Posted Wed 21 Sep 2016 21.19 by ripp2k (edited Wed 21 Sep 2016 21.26 by ripp2k)
Hi there. I'm just curious if anyone here has ever had guttate psorasis. If you haven't heard of it, here's a wiki link:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guttate_psoriasis
Psoriasis is common on my mother's side of the family. She has always had plaque psoriasis, ranging from moderate to severe at different times. My grandmother also had it. I went my whole life having little more than some mildly dry and red elbows at times, until I was 19.
When I was 19, I caught strep throat. A few weeks after, I began to develop small, itchy red spots on my lower abdomen. Initially, I thought it was a heat rash. As it progressed, I started to think I had taken an allergic reaction to the penicillin that they had prescribed me for the strep throat. This would have made sense, as my father is allergic to penicillin and I had never taken it before until that point in my life. Also, if you google penicillin allergic reactions, you will see that it can cause a rash that is remarkably similar to guttate psoriasis! Eventually the red spots spread throughout my entire body. Literally, the only places I was not affected was my face and my genitals....thank god. The state of my body during this time left me feeling ashamed and depressed and generally took a great toll on my mental health. I became reclusive and shut down my social life, always wore pants and long sleeve shirts, stopped working out (as this required me to wear clothes that exposed my skin), stopped pursuing women, etc. All things that are important to a healthy young man. I also began to drink rather heavily during this time,as a means of coping with my depressive existence. It also seemed to numb me, to some extent, to the constant itching of my entire body. The doctors I saw always quickly drew the conclusion that I had taken and allergic reaction and always recommended the same treatment: take OTC antihistamines and be patient. This went on for several months until the dry, red, itchy spots finally began to subside and my skin returned to normal.
Not more than a year later, I came down with strep throat again. This time I opted not to take antibiotics and allow the infection to pass on its own. Once I had recovered from the strep, I began to experience the red lesions forming on my skin again, eventually worsening over the span of a few weeks, covering almost my entire body, and persisting for several months, just as it did the first time.
The second time this happened, I knew something was amiss, as this obviously wasn't an allergic reaction to medication. Luckily for me, I managed to see a doctor who listened to my experience from the past break out, and that I had ruled out allergic reaction, and he had had previous experience with a patient who had guttate psoriasis. He informed me that guttate psoriasis was usually triggered by an upper respiratory infection, such as strep and diagnosed me with guttate psoriasis and prescribed me a cortisone steroid which, although moderately effective, was more or less useless, as I needed about a 5 gallon bucket of it a month to have any chance of treating my whole body. All in all, it still took several months for the condition to subside.
About another year later, I contracted strep for a THIRD time and had the same situation as the last two. This time I saw a doctor who prescribed me methotrexate, a chemotherapy agent and immune system suppressant that is used to slow down the production of the skills cells that form psoriasis. By the time I started taking it, however, the psoriasis had already become severe and covered my whole body once again, so the drug didn't help much or speed up recovery.
I am now 30 years old and have been able to avoid strep for about the last 10 years and have had no symptoms of any psoriasis the entire time. Just recently, I caught strep throat that was going around my workplace. I'm curious if anyone here has had similar experiences as myself and caught strep at a later age. The guttate type is most common in young adults, so I'm hoping that I won't be affected this time around, or at least not as severely. I'm basically waiting out the clock right now and praying that I don't have a major breakout like I have in the past. It's such a life altering experience that I don't want to suffer through again......
Posted Thu 22 Sep 2016 13.07 by Daryl
Hi there yes guttate is the most common, I myself have three types guttate plaque and also
puslsar but as far as I know never been treated for strep throat. Also been diagnosed with PA
mainly in the spine but now starting to show up in other joints have you ever been prescribed methrotrexate this is one of the more effective treatments for psoriasis but needs regular monitoring with blood tests as it can effect function of liver and kidneys mine started at 13 years old with what I thought was just dry skin on my knees and elbows but within three weeks was covered from head to foot. Dermatologist never seen anything like it before 8 weeks in hospital having uv treatments and steroid creams they finally got under control to some degree. I am know fifty years old and just been told that they are 95 % sure its now attacking me internally so please don't think that it only the skin that is affected it can be so much more I don't want to worry you but please be aware
psoriasis can effect any organ in the body including the heart pancreas liver kidneys so if you have any concerns about these things please see your GP.
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