It's 2 days til 2010 but I have given in...

Shamefully, I have signed up with facebook. Top 5 reasons:

1. Bored during holidays
2. Urge to view unimportant daily updates of people I don't really know
3. Chance to view pictures of friends of friends (real friends I meet them face 2 face)
4. Facebook market capital valued at 9 billion USD. I want to be part of this phenomenon
5. Researching on online marketing via networking sites
6. (I know I said top 5) It's good to start new years resolution earlier :)

p/s: No more OLIVENOL. My skin is spotting badly, blame it on the cold weather... Need some TLC when I get back home.

Christmas is over but I still want a gift!

Stumbled upon this blogger today as I was surfing the net aimlessly and mer mer is giving free giveaway for year 2009! Out of all the lovely pressies, if I COULD choose it will be either the makeup pouch or the passport holder. Wonder if I would be so lucky? Or if I could be luckier and win the necklace she designed?!?

*fingers crossed!*

Merry Christmas! And goodbye 2009...

It's getting cold today in HK, about 13 degrees. Heard from the news that temperature is expected to dip for the next few days.Not good for the skin to be exposed to dry weather. Better layer on lots of heavy duty moisturiser! Also an excuse to buy some cheap warm clothing.

Something silly happened to me yesterday. I was taking a shower and wanted to shampoo my hair. There was 2 Pantene bottles in front of me (labelled in Chinese) and I really had no idea which was conditioner and which was the shampoo! I had to resort to squirting a little of both, feel the texture and go for the one which produces foam under running water. Not knowing Chinese is a real limitation. *sigh*

As the year comes to an end, I'm left a little nostalgic about how things went. There were definitely lots of low moments in career and personal life, yet I'm a strong believer that things DO work out for the better. Always. You just need to persevere.

Wonder if 2010 is a good year for monkeys? HAPPY NEW YEAR!

p/s: I forgot my OLIVENOL capsules this morning! And I should run out of them before i get back to KL.

Invasion of the thigh

Well I should be thankful that my face and hands are kinda cleared of psoriasis. Living in Malaysia gives me an excuse of not needing to expose my legs. If I was still in UK and wearing long pants during summer, the Brits will  probably think I'm nuts! So here's a look at my thigh, it's not good...

It's bleeding!

I must have scratched myself while asleep due to the dry itchy skin. When I woke up the next morning, felt that I have a slight pain in my left leg. Perhaps it's another bruise? I'm prone to knocking into things and getting a bruise (might also be due to the skin thinning from years of steroidal creams). Shockingly, I found some raw skin and dried blood! *sigh* Need to get those heavy duty mosituriser cream ASAP, this new brand is not really good (I was tempted by the nice smell and the 'promise' of skin firming... sucker of marketing gimmick!)

Happy Birthday!

No it's not mine. My 2-year-old niece. It was a Barney's party as there were Barney party hats, helium balloons and even a Barney Jelly Cake! Madam Lee makes great jelly cakes and she even delivered to my office. Not many kids at the party though, it was more of an adult gathering.

Compliance Issue

Those of you who are on capsules now, do you tend to forget to take your daily doses? I feel that my compliance is really bad with capsules. 2 cap twice daily and I usually forget at night. Maybe it's because there is no green bottle sitting in front of me to remind me to take it?

I'm in the process of 'healing' my psoriasis again after neglecting it after a shortage of supply recently. It's now not the best skin but i'm ok with it. The arms are cleared (touch wood) so just need to focus on the legs. Also I have been terribly busy post Guilin trip (1st week Nov). Almost every weekend working or having functions lined up. Thought year end things should wind down and we should be counting down to Christmas day and unwrapping presents under the tree?

Corporate life is really taking a toll on me. There shouldn't be any attachment to your company. No matter how loyal you have been and how much you have sacrificed, one day you will be redundant and be given the golden handshake. It happened to 2 of my most respected mentors. How many more along the way? 5 years and I think I might have overstayed.

Have been missing for a while...

My dear friends have mentioned about my lack of posting lately. Sorry about that! Just that I have been so busy from 1st November until now. Tomorrow I head to Manila for work until Sunday. Hopefully no typhoon over there.

