July 17, 2025 • 30 mins
India Bolton was first diagnosed with guttate psoriasis in college. Years later, that diagnosis expanded—through two pregnancies, psoriatic arthritis, and months-long flare-ups that covered her body. In this episode, India opens up about parenting through chronic illness, how she found strength in community, and why her children are part of her motivation to keep showing up. Plus, we dive into the science and history behind one of the world’s most effective natural treatments for psoriasis: the Dead Sea.
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
I'm Holly Fry and this is season two of Our Skin,
a personal discovery podcast. Today we are honored to welcome
India Bolton to Our Skin. India is a passionate advocate
for those living with piasis and soiatic arthritis. As a mother,
she brings a unique perspective on managing chronic illness while
(00:27):
navigating the joys and challenges of parenthood. India's journey began
in college when she was diagnosed with gutatesiasis after noticing
small red scaly spots on her legs. Over time, her
condition evolved to include plaque and inverse sriasis, leading to
very severe flare ups that significantly impacted her daily life.
(00:49):
During her first pregnancy, India began experiencing persistent joint pain,
initially dismissed as something just typical of pregnancy discomfort. However,
that pain continued postpartum, leading eventually to a diagnosis of
soriatic arthritis a year later. Her second pregnancy similarly came
with a flare up. She broke out and gutate inverse
(01:12):
and plaque soriasis from head to toe, and that lasted
for seven months. Today, India psoriasis is kept under control
with a variety of treatments, including UVB treatments and dietary changes.
But despite all of these challenges, India has become a
beacon of resilience and empowerment. She openly shares her experiences
(01:34):
on social media, fostering a supportive community for others who
face similar struggles. Her advocacy emphasizes the importance of self care,
mental health, and the power of community. India, welcome to
our skin. We are so grateful that you're here with us.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Thank you so much. I'm so happy to be here.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
You're so young to have been on so much road already. Yeah,
I would love it if you would take us back
to that initial diagnosis.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
It was my first year of college.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Just a baby. Yeah, what was that like, Like, what
was that initial diagnosis process, like where you were like, hey,
something is actually wrong. Someone helped me. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
So I was in college and I actually shared a
drink with a girlfriend and she must have had strep
throat because I caught strep throat. And about six months later,
December January ish of twenty seventeen, I started getting like
spots on the back of my legs and at first
I thought that they were just like bug bites that
weren't healing right because we had done like a lot
(02:34):
of bonfires and stuff, and it was just weird.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
I don't know, I was eighteen. I wasn't using my
brain properly at that age.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
If for honest, most people would dismiss something like that, Oh,
I have poison ivy, I have a bug bite, I
have something I'm exposed to. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Yeah, So I didn't really think much of it.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
And then one day I woke up and I had
a spot It was like the size of a quarter,
just all of a sudden, on my right cheek, and
then it spread to my ears, and I was like, okay.
So I went to the termatologist and she was like, yeah,
you have gutate psoriasis. Here's some steroid creams. And that
was pretty much.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
That you have mentioned many times, and you share the
fact that you experienced multiple different forms of psoriasis. How
have all of these different types and having multiple types
at once impacted your daily life.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
So for the first seven years of my diagnosis, I
only had gwtate psoriasis. It was only in twenty twenty four,
when I was pregnant with my son I got the
flu twice, I got COVID, I had strapped.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Throat for a month.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
I was just like totally hit with all these different illnesses.
And then that's when my body went crazy because I
was also pregnant and I developed the inverse.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
As well as the plaque. That was the most difficult time.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
So I went those seven years just steroid creams and
they'd go away to come back, and it didn't really
do much. But last year it was a lot different,
even the clothes I could wear.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
At that point.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
You also mentioned that you started ex experiencing joint pain,
which a lot of people do during pregnancy, but it
was ultimately diagnosed as sorietic arthritis. Can you share more
about that journey, and particularly at what point did you
start to suspect this is not just from carrying a baby,
this is something else.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
So it was really interesting.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
About six months before I got pregnant with my daughter,
I had my first flare and I had absolutely no
idea what it was at the time, but my big
toe on my left foot got so swollen I couldn't
wear shoe.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
I was on crutches for like two weeks. I had
no idea what was going on. Totally random.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
Then I got pregnant with my daughter and I had
the typical aches and pains. They said, it'll go away
after you have her, It's fine. It never went away.
So then that's when they were like, Okay, at this point,
we do think that you have zoriatic arthritis. There's not
like a blood test specifically for it. But with the
symptoms I was having and having hadsriasis for so long,
at that point it just made sense.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
I can imagine. Also, just like having a newborn child
is physically arduous, you are constantly lifting another little person up,
doing a lot of it that had to have been
extraordinarily painful.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
Fun fact, I was living in Colorado when my toddler
was born, and where I was living in Colorado is
listed as one of the best places to live if
you have arthritis of any kind. So I was very
fortunate that like the elevation or something there like really
helped out. But it was my second pregnancy with my
son that postpartum my ceratic arthritis flared big time. It
(05:32):
was worse the second time.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
For anyone, managing chronic illness is a lot of work,
managing it with three very little kids. Your children are
all very young still, that's no small feet. How do
you figure it out where you can balance your health
needs and very demanding parenting responsibilities.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
I mean, my kids are the most important thing in
the whole world to me.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
And making sure that I stay on top of my diets,
my supplements and doing my uv BE and stress management
especially like they are also important because I notice when
I eat better, I have more energy. Regardless of if
my skin or my joints feel better, I have more energy.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
If I'm managing my stress, I have more capacity, more patience.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
It really is so helpful and more than just having
a chronic illness. And something that I really love about
my psoriasis as especially with my daughters, is they're growing
up and they're saying, like, Mom looks different, but she
still loves herself, and I shall love myself too. And
it also teaches my kids to have empathy for people
that may look different than them.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
I love it. You're doing generational teaching of such transceptance,
which is amazing. You also, of course have a social
media presence which has in a very short time created
a really supportive community for a lot of people. What
inspired you to transition into a very public role in
terms of your diagnosis and dealing with psoriasis and soriatic arthritis.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
So when I started this in March of twenty twenty four,
I had absolutely no idea where it would take me
at all.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
I felt honestly, really bad.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
I was really struggling with my self esteem and my confidence,
and I never had seen anybody ever that looked the
way that I did at that point. And I got
on social media. I got on Instagram, and I found
some girls that were doing that, and I was like,
oh my gosh, these women are so beautiful, Like why
am I beating myself up right now? So then it
just hit me and I was like, you know what,
(07:30):
I'm going to be this for somebody else. I'm going
to try and do this for somebody else, and that
way they can look somebody up and find me and
they can feel better too.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
And it definitely got a lot bigger than I ever
thought it would.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
There's definitely been an appetite online for your story, because
while you might not have seen other people that looked
a lot like you, there are a lot of people
who need that validation of seeing someone else who's open
and honest about what they're going through. So, as you said,
you just started this in March of twenty twenty four
or and it's grown very, very quickly. So are you
(08:04):
super conscious of this community that has grown so rapidly
with you?
