The Psoriasis Disease Family Tree
In alternative and/or holistic medicine, the concept of disease family trees is an important thing to understand. Conventional medicine says that psoriasis is one disease that is separate from and different from all other diseases. It even claims that there are sub-categories of psoriasis that are different enough to warrant separate types of treatments. Conventional medicine does not attempt to make a connection between any type of psoriasis and any other type of skin disease, let alone diseases like inflammatory bowel disease or rheumatoid arthritis. In conventional medicine, the skin is the skin. The bowels are the bowels. The joints are the joints and there is no connection between these various parts of the body.But Disease Family Trees are a way to acknowledge the relationship between various disease states and make a sensical mind-map of the health problems that can happen in different systems of the body at the same time to come up with a more holistic look at what is actually going on in a patient’s body. Disease Family Trees provide alternative medicine practitioners with all kinds of leads on possible cures for disease that might help any given patient. And they allow patients to acknowledge that, for example, the development of the skin manifestations of psoriasis may be secondary to the digestive issues that they’ve struggled with their whole lives.
While the conventional medicine treatments available for psoriasis don’t offer a lot of hope to psoriasis sufferers, the good news is that, by following the Disease Family Tree and the various branches that are associated with psoriasis, it’s possible to find scientifically validated psoriasis cures and to fully understand how and why they work in the body.
Patients who have decided that they’re ready to make a change and find a permanent cure for psoriasis, can use the concept of the Disease Family Tree to seek out cures and to understand the cures that have already been scientifically tested and validated. It’s an easy concept for most people to understand and it can be extremely helpful in opening new doorways for patients.
Diseases on the Psoriasis Disease Family Tree
It’s true that psoriasis is a skin disease according to conventional medicine. It is considered to be an autoimmune condition, a degenerative condition, or a “genetic” condition that cannot be cured by any treatment according to this system. But most psoriasis sufferers are also sufferers of inflammatory bowel disease. And they are also often sufferers of arthritic conditions and joint pain. Further, scientists have noted that there’s a compelling connection between the presence of various infectious pathogens in the body and psoriasis symptoms.The Infection Connection: Support for the Idea that Psoriasis is an Infection
A number of studies have confirmed the relationship between psoriasis and several different types of infection including:- Streptococcus bacteria (“strep”)
- Staphylococcus aureus
- Candida albicans
- Malassezia (Malassezia species live naturally on the skin, but in some cases, particularly in scalp psoriasis, this pathogen may play a role in the development of the disease.)
- HIV virus
- Hepatitis C virus
- Human papillomavirus
- Helicobacter pylori
- Zika virus
- Scabies
Click here to learn more about different pathogens at the root of autoimmune disease.
Scientists today note that the association between streptococcal infection and psoriasis is “well known” among researchers. And indeed, research has shown that a variety of infectious agents play a role in the development of psoriasis. But few patients realize that this connection exists and, even if they do know about the connection, in conventional medicine there are no antibiotics offered by Big Pharma that can be used to clear these infections without simultaneously damaging the gastrointestinal tract and ultimately making the disease worse.
Further, conventional medicine and leaders in the medical industry actively deny that an infection with Streptococcus pathogens or any other type of pathogen might be causing psoriasis. The reason why they deny that psoriasis or cancer or lupus, or any of the other autoimmune or degenerative diseases are caused by infection is because infections can be cured. As long as the public believes that these diseases are incurable, patients spend huge sums of money annually to merely “treat” these diseases using pharmaceuticals that ultimately lead them into the Cancer Industry (one of the most profitable industries on the planet right behind petroleum). In other words, one reason why patients don’t realize that psoriasis is caused by an infection is because of the political and economic forces that protect this information.
But another reason why psoriasis has not been viewed as an infectious disease is perhaps because it is not contagious so, it is a type of infection that might better be called a “colonization” of one or more of the organs of detoxification (the kidneys, liver, and digestive system) in the body with one or more bacteria or viruses. Though strep throat is contagious and caused by the bacteria Streptococcus pyogenes, a colony of Streptococcus pyogenes can create a colony in the liver and live happily there without needing to spread to new victims. The idea of “colonization” vs. infection is important and we’ll talk more about this concept in other articles (see Other Important Links below).