In the midst of the work and travelling, my skin is spotting again (but also because i stopped OLIVENOL for a while when I ran out of juice. Am on capsules starting Monday so let's see if all gets well again. 2 capsules twice daily = 2ml twice daily.

Running out of olive extract juice!

How many bottles have you consumed since the start of the programme? If i'm not wrong I have taken 3-4 bottles? Anyway am down to my last few drops so if the nice ppl managing this programme wants me to continue to consume and blog about it, SOS!

I just returned from a trip to China, weather is COLD especially at night! The dryness also contributed to the worsening of my skin. But i'm pretty sure it will recover again. Just need some TLC.

TGIF people!

Calf muscle tear

A case of muscle fatigue. I partially tore my left calf muscle whilst playing at a badminton competition over the weekend. Currently i'm limping pretty badly and walking like a tortoise. I drove myself to the hospital (thank goodness for automatic cars!) and parked at the handicapped area before being put on a wheelchair and pushed to the orthopaedics clinic. It's not THAT bad... But i'm worried about my photoshoot this weekend. Don't think my new heels will be put to use. My sister suggested that I should bring along a phonebook directory to stand on!

My skin is STILL looking good! fingers crossed to last forever and ever. Hard to believe without photos right? I will snap some tomorrow. 2ml twice a day of OLIVENOL without fail. To all my other P friends, hopefully the effect will be seen by you soon! It took me 2/3 months.

p/s: Man Hoon is very quite lately, wonder if he is still monitoring this project?

There is improvement!

Hate to jinx it... I think my legs have cleared quite a bit. It's been 3 weeks since I up the dose back to 2ml twice daily. Could it be it has reached the concentration to start working again? As we all know, psoriasis is such a weird condition, I really don't know why it suddenly gets better. There is also slightly less meat intake for the past two weeks for me. Don't have my camera with me today, so will try to snap some tomorrow, before it gets bad again. I took advantage of the situation and wore shorts to go jogging today! Liberation!

Here is the picture which i took on 28th Oct. Finally managed to upload it. Skin looks better ya?

New scribbles about myself

I was feeling a little depressed today for no apparent reason. I suppose I am one of those creature that loves to do things ALL THE TIME. So for the past week it has been work, go home, eat & sleep with not much interaction from people (plus a working weekend) hence the depressed mood maybe?

So I decided to go to the gym after work and sweat it out. Sure was a good one! Plus my favourite bodyjam instructor just got promoted to head instructor! Yei! He's good! After the workout met some friends and we chatted for a bit. My good friend AC reminded me that my blog is rather quiet hence I forced myself to write tonight. Sorry for the silence! Had some difficulty getting hold of a computer at night to write.

It's 2 weeks since the dose of OLIVENOL has been increased back to 2ml twice daily. Still not seeing my miracle clear skin (especially the legs) but some friends mentioned my arms improved.

I'm heading overseas for some photoshoot early November so i really really hope my skin clears by then! And also to loose a bit of weight.

Picture of new spots

Going back to initial dosage

As per Man Hon's advice I've started on 2ml twice daily since yesterday 29th Sept (Tues). Looking back at the calendar, I've been on OLIVENOL for about 6 weeks now, initial improvement seen but currently back to square one. Hopefully going back to 2ml twice daily will give me the initial good results again.

6 weeks into OLIVENOL... Did it help?

My skin seems to be back to normal 'bad' skin. My arms and back have many new spots, legs are not improving. The initial improvement seems to have disappeared. Could it be that my dose is down to 2ml daily? I'm not sure but as my supply is finishing, I'm having some thoughts that maybe this is not my miracle help that I was so eagerly expecting.

If there is ANYONE out there who has done something which helped, please share with me? Do I really need to go vegetarian? Does meat really make psoriasis worse?

I'm searching for some gowns for important events and I don't look forward to it at all. The sales person will look at me funny or tries to ask, "What's wrong? Are you allergic to something?" Behind my back though they will speak to each other "How is she going to cover those 'rashes'?" sigh..............

