Medications
Medications are meant to treat a body condition; however, certain medicines used to treat the same disease or another one can cause severe health problems. Similar is the case with psoriasis – where some treatments can make psoriasis worse. These medicines are believed to suppress the immune system or accelerate the new skin cell production – leading to the worsening of the symptoms. The common medications include;
- Lithium – a medicine used to treat bipolar disorder and other mental illnesses. It increases the production of free-radicals in the body that stimulate the production of new skin cells.
- Heart and high blood pressure medicines – Antihypertensive drugs such as quinidine, ACE inhibitors, propranolol (Inderal), and other beta-blockers can cause flare-ups of psoriasis or interfere with the psoriasis treatment.
- Indomethacin (Indocin) – a drug used to treat inflammation is shown to exacerbate the condition in people with a compromised immune system.
- Antimalarial medicines – including hydroxychloroquine (Plaquenil), chloroquine, and quinacrine are another group of drugs that can interfere with the treatment medications used for psoriasis.