Group B Strep and Squidbros Journey

[SquidBro]

Posted a long intro for backstory on my psoriasis.

Saw a dermatologist this week, actually was a good visit despite her solution for me to start methotrexate and the biologics. However I am far from ready for drugs, still hoping to find improvements and ideally remission naturally.

Been off my diet for a while now and off the diet for me is just eating chocolate and regular oats pretty often (baking cookies or banana bread, no refined sugar though), and the odd cheat meal from a restaurant, few pizzas, servings of french fries, dessert here n there otherwise my normal is gluten free, sugar free, processed food free, whole food diet. Lots of protein, healthy fat sources, carbs are brown rice, sweet potatoes, veggies, fruit. Been planning to get back to being very strict but been slacking. 

Anyways, derm was talking about the connection between strep and psoriasis. Wanted to test me for group a (throat) and group b (intestinal/colon) strep. She said if group a is present, then the plan is remove tonsils, if group b is present, go on penicillin (antibiotics). Well no group a for me but tested positive for group b.

I am kind of glad knowing there is possibly something that is a problem that can be targeted and corrected, but nervous to start on antibiotics. I definitely want to kill off the strep in my intestines. You see alot about psoriasis being related to the gut and fix the gut and yada yada which sounds good but what does fix the gut mean. Its kind of like the boogeyman, you don't know what is actually the problem and best solution. Is it the candida diet, is it a whole food diet, is it come sort of short term cleanse? Do you do it for 3 months, 6? What do you take, what do you eat, what DONT you eat. Theres alot of conflicting information available.

I had done strict diet for 5 months, including probiotics and even leaky gut supplements not long ago but didn't find any improvement at all and eventually started being less and less strict to where I am now. I would still say my diet is excellent but I feel like I could be better and more disciplined and focused.

So now I know I have to deal with this strep bacteria. Antibiotics are the easiest answer but I am just a bit concerned. Ive done antibiotics in the past and believe they played a big part and messing up my gut flora in the first place. Maybe I can do it right this time tho. I am looking for any feedback with anyone having similar experience.

Thinking I do the penicillin for 2 weeks, but also take a probiotic and eat completely clean (been wanting to commit to a diet again for 6 months, this is already 90% my diet but making it 100%). No chocolate, nothing like honey, just beef, chicken, quality fish, eggs, presoaked and drained brown rice, sweet potatoes, rutabagas, carrots, beets, presoaked and drained and fermented gluten free organic oats, fruits, homemade coconut milk yogurt, sauerkraut, nuts like cashews, walnuts, almonds, basically the candida diet in regards to spices and foods, little modified for myself. Reason I soak the rice and oats it to remove any possible pesticides or toxins and starch from the rice, i donno if anyone else does this. For the oats i've been wanting to start fermenting them using a probiotic powder (from a pill). Ive been thinking I should cut out coffee, just test it out, tho i love coffee.

So im probably gonna start this immediately, would be nice to hear from anyone with experience regarding antibiotics. Think it will make my psoriasis worse immediately? The idea is that this will start me on a complete reset to correct and fix my gut flora. As long as I prepare myself with an appropriate diet and supplement probiotic pills and foods and that doing so will allow my body to start healing more.

Planning to use the Renew Life brand 50 billion probiotic. Ill take as directed as well as use it to make fermented oat and coconut milk yogurt.

Thoughts?

[Caroline]

I did have antibiotics once, after a tick-bite, but never in relation to Psoriasis.

Streptococcus and Staphylococcus are well know triggers for the outbreak of Psoriasis.
So…. Taking it away from your system, might remove that trigger..

Yes, antibiotics does something not nice to your gut or otherwise said, it does a lot of uncomfortable things to your microbiome.
After the use of the antibiotics, your microbiome needs some time to get back to normal.

I have never believed that the so called “Leaky gut”, popular under a certain group of doctors, has anything to do with Psoriasis.

But I do think that the microbiome is able to influence your Psoriasis and that is because I think that the real cause of psoriasis is somewhere deep in our cells, that it is a dysfunction somewhere that triggers our immune system to give a specific reaction. And our cells are fed by the actions of our microbiome.

In the Netherlands, the Erasmus UMC, scientist have found a relation between the specific content of the microbiome and depression. They would not be surprised if there is also a relation towards psoriasis.
As the microbiome is the result of everything we eat, it makes sense that food can have an effect on your psoriasis. At least that is my opinion.

Ever tried to quit beef and alcohol?

Sofar my thoughts.

[SquidBro]

Hi Caroline and Thanks for the reply,

Yes i too am doubtful of the leaky gut hypothesis, certainly any dysbiosis in the gut can be a trigger, like you say in regards to the strep bacteria. That being said I don't think a round of antibiotics will cure me entirely and forever of psoriasis. But I do think ridding the strep bacteria could be one piece to the puzzle to suffer less at the very least.

There was many years i stayed away from beef, I always had psoriasis still and it would flare up, as it does. I started eating beef regularly after i had a flare up that caused pso to start showing up all over where it hadn't previously been.

I have been considering cutting the beef and seeing if that helps as well. Obviously you hear that beef is an "inflammatory" food but i question how so. The saturated fat can be a point of concern but aside from that I don't get how red meat can be bad. Ive heard people say it is hard on your digestion and recently heard from an athlete on a podcast that he doesn't eat beef cause it leads to lots of build up in the lower intestines and colon. In my experience I don't find any issues when it comes to digestion and eating beef. I think it could be worth trying, though beef is one of my favorite foods lol. But i always feel great after eating beef. I prefer lean ground beef and lean cuts like sirloin.

Im not really an regular alcohol drinker, there was a point this year where I picked it back up after having not drank for many months. I would have a few drinks once a week. After many weeks I could tell it was having a negative effect and cut it out again. So yes, ive noticed alcohol isn't great. If im not flaring up and I have a few beers or drinks once it seems to be okay but if it becomes a habit i can tell its a problem with the pso.

[Forest Walker]

How long would you be taking the antibiotics?  Is it going to be a low dose indefinitely?  A 7-day to 14-day, regular dose?

The suggestion that you could remove the tonsils if you have Strep A causes me to pause.  Removing tonsils in an adult is not so easy, very painful, and can bleed a lot, making it hard for the surgeon to halt the bleeding and dangerous for the patient.  It's not something to consider lightly.  

Did your doctor mention anything about that part of tonsil removal when she offered it to you as a solution?

I admire your dietary discipline.  

[SquidBro]

How long would you be taking the antibiotics?  Is it going to be a low dose indefinitely?  A 7-day to 14-day, regular dose?

The suggestion that you could remove the tonsils if you have Strep A causes me to pause.  Removing tonsils in an adult is not so easy, very painful, and can bleed a lot, making it hard for the surgeon to halt the bleeding and dangerous for the patient.  It's not something to consider lightly.  

Did your doctor mention anything about that part of tonsil removal when she offered it to you as a solution?

I admire your dietary discipline.  

Its a 14 day course, i think 600mg, twice a day.

Regarding the tonsils, no she did not mention any complications or issues with that sort of operation. She said in the past she's had success with psoriasis remission after doing so. However no strep in my throat so that won't be something i need to consider.

And thank you