Can Psoriasis Cause Weight Gain?

Obesity is linked to many health conditions, particularly such as type-2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. And in fact, it also can increase the risk of a chronic skin condition called psoriasis. Many sufferers find that the flare-up of their psoriasis occurs when they are getting overweight. While overweight /obesity also can worsen the symptoms, can this skin disorder cause weight gain?

Simple, normally your weight can increase if there are higher calories that you eat than you burn. On the other hand, if your calories output is higher than your calories input, you will have weight loss.

However, there are some conditions that can make you gain weight faster than normal – as a result, you are relatively easier to have overweight or even obesity. These may include:

If you have sleep deprivation, your body can have some hormone changes that can increase your appetite. This may also cause a different feeling after eating (you may not feel as full as usual after eating).

All of these reasons can push you to get more calories from what you eat. And you are at greater chance of gaining more pounds of weight.

Stress is linked with many health conditions. It is thought as a trigger of psoriasis’s flare-up and also can worsen the symptoms of the disease. Even in healthy individual, uncontrolled stress can increase the risk of some health problems.

When you get stress, your body release hormone called cortisol. This makes your body go into emergency /survival mode. But cortisol also can increase your appetite.

If you are a smoker, quitting smoking is the best thing you can do to save your overall health. But when you stop smoking, you may experience some symptoms, and one of them may be weight gain.

On average, many smokers who quit smoking can gain weight, but typically not more than 10 pounds. Increasing appetite is common after withdrawal. But this is usually temporary. Your appetite should decrease after several weeks, and then you can restore your weight easier.

The use of certain medicines can cause weight gain. The following are some of them:

1. Antipsychotic medicines, they are usually taken with prescription.
2. Prednisone (an anti-inflammatory steroid)! It can cause increased appetite and fluid retention.
3. Many kinds of antidepressants also can lead to weight gain.

If you concern about weight gain due to medicines that you are taking, work with your healthcare provider /doctor to find an alternative choice that can treat the problem more effectively and lessen side effects.

There are some health conditions that can make you easier to put more pounds of weight. These may include:

1. Many women report that they gain some weight during menopause, even some experience it prior to menopause. Hormone changes in these phases may play a key role, however this doesn’t work alone. Some lifestyle changes can be helpful to cope with this issue.
2. Hypothyroid (under-active thyroid). It is the opposite of hyperthyroid (over-active thyroid condition). If your thyroid doesn’t make enough hormone of thyroid, your metabolism can go decline – as a result, causing weight gain more likely.
3. PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome)! It usually affects women of childbearing age. It can lead to hormonal imbalances, and gaining more pounds of weight can be one of the consequences.
4. Cushing’s syndrome! It is often associated with getting too much cortisol (stress hormone). The risk of getting this syndrome is higher in people who take steroids for lupus, arthritis, or asthma.
5. Etc.

How about with psoriasis?

It’s clear that overweight (particularly obesity) can worsen the symptoms, or even can be a risk factor of triggering the flare-up of psoriasis to recur, as noted before.

But does the problem also do have an effect in increasing the chance of gaining more weight?