the significance of inflammation, the cause of psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis
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Posted Mon 18 Mar 2019 00.53 by wendyloish
Inflammation is a normal part of the immune response to outside attack. I am sure you all remember having cuts that swelled up and discoloured. You must have had colds and sore throats where your sinuses or your throat swelled up. That is you immune system repelling attack by bacteria fungi and/or viruses. But that part of the immune system is supposed to turn off after the invader is defeated. But that may not happen, so that a person becomes the target of chronic inflammation. They are under autoimmune attack.
The National Psoriasis Foundation (American) states categorically on its website, that INFLAMMATION IS TO BLAME FOR PSORIATIC DISEASE. "Inflammation causes the red, flaky plaques seen in psoriasis and the joint pain of psoriatic arthritis. Research now shows that inflammation is also tied to diabetes, heart disease, depression and other conditions."
So, if you can get the inflammation under control, that aught to mean you are also slowing down or even stopping the progression of the disease.
You know all those "-itis" diseases, well "-itis" just means inflammation. Tonsillitis is inflammation of the tonsils etc. etc.
It is now a few years since I had my gall bladder removed (another one of those problems where women are over-represented). I did not have gall stones, it was simply that my gall bladder was chronically infected. Or was it? This was an assumption by the GP and surgeon, based, you guessed it, on the presence of extensive inflammation. I puzzled about this. I had no generalised signs of infection (if I had there would not have been any surgery). So there was no outside source. The gall bladder is attached to liver and stomach, neither of which had any symptoms. How could it have been infection, then? A possible answer is that there was no infection, but that the infection was presumed as a result of the presence of a high level of inflammation. Having now understood the nature of my autoimmune problems, I cannot but help wonder whether that gall bladder surgery was actually necessary. I have already written about "investment" in the medical status quo. Was I, too, invested? I think so.
wendyloish
Posted Mon 18 Mar 2019 09.45 by OhNo_NotAgain?
This is an interesting use of the word "categorically". The quote is not presented on the NPF website as the position of the entire NPF but is contained in a 2015 blog-type post from an ex-editor, in the websites "Advance" section.
Nevertheless, the post is quite interesting, as are may of the other posts in that section of the website.
The NPF website as a whole contains quite a lot of very useful and interesting material, on causes, triggers and diagnosis of psoriatic diseses, and I would encourage people to go to it and read it for themselves. Generally the writing is clear, and easy to understand. https://www.psoriasis.org/
2
Posted Mon 18 Mar 2019 14.27 by wendyloish
OhNo,
I would like to propose to you that you read a book entitled
"The Righteous Mind
Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion"
by Jonothan Haidt
It may help you to understand what I am talking about with "investment". It will certainly help you to understand that we make our judgements intuitively, and then use logic to back up already made conclusions. I am sorry to say that since I began on this forum, I think it was last June, much of the quality of the postings has evaporated. We are all the poorer for that. Using pedantry to crush dissent may make one a winner, but it does not always make one right.
Oh and one last thing, do you think the red thumb wielder actually reads any of my posts?
wendyloish
1
Posted Tue 19 Mar 2019 04.17 by wendyloish
It was suggested to me that I should ignore attacks on my forum postings and so I have done so, since starting to repost a month or so ago. But before I go back to that policy, I would like to point out that my being a target is shared by a couple of others on the forum, namely Jeannette50 and Maxine. So I would like to ask readers to consider whether there is a misogynistic element to this. 3 out of 3 women! No men subjected to the same sort of nitpicking pedantry! The amount, nature and detail of the targeting makes me think "misogyny", but I would let people judge for themselves, as I become a target once again. (For those new to the forum one such attack remains on the blueberry stream)
I am interested in evolutionary psychology, and have been reading about research in the area of domestic violence. Perpetrators are identified by research as "competitively disadvantaged males", psychology-speak for losers. And this same group seem to pop up on facebook, chat rooms and forums like this one, denigrating women.
I am not going to get into a slanging match, or an argument about whether I am simply paranoid, as I want people to take what I have said seriously. My wisest course of action would have been not to bite, but in the spirit of "Metoo", just this once I want to say something.
And I am not trying to write a textbook or publish a paper, only to tell people my experiences and what I understand or believe about psoriatic arthritis and autoimmune disease in general. I do this for altruistic reasons, so I refuse to get into a discussion on the meaning of a word like "categorically".
I have already restricted myself regarding answering questions, perhaps in light of circumstances I may reconsider this decision.
wendyloish
Posted Tue 19 Mar 2019 05.34 by OhNo_NotAgain?
wendyloish: when your post states that " The National Psoriasis Foundation (American) states categorically on its website, that INFLAMMATION IS TO BLAME FOR PSORIATIC DISEASE. " it is a factually incorrect statement, I do not believe it should be seen as an "attack" on your post to point that out, nor is it being pedantic to point that out,
There is a lot of excellent information on the psoriasis.org website and as before, i would recommend people read it and refer to it, which I why I included the URL in my post - to help people navigate directly to it, if they have not already done so,
On another point that you raise, . you seem to have forgotten that you were quite vociferous in your multiple posts criticisng those from user-ID "Maxine" about diatomaceous earths.