Nonetheless, there are numerous studies on psoriasis that prove that this disease is caused by an infection. Some theorists believe that the Streptococcus pathogen lives in the throat or in the skin while others cite evidence that it lives in the liver. Research aimed at supporting this hypothesis has observed strep bacteria in the peripheral blood supply of psoriasis patients. The peripheral blood supply includes the tiny blood vessels, known as capillaries, that feed the skin. This research looked for both streptococcus bacteria and Staphylococci bacteria and found that in some patients, both of these types of bacteria were present. Some psoriasis patients had other infectious organisms present in the peripheral blood supply too and, in fact, research indicates that there are several types of infectious pathogens that can create colonies in the kidneys or the liver that cause patients a lot of agony. The researchers in one study were able to demonstrate that psoriasis is associated with infection and that the different types of psoriasis (plaque psoriasis, guttate psoriasis, etc.), take shape because of differences in the type of infectious population of pathogens in the blood and skin tissues.
The idea that psoriasis is caused by an infection is not surprising to us at AlivenHealthy. Many diseases that are considered to be “degenerative” or “genetic” or “autoimmune” such as diabetes,or lupus are actually caused by an infection that is undetectable using the standard hospital laboratory microscope (light-field). Or the research exists on the disease and its relationship to a particular pathogenic infection, but the information has not been standardized or disseminated to doctors because the healthcare industry makes more money selling drugs that treat chronic symptoms as opposed to curing the disease. The cancer-causing microorganism has been observed by many doctors over the years via a dark-field microscope which has the ability to look at blood that is still alive (also known as Live Blood Analysis) makes it very easy to see the mycobacterium that causes the diseases. Live blood analysis reveals that many pathogens including streptococcal bacteria, have the ability to change shape depending on the alkalinity or acidity of their environment. Though this information has been observed many times in cancer research, it has not been translated into data for psoriasis or other diseases. Nonetheless, the ability to rid the body of disease-causing pathogens by alkalizing it is a simple and elegant treatment process that basically causes infectious pathogens to revert back to other shapes and forms that are not pathogenic.
Shape-changing bacteria (also known as somatids) are a scientifically mainstream concept that has been around for centuries under several different names. Helicobacter pylori is an excellent example of a well-known shape-changing (pleiomorphic) bacteria that infects the digestive system causing stomach ulcers, acid reflux, and other serious gastrointestinal diseases. It changes shape based on how acid or alkaline the surrounding environment is. It is an extremely common bacteria that lives happily in the water supply. To kill it and prevent mass infection with H. pylori, municipal water treatment plants use Chlorine Dioxide in tiny doses. This is one of the only healthy substances that can be used safely in the water supply to kill H. pylori without harming the general population. Chlorine Dioxide can also be used at medicinal doses (which are slightly higher than water purification doses) to kill H. pylori and other disease-causing microorganisms like streptococcal bacteria that cause psoriasis infection.
Chlorine Dioxide does not cause the same digestive upsets as antibiotic therapy when it is used to treat infections like Helicobacter pylori and Streptococcus. In fact, this medicinal substance that is also used as a water purifier worldwide, can be used with Dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) to heal the lining of the gut while treating the infection that is causing the disease. Indeed, Chlorine Dioxide and DMSO can be used to treat not just the infection that causes psoriasis and the inflammatory bowel problems, but also arthritis symptoms. DMSO is an FDA-approved medication that has the broadest medicinal action currently on the books in conventional medicine. Both Chlorine Dioxide and DMSO are safe for use in pregnant women, however, if you decide to use these medicines to treat psoriasis (pregnant or not), take some time to learn about how they work and what you need to avoid during treatment. For example, DMSO should not be combined with psoriasis prescription medications. Interestingly, one of the tried-and-true alternative treatments for psoriasis that works very well for many sufferers is exposure to Sunlight and Seawater. Seawater has a pH of about 8.1 (alkaline) and sunlight causes the release of singlet oxygen species, which are at the bottom of how substances like Chlorine Dioxide work in the body to kill pathogens like Streptococcus hemolyticus, Streptococcus pyogenes, Staphylococcus aureus, and more. Chlorine Dioxide releases singlet oxygen species that have the ability to kill pathogens throughout the body. The body, when it is exposed to the sun, naturally releases singlet oxygen species as a front-line defense against infection in the body.
