Diet taboos for pityriasis

You only need to avoid foods that are known to cause allergies, and temporarily stay away from irritating foods with high histamine, high sugar and high fat during acute inflammation. The popular saying on the Internet that "all foods should be avoided" is not universal, and there is no need to blindly follow the trend and go hungry.

Last week, I met a girl who was just a sophomore in college at the outpatient clinic. She had a ring of pityriasis rosea on her torso. She searched the Internet for a list of taboos, and she only dared to drink white porridge and vegetables for three days in a row. When she came for a follow-up visit, she felt wobbly when she walked. After asking, she found out that even eggs and milk had been classified as "hair products" and stopped altogether. Instead, the itching was worse than when she first got sick.

When it comes to the unavoidable topic of "hair growth", the current views of Chinese and Western medicine are not completely conflicting, but the applicable scenarios are different. The Traditional Chinese Medicine Association recommends that during the acute phase of pityriasis, you should temporarily avoid spicy and warm foods such as beef, mutton, seafood, wine, and spicy foods. The essence is that such foods can easily aggravate the body's inflammatory response. For people who are prone to getting angry and exacerbating itching when eating these foods, they should definitely avoid them. But the view of modern dermatology is more individualized: as long as your rash does not turn red or the itching worsens after eating something, you can eat it normally - I have seen patients who ate crabs and had no problems, and I have also seen patients who were itchy and stayed up half the night after taking a bite of leeks. Individual differences are much more reliable than the so-called universal list. If you are really unsure, temporarily avoid such foods for the first week after the onset of the disease. Once the itching has subsided, try eating a small amount. If there is no reaction, there is no need to avoid it again.

There is really no controversy and what all patients need to pay attention to is the foods that are clearly known to trigger their allergies. Don't believe it, I met a young man who was allergic to cashews two years ago. When the pityriasis was almost gone, he forgot about it. At a dinner party, he ate half a plate of fried shrimps with cashews. That night, the red spots on his waist spread around and he was so itchy that he didn't even go to work. If you have a history of food allergy, you must keep your mouth shut during the onset period and don’t try it on your own skin.

In addition, during the first 10 days or so of the inflammation, try not to touch things with high histamine content: such as leftovers that have been left out for several days, pickled bacon and salted fish, stale seafood, and fermented foods such as fermented bean curd and natto, which have high histamine content. When pityriasis attacks, the skin is already releasing histamine to cause itching. Eating these is equivalent to "giving fuel" to the itching. Most people will itch more severely after eating it, so they cannot take the risk.

There are also high-sugar foods that many people tend to ignore, such as full-sugar milk tea, cream cakes, and freshly fried chicken and chips. High sugar and oil can quickly increase inflammatory factors in the body. Not only pityriasis, but also when you have inflammatory skin diseases such as eczema and acne, these can easily slow down your recovery. There was a high school boy whose pityriasis was almost gone. On his birthday, he ate two pieces of cream cake and a cup of full-sugar milk tea. The next day, the spots that had turned pink turned red again, and two new ones appeared. He regretted it so much.

Many people think that if you have skin diseases, you have to go on a vegetarian diet, which is really not necessary. If you don't react to common foods such as chicken, lean pork, ordinary green leafy vegetables, apples and bananas, just eat them normally. Sufficient protein and vitamins can help the skin repair faster. If you always drink white porridge, you won't be able to keep up with the nutrition, but it will heal slowly. If it is a simple pityriasis on the face of a child, there is no need to blindly avoid eating. Instead, be careful not to let the child be picky eaters. Eat more whole grains and green leafy vegetables containing vitamin B, which is better than anything else. Some people also ask whether drinking mung bean soup or making chrysanthemum tea can speed up recovery. It depends on your own physical condition. Drink it if you feel comfortable. If you have a bad stomach, drinking cold drinks will cause diarrhea, which will put a burden on the body. There is no need to force it.

When I usually prescribe medical advice to patients, I don’t give them a long list of taboos. I just ask them to keep a simple food diary: what new things they ate today, did they feel more itchy or the rash was redder? In three days at most, they can figure out their “taboo list”, which is much easier to use than the same taboo list found online. To be honest, pityriasis itself is mostly self-limiting and will heal on its own in 6-8 weeks. Diet is only a supporting role. Don’t focus all your energy on taboos. Instead, forget to take a bath with too hot water, don’t rub the rash too hard, stay up late, and other precautions that will affect recovery. In that case, the gain outweighs the loss.