Speaker 3 (08:10):
Yeah, I really do like to refer to my followers
on my account as more of my community than just
like followers, because we're all in this together.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
We really are a community of people. You know. I
love talking to people when they message me, and it's amazing.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
I'm curious though, how much that flips back to you.
How has connecting with all of those other people online
who are benefiting from your vocal nature on your platform
influenced your perspective on your daily life and your condition
and your advocacy.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
You know, it's really interesting because, like I said, when
I started this, I was having so many issues with
like my self esteem and my confidence and.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
Things like that.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
But in doing this and meeting so many people worldwide
that are going through the exact same thing, it has
given me such a confidence boost. As I know it's
also given them. I'm not alone, and neither is the
person on the other side of the screen right now.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
One of the things I always love hearing from people
on this show when we talk about them building those communities,
is how much they talk about their benefit from doing
it in terms of exactly that, like their headspace shifts
in a really beautiful way. I want to talk though,
about what might be a harder part of this, which
is navigating a chronic condition within the medical community. What
(09:24):
has that journey been like for you? Everyone? It seems
like that deals with any of these diagnoses really has
to advocate, find their voice, go through a lot of
different trial and error type things. What has your story
been in that regard.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
When I was first psagnosed, I was given the topical
steroids and like a steroid shampoo.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
I was seeing a cosmetic dermatologist. They do botox and
plastic surgery and things like that. But as my illness progressed,
I had to switch to medical dermatology. And this is
where you hear more of the trimethyl truck say here's
some more steroids. And that wasn't an option for me
last year because I was pregnant, so I was forced
(10:09):
to dive into natural healing the way that I did
because my baby was more important to me.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Even though you're so young, you have had years and
years of dealing with this at various levels. Is there
something that you wish eighteen year old India knew about
how this journey was going to go.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
It's not one treatment fits all, it's not a you know,
every single person can benefit from the exact same form
of treatment.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
I appreciate that someone in your age group is sharing
all of these trials and tribulations, because that is an
age when a lot of people feel still very self
conscious and very hyper aware of how they look. So
big ups to you, thank you so much. You're right
that one size fits all treatment just does not exist.
But one place, the Dead Sea, has played a recurring
(10:55):
role in some of our most profound discoveries relating to
chronic skin conditions like psoriasis. We're going to talk more
about that in our history section, and we'll get into
it after we take a quick break. So, India, I
(11:18):
want you to picture this. You are standing on the
shores of the Dead Sea. The water before you is
very thick with salt. The Dead Sea has about a
thirty four percent salinity level. That's nearly ten times saltier
than the ocean that you're probably more exposed to. But
you're not here for a beach vacation. You are here
for a treatment that sounds almost mythical. Floating in the sea,
(11:41):
basking in the sun with the promise that your psoriasis
so those painful scaly patches might disappear entirely. Doesn't that
sound like heaven? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (11:51):
It does.
Speaker 4 (11:52):
I've totally heard of this before too. It's awesome, right,
And it's not like wellness fluff. This isn't something that
people are just making up. It is actual medicine. It
is supported by decades of clinical observation. Collaborative research has
been done, thousands of patient experiences have gone towards measuring this,
and at the center of this effort are researchers like
(12:13):
a man named doctor David J. Ables, whose nineteen ninety
five retrospective study of more than fourteen hundred patients helped
quantify what a lot of patients had already been claiming
for years.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Fourteen hundred.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Yeah, more than that. We're going to talk a little
bit about his study in just a minute, because even
before him, the modern study of the dead sea climatotherapy
had some other important champions that I want to talk about.
Among them was a woman named doctor Sarah Brenner. She
was a pioneering dermatologist and dedicated a lot of her
career to understanding how the unique climate and mineral rich
(12:47):
waters of the Dead Sea could help patients with psoriasis
and other chronic skin conditions. And doctor Brenner is unique
because she really stands out as an early proponent of
turning those anecdotal successes and the stories behind them into
actual structured scientific protocols. So she collaborated on studies that
really moved the understanding forward regarding how the Dead Sea
(13:11):
environment could affect various skin diseases. Her academic work was
being done in the nineteen eighties and nineteen nineties, and
it focused on optimizing treatment schedules and adjusting UV exposure
for different skin types, and also integrating therapies like pouva
with climatology and climata therapy. I love this so much.
(13:31):
I love a little science on science act.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Yeah, it's really cool.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
I also have some examples of what she did, so
doctor Brenner was involved in trials that explored the use
of oral sorelin, which is a photosensitizing agent combined with
solar exposure. That is what I just referenced a moment
ago known as puva puva sun therapy, and she did
this at the Dead Sea. And these studies were scientific,
(13:56):
so they required a lot of careful, careful control. It
was carefully scheduled sun exposure, gradual dose increases, and really
closely monitoring patients so that they were balancing efficacy and safety.
And she ended up co authoring papers that evaluated how
climatotherapy affected vitamin D metabolism as well as immune marker.
(14:18):
So this added a lot of important data to this field.
I marveled that this was happening not until the nineteen eighties,
even though people have been trying to treat these and
there have been other scientific efforts before this, but this
is such an ancient and well known place. Yeah that
I'm like nineteen eighties really, but thank goodness, Like if
(14:38):
you had been born just a few decades earlier, you
might not have all the benefits available that you have
today to try to explore veriod o True's we have
come a variable long way in a very short time. Here.
Her collaborations extended to a variety of key figures, including
doctor Willie W. Average, major force behind Dead Seas, Rie clinics.
(15:01):
She worked closely with colleagues from climata therapy centers and
dermatology departments to refine these treatment regimens that they were developing.