Autoimmune Diseases and Psoriasis
Psoriasis is considered an “autoimmune disease” according to conventional medicine which means that this disease belongs in the ranks with other “autoimmune” diseases that include the following:- Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
- Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (Crohn’s Disease)
- More…
Though the word “autoimmunity” is really just shorthand in conventional medicine for “there is no cure”, in alternative and holistic medicine, the word “autoimmunity” carries a different connotation that actually connects these diseases together in a meaningful way and aludes to the fact that they may all have a common cause. As such, they all have a common set of treatments too that patients can use to overcome them.
Psoriasis is a skin manifestation of autoimmunity, but often, people who suffer from this disease also suffer from other autoimmune diseases like inflammatory bowel disease and/or arthritis. This fact has not escaped the attention of scientists, but much of the research on treatments for all of these diseases as multiple manifestations of a single cause, never makes it into mainstream conventional medicine.
Again, many patients with autoimmune disease benefit from Chlorine Dioxide and DMSO treatment, but additionally, because autoimmunity involves a metabolic change and a shift in the way the autonomic nervous system behaves, treatments aimed at re-invigorating the body may be necessary for psoriasis sufferers to get their lives back after the lesions go away.
There are two complementary theories of autoimmunity that look at autoimmune dysfunction from two different perspectives. These theories include:
- Dr. Robert Naviaux’s Metabolic Theory of Disease and
- Dr. Stephen Porges’ Polyvagal Theory
Dr. Naviaux’s Metabolic Theory looks at the body’s response to infection at the cellular level. His research has shown that patients with autoimmune disease, in particular autism and autism spectrum disorders, are experiencing a Cellular Danger Response. If the body is flooded with pathogens or toxins (like pharmaceutical medications, for example), or an emotional trauma, the cells will literally shut their doors and go into a state of dormancy or hibernation. When this happens, patients feel tired all the time and they have a hard time feeling okay with the world both physically and emotionally even if the outward manifestations of their disease is cured. Indeed, chronic fatigue (as in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) and chronic pain (as in Fibromyalgia) that seems to have no basis in reality according to conventional medicine doctors is caused by this Cellular Danger Response.
Dr. Naviaux notes that the Cellular Danger Response is natural and universal. A deer that is running from a bobcat and gets caught by the neck, may play dead reflexively and go totally limp in response to the danger. The bobcat, thinking that the animal in their grasp is ill, may release the deer and the deer may then survive. So this Cellular Danger Response is adaptive and it plays an important role in our physiology. But in humans, once the danger has passed, it may be difficult to get the body to “wake back up” or even to fully relax. People who enter into the Cellular Danger Response state (even partially) may live in a state that feels partially comatose or zombie-like without knowing why. Psoriasis sufferers are among these individuals.
Dr. Naviaux uses a drug called Suramin to treat serious autoimmune diseases such as autism. This drug is derived from the Pinus strobus pine tree and some patients may find that using this essential oil can be helpful in overcoming their autoimmune systems. Note, however, that this essential oil could cancel out the effects of Chlorine Dioxide if you use it at the exact same time.
Dr. Stephen Porges developed a very similar theory that acknowledge the exact same syndromes and physiological responses in the body, but his theory looks at the autonomic nervous system rather than at cellular behavior. Essentially, both theories are talking about the same low-energy state that people with autoimmune disorders experience on a regular basis, but Porges’ theory talks about how the autonomic nervous system has more than two branches. Most biology classes talk about the division of the autonomic nervous system into two branches: the Sympathetic Nervous System and the Parasympathetic Nervous System. The Parasympathetic Nervous System consists of the Vagus Nerve which delivers and carries news back and forth to the lower parts of the brain that are not involved in conscious thought. The Sympathetic Nervous System in contrast consists of an extensive network of nerves that emerge and converge at ganglia that are situated along the spinal cord. The Sympathetic Nervous System is the system that switches on in fight or flight situations, but it also makes sure that we’re calmly awake and alert during the day.
