Can Treatments for Psoriasis Have Side Effects?

Being diagnosed with psoriasis may come as a shock. You may have questions: will my psoriasis ever get better? Can I treat it? Can it be cured?

While there is no cure for psoriasis, there are lots of treatments which can get symptoms of the condition under control and leave you feeling like the illness no longer has a hold on your day-to-day life.

Treatments can range from over-the-counter medications to oral medications to biologic injections. In the UK where I live, through the National Health Service, you go through a trial and error process where you’ll be given a treatment, told to use it and then if it doesn’t work or stops working, then you’ll be offered an alternative which will hopefully relieve any discomfort.

There is another reason why you may be taken off medications: because of the side effects of that particular treatment.

The side effects of treatment

There is no getting away from the fact that treatments for psoriasis do come with the potential for side effects. They range in what they are, their severity and whether or not it could affect you.

Some treatments you go through won’t cause you any problems, but some may lead to infections and other complications. If you’re worried about these nuisances, you should speak to your medical team who can advise and offer an alternative treatment if necessary.

When deciding to commit to a specific course of treatment, you need to consider everything: it’s effectiveness, your psoriasis severity and of course, any side effects.

But I would say, as outlined, definitely speak to your medical team before discounting any or committing to any. They will be able to advise you on what might affect you as some of the side effects may be minor and not cause you any day-to-day complications.

Keeping in mind any potential side effects

When I was starting my treatments, I always had in the back of my mind that in the process of trying to treat my psoriasis, I could also set off new problems. I didn’t want that. But I knew it was something that could happen.

For me, I have never had too many side effects. Apart from the odd infection, most of the treatments I’ve had have not caused me too many problems. The main reason why I came off most of them was because they were either ineffective or stopped working some months later.

However, in the early days, I did suffer quite a few ‘rebounds’ from my medications. What this means is that my psoriasis came back, and it came back worse than before. It then made my next treatment more challenging because it had more lesions to clear. But for me, this was only in the early days of treatment.

Do research into treatments

I would say if you’re worried about side effects, do as much research into the medication as you can. Be knowledgeable. Go to your medical team with questions, queries and suggestions. Ask them about different medications. Ask them about the effectiveness of that medication. And ask them about its side effects and the likelihood of it impacting you.

You can never, however, fully guard against every eventuality. If you get a side effect, again, speak to your medical team. But try not to let the possibility of getting side effects put you off every medication. Weigh up the advantages and disadvantages and make a decision.