Author Archives: lassesen

Unknown's avatar lassesen 2:29 am on March 31, 2014  

Psoriasis,CFS and the microbiome

One of the interesting side effects of addressing a dysfunctional microbiome was the major reduction (almost disappearance) of my prior psoriasis. This makes sense because the level of inflammatory chemicals in the body would drop which would affect all aspects of the body.

Of course the question arises — is there any PubMed studies that could back this observation?

” recent research has identified a group of conditions probably resulting from dysbiosis, or alternatively referred to as originating from a misrecognition or aberrant response to the normal microbiota, including inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), psoriasis (PS), bacterial vaginosis (BV) and periodontal diseases (PD) (23–26). These four diseases seem to cluster together from an epidemiological, pathogenic, genetic and microbial standpoint, with similarities between them being recently reported (27–36).” [2014]

This article goes on with:

Over 50 years ago, it was noted that two thirds of patients with the variant guttate psoriasis (GP) had a preceding sore throat and serological evidence of a streptococcal infection (59). This was then confirmed by the isolation of beta haemolytic streptococci [BHS] from the throats of patients with GP (60). Furthermore, guttate flares in chronic plaque PS are associated with streptococcal pharyngitis (61). Microbiological analysis of psoriatic skin report conflicting evidence on types of bacteria associated with the lesions: 16S rRNA gene analysis using swabbing of the skin to recover bacteria, has revealed differences in bacterial colonisation compared to healthy skin, with an increase in Firmicutes and a decrease in Actinobacteria.”

Another article [2014] states “we hypothesize that common immune-mediated inflammatory pathways seen in the “skin-joint-gut axis” in psoriatic arthritis are induced or at least mediated by the microbiome“

Now for actual on human studies with patients with psoriasis [2013]:
“In conclusion, oral administration of a single microbial agent, B. infantis 35624, was sufficient to reduce systemic inflammatory biomarkers in both gastrointestinal and extra-intestinal inflammatory disorders. ” This study included 26 patients with psoriasis.  This probiotic (commonly sold as Align) happens to be one of those that I took.

2019 Study

A reader forwarded me this new study:

Increased risk of chronic fatigue syndrome following psoriasis: a nationwide population-based cohort study [2019]

The relationship between psoriasis and the subsequent risk of CFS was estimated through Cox proportional hazards regression analysis, with the incidence density rates being 2.27 and 3.58 per 1000 person-years among the non-psoriasis and psoriasis populations, respectively (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] = 1.48, with 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.07–2.06). In the stratified analysis, the psoriasis group were consistently associated with a higher risk of CFS in male sex (HR = 2.05, 95% CI 1.31–3.20) and age group of ≥ 60 years old (HR = 2.32, 95% CI 1.33–4.06). In addition, we discovered that the significantly increased risk of CFS among psoriasis patients is attenuated after they receive phototherapy and/or immunomodulatory drugs.

Conclusion: my improvement is psoriasis was indeed due to the probiotics!

Unknown's avatar lassesen 4:54 am on March 29, 2014  

A mouth full – for better or worst

This post deals with the role of Oral Probiotics. My model of CFS is that it is a microbiome (gut bacteria) dysfunction that has become stable. The first question is a real simple one: How did the bad bacteria get to your gut? The answer is real simple — through your mouth? A kiss from a friend, a lick from a pet, air bacteria landing on food, bacteria on dust. The bad bacteria while you were sick found your gut much more friendly than usual and they survived and prosper. Your illness, stress level, immune response to vaccine allow the bacteria to take up residence.

The CFS gut has low biodiversity — how do you correct that! Again thru the mouth, either thru probiotics or food. At this point, my wife would say… oh no, here comes the “A spoon full of dirt make the autoimmune go down” jingle is about to happen. In other words, the hygiene hypothesis.

In the land of CFSers, there is often talk about reserves of infections. If we are talking about gut bacteria dysfunction, we have to consider the bacteria in the mouth as being a reserve for potentially dysfunctional bacteria.  Bacteria that will tag among on your next swallow and attempt to reinfect your gut. Yes, you could brush your teeth and use a mouth wash — but would it not be better to then repopulate with non-harmful bacteria then trust random bacteria? Today there are several oral probiotics available, including:

  • Now Foods OralBiotic on Amazon (60 capsule for $14) – Streptococcus salivarius BLIS K12
  • Oragenics Evora Plus Probiotic on Amazon (30 mints for $16) – Streptococcus oralis, Streptococcus uberis, and Streptococcus rattus
  • Swanson Oral Probiotic: Blis K12® S. salivarius, L. rhamnosus, L. plantarum, L. reuteri, L. paracasei, L. salivarius
    • This one was a delight to find because it contains L.Reuteri which is hard to find in a probiotic. This one looks the most promising of all of the Oral Probiotics.

Recently, the question of “soil bacteria” came up in a comment. It seems that while they are often found in the soil they are also found in healthy human guts BUT many of them do a disappearing act in the gut of a CFS person. So, the pointed question is how do you restore biodiversity of gut bacteria to become healthy– that is the question that must really be answered. Eating yogurt will never do that.

To me, Prescript Assist is a start, having an organic garden and not washing every strawberry or blueberry before eating them is also a risk that I am willing to do.

What is your answers to this question? “Somehow” is not an answer — it is an evasion.