According to Porges’ Polyvagal Theory, the vagus nerve has two branches: the dorsal branch and the ventral branch. The dorsal branch of the vagus nerve feeds the organs in the chest and the gut and it is very important in that it keeps our organs working whether we think about them or not. The dorsal branch of the vagus nerve functions in the Rest and Digest capacity. But the ventral branch of the vagus nerve acts as a mediator between the Rest and Digest function of the dorsal vagal nerve and the Fight or Flight function of the Sympathetic Nervous System. The ventral vagus nerve is what switches on when we are really engaged in something and having a peak experience. It is this branch of the nervous system that we need to access in order to stay balanced in our daily lives. And one of the simplest ways to turn on the ventral vagus nerve is to socialize.
Of course, socialization may be difficult for those with psoriasis. Psoriasis is an isolating illness because it is readily apparent on the skin especially if the psoriatic plaques are located on the scalp, the face, or the hands. And if your body is in a dorsal vagal state / Cellular Danger Response state, then you may not feel like socializing or “going out”. Nonetheless, social activities that allow you to lose track of time (because you’re enjoying yourself) are the ideal way for patients to re-open their cells and return to an active state of feeling alive and well.
In this Post COVID Vaccine Syndrome article we talk about eye exercises that people with psoriasis can also use to hijack the vagus nerve and switch into a ventral vagal state.
Diseases of the Organs of Detoxification in Psoriasis
The organs of detoxification are those organs that deal with the removal of toxins from the body. These organs include:- Kidneys
- Liver
- Skin
- Digestive System, (especially the Large Intestine)
The most obvious reason why psoriasis sufferers need to note the role of organs of detoxification in the experience of psoriasis is because often, patients will go to a dermatologist for a psoriasis diagnosis and receive a set of prescription medications for this disease. And for their inflammatory bowel disease (Crohn’s Disease, etc.), they may visit a gastroenterologist who gives them an entirely different set of prescriptions. These two professionals, the dermatologist and the gastroenterologist probably know nothing about the other organs that are involved in causing psoriasis. The way specialists deal with the human body leads to a general view of body systems as separate and distinct from each other. In conventional medicine, the body is typically not viewed as a whole thing (though some specialties such as osteopathy and of course, integrative medicine get closer to a holistic view of the body). Indeed, psoriasis patients may recall frequent kidney infection or other manifestations of kidney problems that were in existence prior to their psoriasis diagnosis. Or perhaps the psoriasis sufferer experiences regular mid-back pain that would solidify kidney and liver involvement in their disease progression. These are important pieces of information. Uncovering the root cause of the disease is essential to find a cure and restore general health. Diseases that afflict any one of the organs listed above may be the underlying core problem that causes psoriasis to develop. Many psoriasis sufferers develop skin lesions due to pathogen colonies in both the liver and the kidneys. Or they may have a more severe colonization in one organ or the other which leads to different types of psoriasis and varying levels of severity from patient-to-patient.
Kidneys
In 1982, a group of researchers set out to learn more about how dialysis could be used to cure psoriasis. Dialysis is the purification of blood using specialized machines in a clinical setting. Normally, kidneys purify the blood, but in people with severe kidney disease or who no longer have kidneys, dialysis is a life-saving procedure that must be done on a regular basis. For decades psoriasis researchers have noted that dialysis could cause partial or complete remission from psoriasis in some patients which lends credibility to the idea that the kidneys are always or sometimes involved in the development of psoriasis.
Even back in the 1980’s nearly 1/5th of European dialysis centers were receiving psoriasis patients for treatments. According to studies into this phenomenon, about 20% of patients reported improvement in their condition after starting dialysis treatment.
In 1978, Dr. Phillip C. Anderson described two patients with crippling psoriasis who had not responded to Goeckerman Therapy and folic acid antagonists who were rapidly cured of psoriasis using dialysis treatments. This researcher notes that psoriasis treatment using dialysis is slightly different than dialysis treatment for individuals with renal failure.