So again balancing safe sun exposure, which we're going to
talk about some fascinated by it with therapeutic benefits. So
they were carefully timing the water immersion, they were tailoring
protocols to each patient's skin type and tolerance, and her work,
(15:22):
including innovative studies that combined solar exposure with therapies like
sorelin puva, helped establish climata therapy as a structured, scientifically
supported medical approach. So this idea of no, this place
is a healing thing.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
I No, it's amazing.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
And people talk about all the time how they get
some sun and sea and their ssurrisis goes away on vacation.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Yeah, it's crazy, it's awesome. That is a very common
thing that people will say.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
The groundwork though, actually for this we shouldn't say that
it wasn't happening entirely until the eighties, because by the
early twentieth century, the medical community had recognized already that
sunlight in protiarticular could help clear skin diseases. So in
nineteen twenty five, American dermatologist William Gokerman, if anybody listened
to Season one, yes, that is the same guy. You
(16:10):
know him, he's our old friend. He discovered that combining
coal tar with ultraviolet light dramatically improves psoriasis. That's not glamorous.
The patients often stank of tar in his ciles work,
and their sheets would get permanently stained. But it did work.
You nodded throughout this.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
Oh, yeah, so one of my favorite shampoos actually has
coltar in it.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
Yeah, it still gets used. I think people may not
realize that coltar is still part of a lot of treatments,
usually as an ingredient, not just smearing it on your person.
It is still part of the party. Crucially, this work
gave medical legitimacy to something humans had suspected since ancient times.
We've talked about it that sunlight, especially UBV rays, could
(16:54):
do more than just sued symptoms. Sunlight could slow the
hyperactive immune response. It's actually at the root of the disease.
So by the nineteen fifties that theory had also evolved again.
Researchers like EJ. Van Scott helped show that psoriasis was
not merely a surface issue. This is where we get
into the important part. It's an autoimmune disorder. And he
(17:16):
helped identify that fact, and that little piece of knowledge.
I say little, but it's huge reframed absolutely everything that
people knew. The value of UVB was not that it
was burning off plaques, which is what people had believed
prior to that, it was actually calming the immune processes
that was causing those plaques. Yeah, you have talked about
(17:37):
uv light therapy in your treatments. What is that like?
Tell us what your protocol is.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
Yeah, So last year when I was really bad, I
was doing UVB laser treatments. Did it twice a week.
It was about an hour each time, and I did
that for seven months straight and that's what got me
to be now ninety percent clear and lasting.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
What is that treatment like?
Speaker 3 (17:58):
So I went to a clinic and it's like this
big machine and it has a laser connected to it
and they would just basically give me like sunburns all
over my whole body.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
So are they targeting specific places that are having flare
ups or are they giving like a general dosage.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
It is like a general dosage, but it's targeted to
each spot. Commonly people use it for their knees and
their elbows, so they'll do it, you know where it is.
But what was super interesting to me was I never
once did any treatment on my legs, but because I
was doing treatment everywhere else, my leg's clear too, and
my legs were really bad, so it definitely was like
a full body experience.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
This kind of dovetails on that because phototherapy boots. The
early version of what you're talking about probably arrived in
hospitals in the nineteen sixties, and then it was ten
years later that dermatologists like doctor Hermann Honingzmann in Vienna
were reporting high remission rates using controlled UVB exposure. But
there was an interesting little wrinkle in the data here
(18:57):
because in dermatologists records all throughout Europe when they compared them,
one group of patients kept out performing the others in
terms of their response to treatment, and those were people
who had spent time at the Dead Sea. So clearly
there's something going on there. And the Dead Sea, to
be clear, is not just a salty lake. It is
a very unique kind of natural laboratory. It actually sits
(19:21):
fourteen hundred feet below sea level, so it has the
densest atmosphere on Earth, and that heavy atmospheric layer creates
a natural filter, so it's naturally reducing all of the
harmful radiation that we associate with sun exposure while letting
therapeutic raise through. This is the coolest thing. Start to me, Listen,
(19:42):
I'm a very pale person. I can't be in the
sun for more than a second. Misa, I start feeling it.
So I'm like, that's very cool. It means that patients
can tolerate longer sun exposure without burning, which if you're
trying to treat something like psoriasis, is a huge, huge benefit.
But the water's mineral content is also a unique part
of the puzzle because it contains things like magnesium, bromide,
(20:05):
and calcium, and all of those may also be helping
to reduce inflammation and support skin barrier function and promote healing.
And the water's density, because of that high salt concentration,
makes patients float effortlessly. Everybody's talked about how easy it
is to float in the dead sea, but what you
may not think about is the fact that that means
(20:26):
more of your skin can be exposed to sunlight than
if you were just at a regular beach, which is
again really cool. So as interest in dead seat therapy grew.
As scientists were piecing this together, they also started to
develop structured programs there under medical supervision. Patients followed these
carefully timed and developed regimens, so there would be early
(20:48):
morning sunbathing, midday floating, and then gradual increases in exposure
time to build tolerance and maximize benefits.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
I wonder how long it took, like in total, for
people to start really seeing symptiment improvement.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
Yeah, I don't have the data on that at hand,
but it seems like it was really quite quick in
terms of believe it of that. I also just love
the idea of somebody being like, I'm gonna prescribe you
a midday float.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
I'd like, yeah, that sounds go to the beach.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
Can I get prescribed that? Because I love a good float.
So these treatments typically started with numbers we've talked about already,
fifteen minutes of sun per day, and then they would
increase that to several hours over a period of days,
depending on the patient's skin type and also taking into
account seasonal uv index, water immersion was often prescribed before
(21:39):
sun exposure, and that combination enhance the therapeutic effect. This
goes back to what you were saying about. Yeah, a
little sun and sea and sand time, Yeah combined helps
out a lot. And so by the early nineteen nineties,
when all of this really started to be quantified, the
Dead Sea became kind of a global phenomenon. Patients from
Europe and North America there. Some of them had government
(22:02):
subsidized medical programs that actually sent them there, others had
fed their own way, and the results are really promising.
But then in the mid nineteen nineties, dermatology was still
lacking this large scale quantitative study that could withstand scientific scrutiny.
So it has to go through peer review. Everybody has
to agree that the data is real and beneficial. And
(22:25):
in nineteen ninety five this changed and we got the
thing we referenced earlier. That was when doctor David j. Abeles,
who was then based at the Dead Sea Research Center,
published one of the largest retrospective analyzes ever undertaken for
Sirias's treatment. And he did that at the Dead Sea.
