Granny Fran

I saw a recent article on a study showing a link between Psoriasis and heart disease. It found that the people with psoriasis experienced heart attacks more than twice as often as people of the same gender and age in the control group. The risk also seems to be highest for people in their 40s - 50s with severe Psoriasis. There also appears to be a higher risk of developing heart failure.

I have had psoriasis for over 30 years, although about 3 years ago it completely went away after I had a total thyroidectomy. It started coming back the last 3-4 months after I started taking Toprol. I also have strong family history of heart disease, am post-menopausal (surgically induced), high cholesterol and couple of other risk factors. How discouraging! I know my heart is in good shape now - that's a saving grace. The article also mentioned that there is a strong link with heart disease for other auto-immune/inflammatory diseases as well.

What I wonder is since a side-effect of Toprol is getting psoriasis, then how could it be effective in protecting you from heart disease if psoriasis increases the risk? Are you just trading 1 risk of high blood pressure for anoher one?

Fran