to read alot about it over the years too just like IBS and other things.I would render, though, the observation that while it does occur in IBS diarrheics and others just like in non IBS people it seems that the body of evidence (scientific and anecdotal) does not point to it being directly linked to the symptom generating mechansisms we suffer with our IBS...and all kinds of dietray therapy regimens whixch have been effective for IBS and some other comorbidities like eczema don't have any bonafide effect on this skin condition.Anywa that is my flotsam added to the jetsom of the SD discussion as there is merit in whate everyone has to say here about it in one way or another. Excpe that diet does not play an obvious role as far as the mechanism it provokes with IBS. there are other ways in which you could conceivably aggrvate it by provoking even more sebum production..which we already seem to bea ble to do quite handily....but it is more a comorbidity than a liked-condition by mechanism.







keep a clear skin and a DFD[cough cough]MNLPSI really hate that spot in the middle of my forehead when it comes out.....someone once said "you look much to fair skinned to be Pakistani or Indian? " Duh.....LOTS of cort crem to keep that spot buried.


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## dianne (Jan 16, 2000)

Hope you start feeling better Mike .. have some sunshine from this lovely South Pacific summer weare enjoying -- and I saw you had snow ????







be well .. that pneumonia is horrible. dianne


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## MALI (Jul 8, 2001)

Mike, thank you for your input. Get well soon!MALI


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## Mike NoLomotil (Jun 6, 2000)

Hi Dianne...ACH those people who said we had snow down HERE (Palm Beach...was more power of suggestion...placebo-snow?







There was ONE day last week for about 5 MINUTES one could look into the cold air or drive your car and capture upon the windshield this exceedingly fine mist, which was 100% liquid well before it got anywhwere near touching anything.Those local yokels who were reporting "snow" in our news down HERE were either folks who had spent too long a prior- night under influence of illegal pharmaceuticals down on Clematis Street (the local equivalent of Bourbon Street in N'orleans or Calle Ocho in Miami) OR who were born and reared here, never been north of Orlando in the winter, so have no clue what "snow" actually is! LOL







So we be "cool" down here last week....but (you remember Ethan?) my associate was in Cleveland (my home town) doing some training at the time and HE got to experience REAL wintertime delights...9 degrees F was the HIGH temp, 18 mph winds off Lake Erie and lake-effect snow (something that Nanook of the North would stay in the igloo to avoid).Its funny I have been in Florida going on 25+ years and DID see "snow" for real once. In Jacksonville in maybe 1976 (?) enough snow came down for an hour to make the grass white...just enough that you could just brush it away with your hand...But the PEOPLE WENT INSANE!!!!







flying out of their homes, workplaces, Newstrucks rolling helter-skelter hitther and yon chasing reports of "snowing on hecksher Drive" or "Snow Flurries in Avondale!!" and drivers causing massive traffic tieups as people simply stopped dead on the Interstate to climb out of their cars to stare at







white flakes. There were as many white flakes standing on I95 staring at the sky as there were IN the sky!







Lord HELP THEM should they ever get caught in Detroit or Cleveland or Buffalo, and hear the weatherman predict "some snow is expected tonight with accumulations of oh, 12-14 inches or so so don't forget your mittens in the morning!!"...their brains would explode from the sensory overload!!!







Hey Mali, see? I must be feeling better...my characteristic verbosity reemerges!!!







[cough...any of that codeine left?]







MNL


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