Has anyone here had strep throat and subsequently developed P or PsA? I forgot to mention that I had my one and only case of strep when I was 24-25 or so. It went undiagnosed for a couple of weeks — the spot test hadn't been developed yet. I went on antibiotics and my strep symptoms cleared and were replaced with severe facial acne (mostly around jaw lines, chin and neck), joint pain, malaise and complete exhaustion. I did not ever recover my previous health after having strep. I've mentioned this to docs before but it must be meaningless to them as they give me that glazed over look most of us know.
I also have an extremely high strep colony count, but the test is dismissed as faulty. Is there a strong correlation between strep and P and/or PsA? What about the high strep count? Would it do any good to ask for a strep colony test again?
That’s interesting - I’ve often wondered about the link. Whenever I’ve had a strep throat I have a flare up (I’ve had tonsillitis, flu etc with no flare up).
When I was treated by a dermatologist in 2010 for my P ( first time, but had P for nearly 40 years). My skin was cleared by UVB and steroid cream. On my last appointment which was a follow up she told me to have a course of antibiotics in my cupboard and take if I had a sore throat, she told me to take them before testing for strep as if I waited my P would flare again.
I too am watching this. I have had a constant sore throat for most of my life. I could not give blood because of this. The next thing I know I literally woke up late last February, 2012, and stiff as a board. I could hardly move. It was so frightening. They ran all the blood work and my Vit D count was low and my RA count was 33 with a sed rate of 100. I was put on anti-inflamaotries which has consequently tore up my stomach (Going to have a scope of Thursday) Was given all types of meds and I kept on begging them to put my on an antibiotic for I believe I have an infection even though my WBC was just over the mark. Was officially dx in August 2012 with PsA, I had some P spots on leg. Thought at first it was contact derm because I had a walking boot on from a sprained ankle from walking off a step.
Now my doctor wants to put my on a maintance dose of antibiotic for strep colony test came back positive, surprise surprise, for they now believe that this was caused by an untreated strep infection. But I am on enbrel and my rhumey says NO.
There is an immunologist at Duke University who is studying antibiotic treatment for RA and he believes that there is a strong correlation between the two. Who knows maybe there is something with for us.
I've read about the connection between strep throat and P, but haven't had it myself. Buuuuut, when I went to see the dermatologist, she showed me the guttate psoriasis that she got after a bout of strep.
My PsA started right after a nasty out of campylobacteriosis. The fatigue hit full on along with spinal pain then the knees started in. I was diagnosed at 6 with P so I had had it for 43 years by then.
Thanks to all who chimed in on this subject. It seems too coincidental in my case to be ignored. At any rate I'm going to rheumatology today to see what he has to say. Wish me luck . . . it is a four hour drive and I get very stiff riding or driving. . . .
My vitamin D has been in the toilet for many years. Is there a P connection there?
My (at the time) wife was a healthy contageous carrier of streps. Every time i was healed for streps it came back. First came my psoriasis, later my psoriasis arthritis.
Interesting... As kid I had strep throat and tonsillitis 4-5 times a year for about 5 years...for some reason my GP never took out my tonsils and I was on banana medicine (non-penicillin based antibiotics) every winter. At age 14 I developed severe psoriatic arthritis ... I always sort of thought there may be a connection between the antibiotics and my haywire immune system...never thought it could be the strep/tonsillitis itself though.