His team reviewed data from fourteen hundred forty eight patients
(22:46):
between the ages of sixteen and seventy eight, many of
whom had been referred after conventional therapies failed. So their
disease ranged from moderate to severe, and some of them
also had applicable to your situation, soriatic arthritis. Yeah, patients
were evaluated using the psiasis Area and Severity index that's
(23:07):
also called PAUSEY for short. That's considered the gold standard
for quantifying soriasis symptoms. And then these patients followed these
standardized protocols the fifteen minutes sun exposure, initially, water immersion,
rest gradual progression based on how their skin was responding
and their UV tolerance. So I don't have the time
(23:27):
that they were treated, but the results were very dramatic.
Eighty eight percent of participants showed eighty to one hundred
percent PAUSEY improvement, and fifty eight percent experienced complete skin clearance.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
It's incredible. Yeah, I would assume it's pretty quick.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
Yeah, fifty eight of them had complete skin clearance, which
is incredible. A lot of them stayed in remission for
months after they left, although long term follow up data
after several months did vary a little bit. More so,
of course, this sounds like a great time hanging out seaside.
Like I know you have mentioned in some other interviews
(24:06):
that like you love an EPSOM salt bath.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
I do.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Yeah, And I know we've already talked a little bit
about symptoms easing up after you spend some time at
the beach. How fast does that usually impact and help you?
Speaker 2 (24:19):
I mean, just that home aspect of it, of doing
the EPSOM salt baths and the UVB therapy and clinic
that I did last year, that was like my holy grail,
that was what got me here.
Speaker 3 (24:29):
I'm actually going to the beach next week, so I
will have to update everybody and let you know how
it goes. Back the combination really I fully attributed it, Tom,
Why I am clear?
Speaker 1 (24:41):
Now? How fast is your response? Usually in terms of benefit.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
It's quick.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
And that's why I wondered, like with going to the
actual dead sea, how fast it can be for you,
because just at home with EBSOM salt and the UVB,
I've gotten clear so quick.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
Nice. So, of course, just as these dead sea benefits
and their therapies were gaining widespread medical acceptance, there was
also some other interesting science happening. The age of biologics
was donning so Starting in the early two thousands, drugs
that targeted immune pathways, like TNF alpha inhibitors and later
(25:16):
Aisle seventeen blockers, started offering patients similar clearance rates without
having to travel to the Dead Sea to get them.
Some people have seen biologics as the final word in treatment,
but a lot of dermatologists emphasize that clamatotherapy can coexist
with modern pharmacology and offer patients a non invasive alternative
(25:38):
or a complementary approach depending on needs and access, and
for some the Dead Sea represented more than just a
medical treatment. Right. It may clear you up, but it
also creates this profound experience of healing and renewal. Todaylmatotherapy
at the Dead Sea remains a respected option for a
lot of patients with psoriasis and other skin conditions, and
(25:59):
there are still governments, particularly in Europe, that will fund
patient travel to go there. The Dream clinics continue to
operate there and patient groups will also organize seasonal visits
for a lot of patients. The experience is really unforgettable
because there are a lot of people that that's the
first time they go swimming without shame or embarrassment, and
(26:21):
it's the first time they see themselves and not just
their skin condition or their disease reflected in the mirror,
which is huge for somebody. Of course, it seems like
a magical place at that point. And at the heart
of this journey from anecdote to hard science, there were
pioneering researchers who were asking the crucial question, could the
(26:42):
stories that patients told about healing be measured, tested, and
then translated into evidence based protocols, and in doing so
they help transform the Dead Sea from a legendary cure
to a medically recognized therapy. I mean it is incredible.
You know, everybody talks about their Dead Sea mud mask.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
I've had people message me and say, oh, you should
come to the Dead Sea.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
Well, clearly you should.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
Maybe I should go.
Speaker 1 (27:07):
I mean I feel like we all should.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
Seriously.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
On the one hand, I'm like everyone should go, and
on the other I'm like, leave space to the people
who maybe have a condition that needs treatment. But it
also sounds really quite like a spectacular visit. One thing
that you talked about developing your Holy Grail combination is
that everyone needs to really carefully craft the care regimen
that works specifically for them because everybody is different and
(27:32):
reacts to different things differently, and it seems like that
is exactly what you have done. You've taken a really
broad based approach to your care. You've mentioned your diet
being cleaned up as a big part of keeping you
healthy as well as other therapies. It takes a real mix.
How much experimenting did you have to do before you
found like the sweet spot.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
When I first started this whole journey, I knew that
dary was a really big trigger for me. So that
was the first thing last year. I was like, Okay,
we're done. And then I found out about night shades, tomatoes, eggplants, cayenne,
like all of those things, spicy stuff. Basically, I was like, Okay,
that's done too, So sad gluten. Gluten's a really big one.
(28:12):
I try and see as gluten free as it possibly can.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
There's so many more options, I think than people realize
when it comes to healing yourself, Like you don't have
to go with a medication, you don't have to go natural,
but you have that choice, right.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
And it seems like even if you're on a medication,
pursuing other things that will naturally help your body be
in a better state of health is always going. Yeah,
it's like a balancing act all the time to manage
ongoing chronic conditions. We have two more questions for you. Okay,
these are the questions we always ask. First of all,
(28:48):
I would love your suggestions for people who maybe don't
have psoriasis themselves, but they love someone who does and
they want to be helpful and supportive. What suggestions or
advice do you give those people?
Speaker 2 (29:00):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (29:01):
I love this question. I've been asked this before and
I love it. My biggest piece of advice to those
who are supporting somebody in their life that has an
autoimmune disease like zoriasis is to know that it is
not just skin deep. It is so much deeper than that,
and it's not something that is contagious. It's not something
that they can necessarily control. There's so much that goes
(29:24):
into it, and it's it's not a quick fix.
Speaker 1 (29:26):
Got to have patience, a long and your thing.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
Patience, compassion. It's a lot more difficult to deal with
than people recognize.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
Too.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
Last, but not least, and I suspect this is something
you have done many times with your platform online. If
you could send one message to our listeners who might
be grappling with their own diagnosis, maybe at the beginning
of their journey. What would that message be.
Speaker 3 (29:50):
Your skin does not define you. The way that your
skin look does not determine who you are as a person.
