Drugs for throat infection

There are certain classes of drugs, which will in some cases trigger an onset or aggravate psoriasis:

• Lithium
• Chloroquine-based anti-malarials
• Beta-blockers

Where possible it is advisable for patients and their health care professionals to seek alternatives to the above systemic medications. For those with severe bipolar disease, lithium is sometimes the only effective treatment, which makes discontinuing it because of worsening psoriasis difficult. A small study in Scotland demonstrated that by introducing the supplement inositol the disease severity of those on lithium could be reduced when compared to those who were given a placebo (Allan et al., 2004). The recommendation from the study was that for patients who could not be withdrawn from lithium, inositol as a supplement is worth considering.