Dr Allan Yee?!!!

    I'm in a state of shock. I can't believe this, need to get my pharmaceutical contacts to verify this. How fragile life truly is, even Drs are not immortal. In this crazy world, nothing is ever guaranteed and certain.

   An inspirational speech by Steve Jobs which struck a cord, if you're going to die tomorrow, will you be happy to go? If not you better do something about it!

It's the Raya Holidays!

I'm off to the islands of Langkawi for some R&R with my other half and I'm definitely looking forward to it. Can you believe it, it's my first time to Langkawi! Of all the places I've been before, everyone's rather shocked about this statement.

I used be love the beach and the sea, snorkelling and watching the world go by under the coconut tree. For the past 2 years I don't think I have step foot to a beach mainly due to my horrible skin. If I were to walk around with my legs exposed (the condition you can see from my previous postings), EVERYONE will shy away from the pool and beach thinking I've got some transmitable disease. Really no fun to have psoriasis ya?

To my fellow mates, how do you cope with exposing your skin in public? Also do you think the sun helps or makes the skin worsen? Oh course I know that over-exposure is bad even for healthy skin. I will slatter on lots of sunblock and top up periodically.

Wait for my posting next week to find out the outcome....

Selamat Hari Raya (Muslim New Year) to all my Muslim friends!

p/s: It's been a week since my short get-away. A nice photo of the beach to cheer all my P friends out there.

1 Step Forward, 2 Steps Back

I don't think i'm particularly stressed this week or so but my skin is getting worse, again. Have a look at the photo of my left leg. Skin feels red and dry, new spots are forming on my arms. My scalp is particularly itchy too. I have been using Sebitar, Polytar and Neutrogena Tar shampoo 1-2 times weekly (rotate with normal shampoo) over the years with no great improvement. Sigh... Psoriasis just go away! After 3 weeks of OLIVENOL 2ml twice daily, I've started on 2ml once daily since Monday.

My scalp is quite bad

Didn't noticed how my scalp actually looks like until I took a picture of it for this blog. Depressing... Luckily I have long hair so it can be covered up. To my male friends on this OLIVENOL journey, must be pretty tough to deal with the obvious psoriasis around the hairline everyday. I flake so much that I can no longer wear dark coloured tops unless i plan to pat my own back every 5 minutes.

  

3rd Week...

Well well how time flies. I took these pictures yesterday and I'm not sure if the photos actually turn out well. Physically what I can see is slight improvement of my legs. Compare it yourself with my 1st week photos!

Skytrex anyone?

I've just came home after a morning of fun being outdoors. Has any of you tried this obstacle challenge course at Taman Pertanian, Shah Alam?
Check out the website, it's REALLY worth a try! http://www.skytrex-adventure.com. 12 of us decided to be healthy and went for it. A note to the not-so-fit ones, Big Challenge might be more suited for you. We did the Extreme Challenge and it is every bit tough! You might not feel your arms after that :) Personally I think it was very do-able. A classic case of mind over matter. If you've climbed mount K, this will be easy.

The best bit was the picnic we had after the whole ordeal. Potato salad, pasta and ice cool 100 Plus never tasted so good! They have clean picnic tables and benches enough for a few large groups. There was even a birthday party for some children (they can do the Little Trail, good for them to learn to conquer their fears). We saw a boy about 7-8 years old doing a flying fox and he was certainly grinning from ear to ear!

Fellow psoriasis friends will know that some sun is good for skin, too much might cause a flare. Do go out and still enjoy yourself, put some sun protection and take the morning slots which ends before noon.

I did not bring my camera so I'm waiting for my friends to send me some. Maybe I should post some of the trail and maybe bits of myself? Haha!

Until my next scribbles, have a wonderful weekend!

p/s: I almost forgot my OLIVENOL dose in the morning, took 2ml at 2pm just now. Will have another dose before I go to bed.

What's wrong with your skin?!