You're worth your capability, reach your goals, shoot for the star.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
I love it. I love it, India. Thank you so
much for spending this time with me, for being so
incredibly open and sharing all of your story. I really
appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (30:16):
Our Skin is hosted by myself, Holly Frye, and executive
produced and engineered by Ryan Martz. Our executive producer and
writer is Meredith Barnes. If you enjoy the show, share
it with your friends. You can also listen and follow
on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
your podcasts.
I'm Holly Fry and this is season two of Our Skin,
a personal discovery podcast. Today we are honored to welcome
India Bolton to Our Skin. India is a passionate advocate
for those living with piasis and soiatic arthritis. As a mother,
she brings a unique perspective on managing chronic illness while
(00:27):
navigating the joys and challenges of parenthood. India's journey began
in college when she was diagnosed with gutatesiasis after noticing
small red scaly spots on her legs. Over time, her
condition evolved to include plaque and inverse sriasis, leading to
very severe flare ups that significantly impacted her daily life.
(00:49):
During her first pregnancy, India began experiencing persistent joint pain,
initially dismissed as something just typical of pregnancy discomfort. However,
that pain continued postpartum, leading eventually to a diagnosis of
soriatic arthritis a year later. Her second pregnancy similarly came
with a flare up. She broke out and gutate inverse
(01:12):
and plaque soriasis from head to toe, and that lasted
for seven months. Today, India psoriasis is kept under control
with a variety of treatments, including UVB treatments and dietary changes.
But despite all of these challenges, India has become a
beacon of resilience and empowerment. She openly shares her experiences
(01:34):
on social media, fostering a supportive community for others who
face similar struggles. Her advocacy emphasizes the importance of self care,
mental health, and the power of community. India, welcome to
our skin. We are so grateful that you're here with us.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Thank you so much. I'm so happy to be here.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
You're so young to have been on so much road already. Yeah,
I would love it if you would take us back
to that initial diagnosis.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
It was my first year of college.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Just a baby. Yeah, what was that like, Like, what
was that initial diagnosis process, like where you were like, hey,
something is actually wrong. Someone helped me. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
So I was in college and I actually shared a
drink with a girlfriend and she must have had strep
throat because I caught strep throat. And about six months later,
December January ish of twenty seventeen, I started getting like
spots on the back of my legs and at first
I thought that they were just like bug bites that
weren't healing right because we had done like a lot
(02:34):
of bonfires and stuff, and it was just weird.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
I don't know, I was eighteen. I wasn't using my
brain properly at that age.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
If for honest, most people would dismiss something like that, Oh,
I have poison ivy, I have a bug bite, I
have something I'm exposed to. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Yeah, So I didn't really think much of it.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
And then one day I woke up and I had
a spot It was like the size of a quarter,
just all of a sudden, on my right cheek, and
then it spread to my ears, and I was like, okay.
So I went to the termatologist and she was like, yeah,
you have gutate psoriasis. Here's some steroid creams. And that
was pretty much.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
That you have mentioned many times, and you share the
fact that you experienced multiple different forms of psoriasis. How
have all of these different types and having multiple types
at once impacted your daily life.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
So for the first seven years of my diagnosis, I
only had gwtate psoriasis. It was only in twenty twenty four,
when I was pregnant with my son I got the
flu twice, I got COVID, I had strapped.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Throat for a month.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
I was just like totally hit with all these different illnesses.
And then that's when my body went crazy because I
was also pregnant and I developed the inverse.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
As well as the plaque. That was the most difficult time.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
So I went those seven years just steroid creams and
they'd go away to come back, and it didn't really
do much. But last year it was a lot different,
even the clothes I could wear.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
At that point.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
You also mentioned that you started ex experiencing joint pain,
which a lot of people do during pregnancy, but it
was ultimately diagnosed as sorietic arthritis. Can you share more
about that journey, and particularly at what point did you
start to suspect this is not just from carrying a baby,
this is something else.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
So it was really interesting.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
About six months before I got pregnant with my daughter,
I had my first flare and I had absolutely no
idea what it was at the time, but my big
toe on my left foot got so swollen I couldn't
wear shoe.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
I was on crutches for like two weeks. I had
no idea what was going on. Totally random.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
Then I got pregnant with my daughter and I had
the typical aches and pains. They said, it'll go away
after you have her, It's fine. It never went away.
So then that's when they were like, Okay, at this point,
we do think that you have zoriatic arthritis. There's not
like a blood test specifically for it. But with the
symptoms I was having and having hadsriasis for so long,
at that point it just made sense.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
I can imagine. Also, just like having a newborn child
is physically arduous, you are constantly lifting another little person up,
doing a lot of it that had to have been
extraordinarily painful.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
Fun fact, I was living in Colorado when my toddler
was born, and where I was living in Colorado is
listed as one of the best places to live if
you have arthritis of any kind. So I was very
fortunate that like the elevation or something there like really
helped out. But it was my second pregnancy with my
son that postpartum my ceratic arthritis flared big time. It
(05:32):
was worse the second time.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
For anyone, managing chronic illness is a lot of work,
managing it with three very little kids. Your children are
all very young still, that's no small feet. How do
you figure it out where you can balance your health
needs and very demanding parenting responsibilities.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
I mean, my kids are the most important thing in
the whole world to me.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
And making sure that I stay on top of my diets,
my supplements and doing my uv BE and stress management
especially like they are also important because I notice when
I eat better, I have more energy. Regardless of if
my skin or my joints feel better, I have more energy.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
If I'm managing my stress, I have more capacity, more patience.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
It really is so helpful and more than just having
a chronic illness. And something that I really love about
my psoriasis as especially with my daughters, is they're growing
up and they're saying, like, Mom looks different, but she
still loves herself, and I shall love myself too. And
it also teaches my kids to have empathy for people
that may look different than them.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
I love it. You're doing generational teaching of such transceptance,
which is amazing. You also, of course have a social
media presence which has in a very short time created
a really supportive community for a lot of people. What
inspired you to transition into a very public role in
terms of your diagnosis and dealing with psoriasis and soriatic arthritis.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
So when I started this in March of twenty twenty four,
I had absolutely no idea where it would take me
at all.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
I felt honestly, really bad.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
I was really struggling with my self esteem and my confidence,
and I never had seen anybody ever that looked the
way that I did at that point. And I got
on social media. I got on Instagram, and I found
some girls that were doing that, and I was like,
oh my gosh, these women are so beautiful, Like why
am I beating myself up right now? So then it
just hit me and I was like, you know what,
(07:30):
I'm going to be this for somebody else. I'm going
to try and do this for somebody else, and that
way they can look somebody up and find me and
they can feel better too.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
And it definitely got a lot bigger than I ever
thought it would.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
There's definitely been an appetite online for your story, because
while you might not have seen other people that looked
a lot like you, there are a lot of people
who need that validation of seeing someone else who's open
and honest about what they're going through. So, as you said,
you just started this in March of twenty twenty four
or and it's grown very, very quickly. So are you
(08:04):
super conscious of this community that has grown so rapidly
with you?
