Guttate Psoriasis Club

[jennmkirby]

Hi everybody! If you have spots from head to toe and look like a leopard, and it seems like a lot of us do, this is the place for you!

Was your guttate outbreak triggered by strep? Mine was! Tell us what kind of meds and treatment you're doing. I'm doing topical steroids, visiting a tanning bed, and some vitamins and supplements and cleaning up my diet. And I just finished up a month of Keflex (cephalosporin antibiotic.) Still struggling with it though.

Jenn

[TorbaTribe]

Hello,

Add me to the GPC (guttate psoriasis club) .

I first developed GP one year ago after a nasty bout with strep. It took a good 5 months to clear up (99% clear), then this past March I was sick again with a high fever, did a round with Zithromax and a few weeks later GP came knocking on my door.

Here's a pic. of my leg...



By-the-way, you guys can insert pictures, instead of attaching them. Create an account at www.photobucket.com and upload your pictures there. You can then insert the picture link (URL) into message boards, like I just did above.

Bob

[Photochick66]

I'm strep induced....I got a big outbreak of gp when i was in 3rd grade from strep. What fun eh?

[harlequinn]

I had strep before, but I don't remember it making my guttate worse.

[mystery]

My recent guttate flare was due to a viral infection according to my derm, not a bacterial infection like strep. This was due to the symptoms I had: bad cold and cough, but not a sore throat.

Unfortunately strep isn't the only thing to watch out for that can cause a guttate flare. And if it's viral, you have to ride it out as antibiotics are only for bacterial infections.

Prior to latest flare I was 95% clear and could wear short sleeves and shorts, and was on 12.5 mg MTX/week, Dovonex, cyclocort.

After flare my derm upped MTX to 15 mg/week, and I'm back on UVB 3 x weekly.

This is after two weeks.

A lot of it has calmed down, but I have lots of hyperpigmentation where the lesions used to be


My legs are still flaking, but my arms and trunk are mostly smooth:

[lulu'smom]

Count me in Jenn!

In case the rest haven't read my many posts about my GP, I'm on my 2nd severe round of it, however clearing to almost 100% now on Humira. Here are a few photos of my spots back in January I think, possibly February. This is before Humira, but after an unsuccesful 2nd try with Enbrel (first time cleared, then developed Strep and had to go off in December). Antibiotics killed my strep but didn't affect my GP at all.

I've had PP for 20 years. And, all along when I get strep (just about every Winter) I get GP. Antibiotics used to clear me until after the birth of my last child in 2004.

I also was diagnosed with PA last year.

Thanks for starting the club!

[lulu'smom]

Oh, and I can't find my digital camera, or I'd take a photo. I'm SO Excited to be able to wear anything again. It was a long 5 1/2 months! I can't imagine having it longer.

Nancy

[PJ Leary]

Hi,

The results will be interesting. Excellent topic, and one we havne't had before as a poll, but certainly as a topic of many discussions. I've had strep induced psoriasis for 30 years ( I have a GP anniversary this year!! ). While it is true that other types of infections, including viral, can trigger GP, strep is certainly one of the most common.

However, as long as the strep is not present, medications can work, some much more slowly than others. My most recent experiences with biologics are by far the quickest acting ones I have ever experienced. Relying on combinations like topicals and UV, even with retinoids thrown in, it would take me 6 to 12 months to clear from a GP flare after a strep infection.

The older I've gotten, the longer the course of antibiotics I need to clear the infection completely as well. These days I can easily be on a three month course with a strep infection. The good news is that maintaining the biologic treatment and staying on top of the strep can prevent a GP flare even with infection today.

I am well aware that could change at any time.

Regards,

[shea lynne]

strep gave it to me in Jan of this year. Started humira yesterday! I sure hope it works. Has anyone had a long time of clearing with it? I look worse this morning. Still on trexate too. I have p psorisasis and arthritis to!

[LoveCakes]

Not that I recall. I was a young child when I was diagnosed, but they doctor found it on my head.

But I had none on my body until much later...

[jennmkirby]

Wow! Interesting that the results are so far more skewed towards Guttate not being triggered by strep. According to everything I've read, it follows strep about 80% of the time, at least the initial outbreak does. Once it's triggered the first time, it seems like it comes and goes as it pleases, but can def. be triggered with another infection.

Good to have everybody in the club... I'll see that it gets bumped to the top regularly so newly diagnosed people will have a specific "community" of folks to talk to. All psoriasis is frustrating, but it seems to me that maybe guttate is particularly so because most of us are at one time or another covered from head to toe. And like someone said, it's really embarassing because it looks more like sores than a rash. Feel free to vent and talk about the "waxing and waning" of your spots, talk about treatment options, etc.

Here's another question... how old were you when you had your first guttate flare? This is interesting to me, because I'm 34 but from what I've read, most of the time guttate strikes people under 30. Weird.

-Jenn

[mystery]

I got plaque psoriasis when I hit puberty. My first guttate outbreak occurred in my mid-30's and my second and latest at 37 years of age.

What I hate about it is when it starts flaring it looks like chicken pox and potentially contagious!

[TorbaTribe]

Good to have everybody in the club... I'll see that it gets bumped to the top regularly so newly diagnosed people will have a specific "community" of folks to talk to.

It would be an even better idea if one of our wonderful moderators can make this thread a "sticky" post.