My dear fellow psoriasis friends, how often do you get such questions? To state it out loud and clear, I HATE such questions. Sometimes I think it might be easier if it was acne (although I don't want that either!) because everyone knows what it is. But for psoriasis, the awareness is still pretty low. Sometimes I don't have the energy to explain the whole condition so I'll just say, "You know ezcema? It's something like that." These people are generally quite happy with such explanation and proceed to ask, "Is it itchy? Have you tried this and that before? Oh you poor thing, luckily it's just on your hands and not on your face."

Silently I'll think to myself, "Well you don't really know what I have to go through. Having to cover up all the time when there is a flare, jogging with long pants during daytime, subjecting myself to stares of strangers when I unconsciously scratch flakes off my scalp." Even my other half scolds me about it.

The most upsetting thing is when you have to spend 1/2 hour after each shower to apply mosturiser & ointment on all the spots. This is not even guaranteed to improve the skin but we have to keep the routine. If I miss just once, my other half will lecture me about it. Common, some people have difficulty even brushing their teeth or washing their face with cleanser everyday eventhough it's a necessity! Here I am getting the 3rd degree for being not motivated to apply the ointment once a while.

Sometimes people need to understand that above everything else, we WANT to get better! If it's proven to work why would we not want to do it?! But we have tried so many things to no avail, all the good but sometimes misguided advices from relatives and friends, what more can we do?

OLIVENOL might be part of the answer, maybe not. I hope it does help us. We need a break once in a while! :)

One Week into OLIVENOL

Can't believe it's been a week since i took OLIVENOL 2ml twice daily. So far have yet to miss a dose. Taken some photos again today, so far not much changes can be seen for the photos below.

Wait a minute, what happened to my "add image" icon?! How am I going to load the photos? I'm getting a little frustrated now...grrr
Found it, heehee...

                            
I personally feel that my skin is less flaky. A SLIGHT improvement in one week, not too bad I suppose.
Signing off on Monday night with my cute little shoes (and spotty skin).

Ms T

10 Things I Have Tried for Psoriasis

The list could have been 3 pages long but there are the Top 10 Things in no particular order:

1. Elomet Ointment
2. Daivonex Ointment
3. Coal Tar Shampoo (Helps with the itch and flakes a little)
4. Emu Oil
5. Avoid duck, prawns and crabs (Chinese believes it's poisonous but it didn't help one bit! O_0)
6. Coconut oil & ginger-based products (not together) i.e moisturiser & bathing gel
7. Sea salts (I think this helps get rid of the dry skin)
8. Baby bittergourd & frog double-boiled soup (Chinese have lots of ideas)
9. Go vegetarian. Tried to have 2 vegetarian lunches in a week. Didn't last up to a month. I love my meat.
10. Dr. Xeniji fruit enzyme by Elken courtesy of my mother-in-law. (Tastes nice but don't think it helped much after 2 boxes. Expensive product)

I'm going to be famous!

I've just received an email from the people who brought to us OLIVENOL that there will be some feature articles in the local English newspaper during the Merdeka weekend. My first thought was, "I'm going to be famous!" I quickly emailed my close friends about it :)

With this excitment, I quickly took a few more photographs of my afffected skin areas as baseline. Today I will post my elbows.






2ml twice daily is not hard to remember. I have a bottle at my office desk and another bottle at my bedside. No excuse to forget! Let's see what happens over the weekend... Stay tune!

My poor legs

I have managed to take more photos of my left leg. Do you notice my heels?

I've started on OLIVENOL liquid since Monday as instructed, 2ml twice daily. Tastes like apple cider vinegar (not really but it is vinegar-ish, sour with a tinge of bitterness)

Starting on the OLIVENOL Journey

A friend of mine sent me a link to the OLIVENOL psoriasis programme. Having been disappointed many times over the last 10 years upon diagnosis of psoriasis, I am hopeful that this olive extract will be my answer.

I am Ms T, a fun, pretty & outgoing girl but I have psoriasis. It's a real bummer.

What started as a 50-cent patch of scaly skin on my right thigh turned into a whole body (limbs) flare 3 years ago when I changed job function at work. To wear long pants all the time in Malaysia is really a killer. If only I can wear skirts and shorts outdoor everyday!





(My left leg and my right hand)