Speaker 3 (08:10):
Yeah, I really do like to refer to my followers
on my account as more of my community than just
like followers, because we're all in this together.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
We really are a community of people. You know. I
love talking to people when they message me, and it's amazing.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
I'm curious though, how much that flips back to you.
How has connecting with all of those other people online
who are benefiting from your vocal nature on your platform
influenced your perspective on your daily life and your condition
and your advocacy.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
You know, it's really interesting because, like I said, when
I started this, I was having so many issues with
like my self esteem and my confidence and.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
Things like that.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
But in doing this and meeting so many people worldwide
that are going through the exact same thing, it has
given me such a confidence boost. As I know it's
also given them. I'm not alone, and neither is the
person on the other side of the screen right now.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
One of the things I always love hearing from people
on this show when we talk about them building those communities,
is how much they talk about their benefit from doing
it in terms of exactly that, like their headspace shifts
in a really beautiful way. I want to talk though,
about what might be a harder part of this, which
is navigating a chronic condition within the medical community. What
(09:24):
has that journey been like for you? Everyone? It seems
like that deals with any of these diagnoses really has
to advocate, find their voice, go through a lot of
different trial and error type things. What has your story
been in that regard.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
When I was first psagnosed, I was given the topical
steroids and like a steroid shampoo.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
I was seeing a cosmetic dermatologist. They do botox and
plastic surgery and things like that. But as my illness progressed,
I had to switch to medical dermatology. And this is
where you hear more of the trimethyl truck say here's
some more steroids. And that wasn't an option for me
last year because I was pregnant, so I was forced
(10:09):
to dive into natural healing the way that I did
because my baby was more important to me.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Even though you're so young, you have had years and
years of dealing with this at various levels. Is there
something that you wish eighteen year old India knew about
how this journey was going to go.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
It's not one treatment fits all, it's not a you know,
every single person can benefit from the exact same form
of treatment.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
I appreciate that someone in your age group is sharing
all of these trials and tribulations, because that is an
age when a lot of people feel still very self
conscious and very hyper aware of how they look. So
big ups to you, thank you so much. You're right
that one size fits all treatment just does not exist.
But one place, the Dead Sea, has played a recurring
(10:55):
role in some of our most profound discoveries relating to
chronic skin conditions like psoriasis. We're going to talk more
about that in our history section, and we'll get into
it after we take a quick break. So, India, I
(11:18):
want you to picture this. You are standing on the
shores of the Dead Sea. The water before you is
very thick with salt. The Dead Sea has about a
thirty four percent salinity level. That's nearly ten times saltier
than the ocean that you're probably more exposed to. But
you're not here for a beach vacation. You are here
for a treatment that sounds almost mythical. Floating in the sea,
(11:41):
basking in the sun with the promise that your psoriasis
so those painful scaly patches might disappear entirely. Doesn't that
sound like heaven? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (11:51):
It does.
Speaker 4 (11:52):
I've totally heard of this before too. It's awesome, right,
And it's not like wellness fluff. This isn't something that
people are just making up. It is actual medicine. It
is supported by decades of clinical observation. Collaborative research has
been done, thousands of patient experiences have gone towards measuring this,
and at the center of this effort are researchers like
(12:13):
a man named doctor David J. Ables, whose nineteen ninety
five retrospective study of more than fourteen hundred patients helped
quantify what a lot of patients had already been claiming
for years.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Fourteen hundred.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Yeah, more than that. We're going to talk a little
bit about his study in just a minute, because even
before him, the modern study of the dead sea climatotherapy
had some other important champions that I want to talk about.
Among them was a woman named doctor Sarah Brenner. She
was a pioneering dermatologist and dedicated a lot of her
career to understanding how the unique climate and mineral rich
(12:47):
waters of the Dead Sea could help patients with psoriasis
and other chronic skin conditions. And doctor Brenner is unique
because she really stands out as an early proponent of
turning those anecdotal successes and the stories behind them into
actual structured scientific protocols. So she collaborated on studies that
really moved the understanding forward regarding how the Dead Sea
(13:11):
environment could affect various skin diseases. Her academic work was
being done in the nineteen eighties and nineteen nineties, and
it focused on optimizing treatment schedules and adjusting UV exposure
for different skin types, and also integrating therapies like pouva
with climatology and climata therapy. I love this so much.
(13:31):
I love a little science on science act.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Yeah, it's really cool.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
I also have some examples of what she did, so
doctor Brenner was involved in trials that explored the use
of oral sorelin, which is a photosensitizing agent combined with
solar exposure. That is what I just referenced a moment
ago known as puva puva sun therapy, and she did
this at the Dead Sea. And these studies were scientific,
(13:56):
so they required a lot of careful, careful control. It
was carefully scheduled sun exposure, gradual dose increases, and really
closely monitoring patients so that they were balancing efficacy and safety.
And she ended up co authoring papers that evaluated how
climatotherapy affected vitamin D metabolism as well as immune marker.
(14:18):
So this added a lot of important data to this field.
I marveled that this was happening not until the nineteen eighties,
even though people have been trying to treat these and
there have been other scientific efforts before this, but this
is such an ancient and well known place. Yeah that
I'm like nineteen eighties really, but thank goodness, Like if
(14:38):
you had been born just a few decades earlier, you
might not have all the benefits available that you have
today to try to explore veriod o True's we have
come a variable long way in a very short time. Here.
Her collaborations extended to a variety of key figures, including
doctor Willie W. Average, major force behind Dead Seas, Rie clinics.
(15:01):
She worked closely with colleagues from climata therapy centers and
dermatology departments to refine these treatment regimens that they were developing.