Here's another question... how old were you when you had your first guttate flare? This is interesting to me, because I'm 34 but from what I've read, most of the time guttate strikes people under 30. Weird.

-Jenn

I got whacked with GP a little over 1 year ago.
Age: 41

[ohno1more]

HI !
G began for me about 8 yrs. ago, age 46 or so.
I've never had strep as far as I know.
It started with an ITCHY ankle spot & gradually spread, for a few years clearing pretty good in summer then each winter it came back more & now it doesnt clear anymore in summer.
I've never had a flare, just a slow march, kind of like army ants.
I use Dovonex - it's pretty useless ( for me ) except on my elbows, well I quess it is helping with flaking ( hardly any ) and itchiness ( same ) but the spots sure don't go away.
I've launched an ALT counter-attach & had one tiny spot clear- a Victory- but 5 new ones developed but they appear demoralized & weak so I think I have the enemy scared.

[crustysurfa]

God , it's like looking into a mirror !
I don't feel so alone now .
I've been using Clobex spray but I've got a feeling that when I stop all hell is going to break loose .

[lulu'smom]

My first experience with Guttate was maybe at about 25 or so, I'm 38 now. I had it a few times in my late 20's and then just 2 times in the past few years. But, it has become tougher to clear, and much more serious each time.

Here are pics about 12 weeks after my start of Humira. I feel 100% clear, but as I look at the photos, I still have some discoloration. Doesn't bug me though!



This last one is my upper leg, weird angle, hard to tell what it is!
I agree about Guttate being so stressful because it looks contageous.

[Jillian1507]

What a great community! I wish I had a digital camera so I could post my torso.....not only does it look horrible, but it ITCHES horribly. I could deal with the patches of crap on my torso (since no one really sees it anyways), but the itch is just unbearable at times.....Any suggestions on how to help the itch?

I'll see if my mom can bring over her digital camera this weekend......BTW I am 24.

[cordiod]

Mine was triggered due to the fact I was taken off of Raptiva after being very sick with viral meningitis.















I am happy to report that most every location featured here is clear except for some stubborn spots on the underside of my forearm.

[Jillian1507]

Diana, If you don't mind me asking, what did you use to get clear?

Does anybody have guttate p and scalp p? If so, have you used Humira, or something and both cleared? I am sooooooo sick of my scalp p that I just want to scream! I hate this crap.

[cordiod]

Diana, If you don't mind me asking, what did you use to get clear?

Does anybody have guttate p and scalp p? If so, have you used Humira, or something and both cleared? I am sooooooo sick of my scalp p that I just want to scream! I hate this crap.

I was clearing significantly from Raptiva, had to go off of it for 2 months until I got clearance from my derm to resume, and have been back on it since Christmas time.

I have gone into great detail in my thread "The Waxing and Waning of my Psoriasis" if you are interested in reading further

[jennmkirby]

YAYYYY Nancy!!!! So happy for you!

Whoa Diana! That was a bad flare! You poor thing! I wish I had taken pictures of my legs when they were at their worst... I now think they were pustular, they were all blistery and swollen and painful and oozing. The skin was coming off in sheets. (I had been prescribed prednisone to taper off when they thought I was having an allergic reaction... I think I had taken it for two days. But once I figured out that it wasn't an allergic reaction, I said "Oh well, guess I don't have to take this anymore!" And chucked the prednisone in the trash. So I went from 60 mg a day to nothing. BIG mistake.)

Jill, I used to have scalp P, but it really hasn't bothered me lately. Go figure. As for your itch, have you tried zyrtec? OR maybe an anti-itch spray? I think there's one under the Eucerin brand name. I'd like to have some of it for my back right now. (My back is the only part of me that's still really bad.)

'night everybody...

[lulu'smom]

Diana, If you don't mind me asking, what did you use to get clear?

Does anybody have guttate p and scalp p? If so, have you used Humira, or something and both cleared? I am sooooooo sick of my scalp p that I just want to scream! I hate this crap.

I had the most horrid scalp p, bloody scabs, hair falling out in clumps. It was just awful. Cleared last year with Enbrel after like 3 weeks, never came back! I understand with humira/enbrel etc you clear top down, that has been the case for me.

After 20 years of horrible scalp P, I almost forget what it is like! Hope you have the same experience.

Nancy

[gallagjv]

Hi. I have had guttate psoriasis since I was 5. I am 39 now. Every outbreak was preceded by strep. I'm currently going through treatment for an outbreak now. Seven years since my last. Light treatment has always worked well for me. Usually about 3 months of treatment to get rid of it. My doctor just prescribed me methotrexate. I'm not too thrilled about taking it because they said I can't drink. I'm not an alchi, but let's face it, I do like my wine. I just gave up drinking during pregnancy and am not thrilled at giving it up for months at a time once again. Anyone have a view on using methotrexate?

Thanks!

[RichJ]

hi gallagjv,
sorry i can't help much but welcome to the p family. you have met some of the wonderful people on here and will find alot of great info. welcome and nice to meet you. amybe more will come through and help you on that ?

have a good night all

richard

[lindsay1982]

i've got scalp p and guttate (jill, you and i have like, the EXACT same psoriasis it seems!). My derm put me on Zithromax and I'm on Olux and Clobetasol, and I got to go in the light box . It seems to be clearing well but I have quite a bit of hyperpigmentation goin' on. Just in time for bathing suit season. Thanks P!