I cannot speak for others on this forum, but on here and on discussion forums in general, I do not infer a particular gender from a user's choice of ID or screen-name. I have observed from at least one of your earier and now deleted comments, and now your most recent comment, that gender of contributors is something that you do seem to take account of.
1
Posted Tue 19 Mar 2019 08.12 by wendyloish (edited Tue 19 Mar 2019 13.40 by wendyloish)
Gender is an important issue in psoriasis and autoimmune disease in general, because estrogen is an immuno-stimulant, testosterone tends to be an immuno-suppressor, and pregnancy is a great strain on the endocrine system. That is why women are significantly more likely to suffer from things like Hashimoto's thyroiditis and lupus. It is even possible that prostrate inflammation may be a factor for men, but i certainly do not have that problem. So yes, sex in the context is important.
I have assumed you are male, maybe I have my own predjudices. Tell me I am wrong!
I would also like to say that it is very frustrating that you do not actually address the topic of inflammation being the cause of psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis. You simply sidetrack with things that are unimportant. Do you agree with the statement or not? What support do you have for your opinion either way? If you have no opinion, what would be a more appropriate response to this post? You see, I do not really care if I have misquoted something, if I got the meaning right.
A few years ago I submitted a short story to a competition, When I found out that spelling mistakes and typos were a part of the judgement process I lost all respect for the judgement process. It is the story that counts, not the spelling, or even the sources. This in my opinion is not the place for footnotes, numbered references or citations.
wendyloish
Posted Tue 19 Mar 2019 20.30 by OhNo_NotAgain?
"You see, I do not really care if I have misquoted something, if I got the meaning right." _you really do seem to have trouble understanding a simple concept. You said that the NPF had "categorically stated that inflammation was to blame for psoriatic disease" - and you presented a quote. This quote was not a statement from the NPF and to present it as such was misleading and inaccurate. it was not a slight misquotation. Yout quote was accurate as ity was a cut-and-paste, but you attributed it to an incorrect source. Your post changed the potential significance of the quote, albeit perhaps unintentionally.
While gender can be of significance in the context of certain health conditions - you raised it in the context of posts here and the apparent or perceived gender of the authors - that is where I do not see it as relevant.
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Posted Wed 20 Mar 2019 00.04 by wendyloish
This is my final word on this. From the beginning, from my first posts, you have pointed to lack of expertise, knowledge, competence or understanding of something. I do not do that. Look at what has been posted again. Your posts get a natural response regarding qualifications and experience to justify a post. When have I ever done that to you? Whenever I have been critical on the forum, like the mention of diatoms you mention with respect to Maxine, my approach has always been to address the subject, separating it from the person, and treating the opinion itself. This is a question of respecting the person while being able to disagree with what they are saying.
I became a solicitor back in 1970, it was my first profession (before I went back to university to study science). A long time ago, but something that has stuck with me from that time is that we were actually taught in law school that whenever there was not a good rebuttal argument the best mode of action was to attack the person, their credibility, voracity or expertise. Lawyers and politicians do this all the time. It is known as shooting the messenger. On this forum I do not do that. Do you? (Example "you really do seem to have trouble understanding a simple concept") Please think about what I am posting, and what it means, and stop making the assumption that I have missed the point of what you have posted. I have not, I just think what you have been saying is not important, and is aimed at discrediting, rather than rebutting the message. I hope you can see the difference. I hope you will stop doing this to me and to others. It makes them leave, and the forum is the poorer for it.
Last words! Is inflammation the cause of psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis? After 3 posts from you I still have no idea of your opinion one way or the other.
wendyloish
Posted Fri 22 Mar 2019 14.38 by OhNo_NotAgain? (edited Wed 27 Mar 2019 19.33 by OhNo_NotAgain?)
QUOTE: " Is inflammation the cause of psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis? After 3 posts from you I still have no idea of your opinion one way or the other."
"I have assumed you are male, maybe I have my own predjudices. Tell me I am wrong! "
I do not think that my personal opinion of that statement or the complete article is of any particular importance or carries any particular weight. I could be wrong but I doubt that my opinion of it would be of any interest to the majority of people reading these discussions, or influence their opinions of the articles.
And as already stated, I do not attach any importance to the gender of contributors.
The article from which you quoted, and the main sections of the National Psoriasis Foundation site itself carry some very interesting articles and I think it would be useful for people to read them for themselves.
Posted Sun 8 Jan 2023 23.37 by PM
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@wendyloish
Greetings, here’s hoping this finds you well in 2023.
I’m interested in discussing inflammation and its context to psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis. Will you join me, please? Should we start a new thread?
Many thanks
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