So again balancing safe sun exposure, which we're going to
talk about some fascinated by it with therapeutic benefits. So
they were carefully timing the water immersion, they were tailoring
protocols to each patient's skin type and tolerance, and her work,
(15:22):
including innovative studies that combined solar exposure with therapies like
sorelin puva, helped establish climata therapy as a structured, scientifically
supported medical approach. So this idea of no, this place
is a healing thing.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
I No, it's amazing.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
And people talk about all the time how they get
some sun and sea and their ssurrisis goes away on vacation.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Yeah, it's crazy, it's awesome. That is a very common
thing that people will say.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
The groundwork though, actually for this we shouldn't say that
it wasn't happening entirely until the eighties, because by the
early twentieth century, the medical community had recognized already that
sunlight in protiarticular could help clear skin diseases. So in
nineteen twenty five, American dermatologist William Gokerman, if anybody listened
to Season one, yes, that is the same guy. You
(16:10):
know him, he's our old friend. He discovered that combining
coal tar with ultraviolet light dramatically improves psoriasis. That's not glamorous.
The patients often stank of tar in his ciles work,
and their sheets would get permanently stained. But it did work.
You nodded throughout this.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
Oh, yeah, so one of my favorite shampoos actually has
coltar in it.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
Yeah, it still gets used. I think people may not
realize that coltar is still part of a lot of treatments,
usually as an ingredient, not just smearing it on your person.
It is still part of the party. Crucially, this work
gave medical legitimacy to something humans had suspected since ancient times.
We've talked about it that sunlight, especially UBV rays, could
(16:54):
do more than just sued symptoms. Sunlight could slow the
hyperactive immune response. It's actually at the root of the disease.
So by the nineteen fifties that theory had also evolved again.
Researchers like EJ. Van Scott helped show that psoriasis was
not merely a surface issue. This is where we get
into the important part. It's an autoimmune disorder. And he
(17:16):
helped identify that fact, and that little piece of knowledge.
I say little, but it's huge reframed absolutely everything that
people knew. The value of UVB was not that it
was burning off plaques, which is what people had believed
prior to that, it was actually calming the immune processes
that was causing those plaques. Yeah, you have talked about
(17:37):
uv light therapy in your treatments. What is that like?
Tell us what your protocol is.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
Yeah, So last year when I was really bad, I
was doing UVB laser treatments. Did it twice a week.
It was about an hour each time, and I did
that for seven months straight and that's what got me
to be now ninety percent clear and lasting.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
What is that treatment like?
Speaker 3 (17:58):
So I went to a clinic and it's like this
big machine and it has a laser connected to it
and they would just basically give me like sunburns all
over my whole body.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
So are they targeting specific places that are having flare
ups or are they giving like a general dosage.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
It is like a general dosage, but it's targeted to
each spot. Commonly people use it for their knees and
their elbows, so they'll do it, you know where it is.
But what was super interesting to me was I never
once did any treatment on my legs, but because I
was doing treatment everywhere else, my leg's clear too, and
my legs were really bad, so it definitely was like
a full body experience.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
This kind of dovetails on that because phototherapy boots. The
early version of what you're talking about probably arrived in
hospitals in the nineteen sixties, and then it was ten
years later that dermatologists like doctor Hermann Honingzmann in Vienna
were reporting high remission rates using controlled UVB exposure. But
there was an interesting little wrinkle in the data here
(18:57):
because in dermatologists records all throughout Europe when they compared them,
one group of patients kept out performing the others in
terms of their response to treatment, and those were people
who had spent time at the Dead Sea. So clearly
there's something going on there. And the Dead Sea, to
be clear, is not just a salty lake. It is
a very unique kind of natural laboratory. It actually sits
(19:21):
fourteen hundred feet below sea level, so it has the
densest atmosphere on Earth, and that heavy atmospheric layer creates
a natural filter, so it's naturally reducing all of the
harmful radiation that we associate with sun exposure while letting
therapeutic raise through. This is the coolest thing. Start to me, Listen,
(19:42):
I'm a very pale person. I can't be in the
sun for more than a second. Misa, I start feeling it.
So I'm like, that's very cool. It means that patients
can tolerate longer sun exposure without burning, which if you're
trying to treat something like psoriasis, is a huge, huge benefit.
But the water's mineral content is also a unique part
of the puzzle because it contains things like magnesium, bromide,
(20:05):
and calcium, and all of those may also be helping
to reduce inflammation and support skin barrier function and promote healing.
And the water's density, because of that high salt concentration,
makes patients float effortlessly. Everybody's talked about how easy it
is to float in the dead sea, but what you
may not think about is the fact that that means
(20:26):
more of your skin can be exposed to sunlight than
if you were just at a regular beach, which is
again really cool. So as interest in dead seat therapy grew.
As scientists were piecing this together, they also started to
develop structured programs there under medical supervision. Patients followed these
carefully timed and developed regimens, so there would be early
(20:48):
morning sunbathing, midday floating, and then gradual increases in exposure
time to build tolerance and maximize benefits.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
I wonder how long it took, like in total, for
people to start really seeing symptiment improvement.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
Yeah, I don't have the data on that at hand,
but it seems like it was really quite quick in
terms of believe it of that. I also just love
the idea of somebody being like, I'm gonna prescribe you
a midday float.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
I'd like, yeah, that sounds go to the beach.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
Can I get prescribed that? Because I love a good float.
So these treatments typically started with numbers we've talked about already,
fifteen minutes of sun per day, and then they would
increase that to several hours over a period of days,
depending on the patient's skin type and also taking into
account seasonal uv index, water immersion was often prescribed before
(21:39):
sun exposure, and that combination enhance the therapeutic effect. This
goes back to what you were saying about. Yeah, a
little sun and sea and sand time, Yeah combined helps
out a lot. And so by the early nineteen nineties,
when all of this really started to be quantified, the
Dead Sea became kind of a global phenomenon. Patients from
Europe and North America there. Some of them had government
(22:02):
subsidized medical programs that actually sent them there, others had
fed their own way, and the results are really promising.
But then in the mid nineteen nineties, dermatology was still
lacking this large scale quantitative study that could withstand scientific scrutiny.
So it has to go through peer review. Everybody has
to agree that the data is real and beneficial. And
(22:25):
in nineteen ninety five this changed and we got the
thing we referenced earlier. That was when doctor David j. Abeles,
who was then based at the Dead Sea Research Center,
published one of the largest retrospective analyzes ever undertaken for
Sirias's treatment. And he did that at the Dead Sea.