Another study that involved continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis, saw complete remission in 50% of patients and improvement in the other 50% of the treated patients. Studies that examine the role of the kidneys in causing psoriasis seem to indicate that in some psoriasis patients there is more than one organ of detoxification that is struggling to meet the body’s detox demands. Indeed, some experts have noted that psoriasis appears to be a disease that specifically involves detoxification issues that can be remedied in a variety of ways if the patients understand their disease.
Dialysis, interestingly, is most often administered with sodium bicarbonate (also known as baking soda). Sodium bicarbonate has a pH of about 8.0 which makes it alkaline (a pH of 7 is neutral and a pH of 6 is acidic). Readers should note that the pH of seawater is approximately 8.1 and that seawater and sunlight is a cure for psoriasis that works for many patients. Alkalizing the body causes infectious germs to change shape into forms that are not infectious. There are a variety of ways to alkalize the body, but the reason why sunlight works in combination with seawater makes a lot of sense if you learn a just a little bit about singlet oxygen species and reactive oxygen species medicine. But needless to say, dialysis is a treatment that involves the administration of sodium bicarbonate intravenously. The kidneys benefit especially from the alkalinity of the blood, but they also get a break from their normal work load when the patient gets dialysis treatment done. Combining dialysis treatments with chlorine dioxide treatments would be very similar to going to a sunlight and seawater resort for psoriasis sufferers.
Liver
A number of experts have noted that an overburdened or diseased liver may be the root cause of psoriasis. All psoriasis sufferers have liver problems and bile production problems. We talk more in depth about ox bile as a supplement that can be used to support the liver because the liver is obviously struggling in many patients with psoriasis. But taking ox bile supplements also help the body digest fragments of bacteria and other types of pathogens that may be colonizing the body. Scientists, for example, have discovered that in psoriasis patients, there are pieces of Streptococcus pyogenes bacteria called “peptidoglycans” that cause leaky gut (which also contributes to inflammatory bowel disease symptoms). The Streptococcus pyogenes bacteria or other types of pathogens may have passively colonized the liver or the gallbladder. The peptidoglycans can be digested by supplemental bile acids which not only clears up the skin in 90% of patients, but also has the ability to heal the inflammatory bowel disease.If the liver has been colonized by a bacteria, it probably isn’t functioning as well as it could and this means that the liver isn’t producing enough bile. Without bile, food will not be digested properly which can lead to inflammatory bowel disease symptoms and certain nutrients in food also won’t be properly absorbed (which leads to other disease conditions). Taking an ox bile supplement for psoriasis with meals allows you to not only support the liver, but also get rid of the bits and pieces of bacteria that may be a core problem in causing the disease. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is almost twice as common in psoriasis sufferers as it is in the general population. It is possible to cure non-alcoholic fatty liver disease with ox bile supplementation too. Approximately 50% of psoriasis sufferers also have non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, so it’s important to mention that this condition also benefits from the use of ox bile supplements. Liver diseases that psoriasis sufferers often develop include:
- Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
- Autoimmune hepatitis
- Primary biliary cholangitis
- Neutrophilic cholangitis
Patients with these diseases can all benefit from the use of an ox bile supplement according to the recommended dosages for psoriasis patients.
Skin Diseases
Finally, psoriasis is related to certain skin diseases including the following:- Eczema
- Shingles (Herpes zoster)
- Urticaria (hives)
Doctors often misdiagnose eczema for psoriasis or psoriasis for eczema. Despite these misdiagnoses, conventional medicine continues to proclaim that these two diseases are totally different from each other.
Shingles is an excellent example of a skin disease that is caused by a virus that has colonized a remote location in the body.
Urticaria is another disease that has strong correlations with Helicobacter pylori infection. Getting rid of H. pylori often rids the patient of urticaria at the same time.
The Psoriasis Cure: Cure Skin Autoimmune Problems, Inflammatory Bowel Disease, and Arthritis Symptoms Using Scientifically Supported Treatments That Work - BUY THE BOOK HERE!!
The Barefoot Healer's Guide to Autoimmune Disease, Volume 1 - BUY HERE!
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