His team reviewed data from fourteen hundred forty eight patients
(22:46):
between the ages of sixteen and seventy eight, many of
whom had been referred after conventional therapies failed. So their
disease ranged from moderate to severe, and some of them
also had applicable to your situation, soriatic arthritis. Yeah, patients
were evaluated using the psiasis Area and Severity index that's
(23:07):
also called PAUSEY for short. That's considered the gold standard
for quantifying soriasis symptoms. And then these patients followed these
standardized protocols the fifteen minutes sun exposure, initially, water immersion,
rest gradual progression based on how their skin was responding
and their UV tolerance. So I don't have the time
(23:27):
that they were treated, but the results were very dramatic.
Eighty eight percent of participants showed eighty to one hundred
percent PAUSEY improvement, and fifty eight percent experienced complete skin clearance.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
It's incredible. Yeah, I would assume it's pretty quick.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
Yeah, fifty eight of them had complete skin clearance, which
is incredible. A lot of them stayed in remission for
months after they left, although long term follow up data
after several months did vary a little bit. More so,
of course, this sounds like a great time hanging out seaside.
Like I know you have mentioned in some other interviews
(24:06):
that like you love an EPSOM salt bath.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
I do.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Yeah, And I know we've already talked a little bit
about symptoms easing up after you spend some time at
the beach. How fast does that usually impact and help you?
Speaker 2 (24:19):
I mean, just that home aspect of it, of doing
the EPSOM salt baths and the UVB therapy and clinic
that I did last year, that was like my holy grail,
that was what got me here.
Speaker 3 (24:29):
I'm actually going to the beach next week, so I
will have to update everybody and let you know how
it goes. Back the combination really I fully attributed it, Tom,
Why I am clear?
Speaker 1 (24:41):
Now? How fast is your response? Usually in terms of benefit.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
It's quick.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
And that's why I wondered, like with going to the
actual dead sea, how fast it can be for you,
because just at home with EBSOM salt and the UVB,
I've gotten clear so quick.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
Nice. So, of course, just as these dead sea benefits
and their therapies were gaining widespread medical acceptance, there was
also some other interesting science happening. The age of biologics
was donning so Starting in the early two thousands, drugs
that targeted immune pathways, like TNF alpha inhibitors and later
(25:16):
Aisle seventeen blockers, started offering patients similar clearance rates without
having to travel to the Dead Sea to get them.
Some people have seen biologics as the final word in treatment,
but a lot of dermatologists emphasize that clamatotherapy can coexist
with modern pharmacology and offer patients a non invasive alternative
(25:38):
or a complementary approach depending on needs and access, and
for some the Dead Sea represented more than just a
medical treatment. Right. It may clear you up, but it
also creates this profound experience of healing and renewal. Todaylmatotherapy
at the Dead Sea remains a respected option for a
lot of patients with psoriasis and other skin conditions, and
(25:59):
there are still governments, particularly in Europe, that will fund
patient travel to go there. The Dream clinics continue to
operate there and patient groups will also organize seasonal visits
for a lot of patients. The experience is really unforgettable
because there are a lot of people that that's the
first time they go swimming without shame or embarrassment, and
(26:21):
it's the first time they see themselves and not just
their skin condition or their disease reflected in the mirror,
which is huge for somebody. Of course, it seems like
a magical place at that point. And at the heart
of this journey from anecdote to hard science, there were
pioneering researchers who were asking the crucial question, could the
(26:42):
stories that patients told about healing be measured, tested, and
then translated into evidence based protocols, and in doing so
they help transform the Dead Sea from a legendary cure
to a medically recognized therapy. I mean it is incredible.
You know, everybody talks about their Dead Sea mud mask.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
I've had people message me and say, oh, you should
come to the Dead Sea.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
Well, clearly you should.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
Maybe I should go.
Speaker 1 (27:07):
I mean I feel like we all should.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
Seriously.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
On the one hand, I'm like everyone should go, and
on the other I'm like, leave space to the people
who maybe have a condition that needs treatment. But it
also sounds really quite like a spectacular visit. One thing
that you talked about developing your Holy Grail combination is
that everyone needs to really carefully craft the care regimen
that works specifically for them because everybody is different and
(27:32):
reacts to different things differently, and it seems like that
is exactly what you have done. You've taken a really
broad based approach to your care. You've mentioned your diet
being cleaned up as a big part of keeping you
healthy as well as other therapies. It takes a real mix.
How much experimenting did you have to do before you
found like the sweet spot.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
When I first started this whole journey, I knew that
dary was a really big trigger for me. So that
was the first thing last year. I was like, Okay,
we're done. And then I found out about night shades, tomatoes, eggplants, cayenne,
like all of those things, spicy stuff. Basically, I was like, Okay,
that's done too, So sad gluten. Gluten's a really big one.
(28:12):
I try and see as gluten free as it possibly can.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
There's so many more options, I think than people realize
when it comes to healing yourself, Like you don't have
to go with a medication, you don't have to go natural,
but you have that choice, right.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
And it seems like even if you're on a medication,
pursuing other things that will naturally help your body be
in a better state of health is always going. Yeah,
it's like a balancing act all the time to manage
ongoing chronic conditions. We have two more questions for you. Okay,
these are the questions we always ask. First of all,
(28:48):
I would love your suggestions for people who maybe don't
have psoriasis themselves, but they love someone who does and
they want to be helpful and supportive. What suggestions or
advice do you give those people?
Speaker 2 (29:00):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (29:01):
I love this question. I've been asked this before and
I love it. My biggest piece of advice to those
who are supporting somebody in their life that has an
autoimmune disease like zoriasis is to know that it is
not just skin deep. It is so much deeper than that,
and it's not something that is contagious. It's not something
that they can necessarily control. There's so much that goes
(29:24):
into it, and it's it's not a quick fix.
Speaker 1 (29:26):
Got to have patience, a long and your thing.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
Patience, compassion. It's a lot more difficult to deal with
than people recognize.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
Too.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
Last, but not least, and I suspect this is something
you have done many times with your platform online. If
you could send one message to our listeners who might
be grappling with their own diagnosis, maybe at the beginning
of their journey. What would that message be.
Speaker 3 (29:50):
Your skin does not define you. The way that your
skin look does not determine who you are as a person.
You're worth your capability, reach your goals, shoot for the star.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
I love it. I love it, India. Thank you so
much for spending this time with me, for being so
incredibly open and sharing all of your story. I really
appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (30:16):
Our Skin is hosted by myself, Holly Frye, and executive
produced and engineered by Ryan Martz. Our executive producer and
writer is Meredith Barnes. If you enjoy the show, share
it with your friends. You can also listen and follow
on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
your podcasts.
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