 

Unknown's avatar lassesen 2:41 pm on March 26, 2014  

Histamines, Allergies and Gut Bacteria

A recent article Altered Fecal Microbiota Composition Associated with Food Allergy in Infants found levels of 20 predominant genera were significantly different between the Food Allergy  and healthy control groups.   Allergies produces histamines [WebMD]. Thus Histamine Intolerance may be due to overgrowth of bacteria — and we now have some suspects!  At the highest level

  • Reduced
    • Bacteroidetes,
    • Proteobacteria,
    • Actinobacteria
  • Increased:
    •  Clostridiaceae 1 /  Clostridium

And ended with “The specific microbiota signature could distinguish infants with IgE-mediated FA from non-IgE-mediated ones.” which is keeping with my belief that one day the exact variation of CFS/FM/IBS that a patient has may be determined by a stool test and need no other labs.

As a FYI, the only probiotic that I know which contains some of the reduced bacteria is Prescript Assist, I have added family information to my summary to make it easy to navigate the biological naming complexities.

Unknown's avatar lassesen 11:33 pm on March 25, 2014  

Starting up on Probiotics – my thoughts

<Disclaimer>As always, discuss with your knowledgable medical professional before doing any changes in supplements or probiotics, etc </Disclaimer>

A reader sent me the following email:

Hello Ken,
 
I am preparing to test out various probiotics.  I want to see how I react to the various probiotics prior to starting on the herbs.
 
I plan on trying:
 
1. Align
2. BioGaia Protectis
3. 4X probiotics (If I can find a company that will ship it to Canada)
4. Jarrow Femdophilus
5. Mutaflor
 
Probably in that order.
 
I would appreciate your recommendations on how long I should try each probiotic, and what maximum dose I should aim for, for each?
 
Also, do you recommend taking the probiotics with food or on an empty stomach?
 
Should I take a break in between each probiotic?  If so, how long?
 
 
I thank you, in advance, for your input.

Comments

My general comments are:

  1. Start with one capsule (or if in tablet form, 1/2 tablet) for the first 3 days, then increase every three days unless your body is clearly adjusting to it. Once an adjustment starts — keep on that dosage until it stops.
    1. If it does not stop within 7 days stop.
    2. When it stops, increase the dosage for another 3 days
  2. Maximum time on any probiotic should be 10-14 days – I prefer the pulsing model.
  3. Maximum dosage is 2x recommended dosage — there are some studies suggesting a negative return from higher amounts. Of course, we do not know where that threshold is.
    1. Remember, the purpose is nudge your gut bacteria in the right direction — not to clobber it with “strangers”.

Keep notes on any changes that you experience. If you are living with a significant other, ask them to note any changes of mood, speech etc.

When / How to take

My usual pattern is to take the probiotic just before bed-time. This is a habit from the antibiotics days — if a herx or other reaction starts, you would rather sleep thru it! In some cases, it will help with sleep. I would suggest a 100% rye bread (no wheat flour) slice as an evening snack because rye bread appears to be encourage more diversity of gut bacteria. My usuals can be purchased on Amazon or my local grocery store (and likely a few deli’s).

Additionally, supplement with D-Ribose. It is the food for e-coli (Mutaflor)

Specific answers:

Unknown's avatar lassesen 12:30 am on March 25, 2014  

Thick Blood – a 15th year Retrospective

Before Dave Berg of Hemex Labs retired (and the Lab sold), I had several occasions to talk with him, both at CFS conferences and hosting online interviews. The transcriptions are available here:

For those not around and interested in CFS back in 1999, I should provide some links to his publications:

There were many presentations / poster papers that year, including this one at AACFS Conference. My family had panels done at Hemex and with remission, the panels normalized. A few blood draws were sent to a different lab, and the results were similar. My panels are in the PDF of my 1999-2000 remission.

Science Dropped The Ball

Standard scientific practice is to have another lab/person attempt to replicate the results using the same methods that were described (to make sure it was not a lab error). No one stepped up to do this. The result is that his findings, some 15 years later, are still not confirmed or disputed. They are largely ignored. His model did not interest any one doing research.

A new perspective on thick blood

Recently I was introduced to the histamine model for CFS. Histamine is released from mast cells. It was interesting to discover these have “many granules rich in histamine and heparin.”  Last night a light shone — mast cells releasing the contents of the granules is the result of chemical signals. One signal (to release histamine) is an allergic reaction, the other signal (to release heparin) may be low oxygen levels (or some related condition that suggests heparin is needed).

Consider this scenario, thick blood triggers the granules and while the amount of heparin released have the desired effect, the amount of histamine is more than the body can handle — i.e. histamine overload (just like you can get heparin overload).

Checking PubMed for histamine and altitude, some studies suggests that histamine release increases with altitude [1985], I suspect as a result of the body trying to get more oxygen by thinning the blood (by releasing heparin).

This suggested that for a histamine reduction treatment, that there are three facets that should be considered:

  • Altering volume of bacteria that converts histidine to histamine
  • Reduced consumption of histamine and histadine
  • Improving blood circulation and oxygen penetration into the tissue (to reduce the chemicals asking granules to discharge their contents).

This also means that histamine overload can be a factor for a subset of CFS patients — especially those that have some low level hypercoagulation (which may not clinically present). For those patients, heparin — either injections or sublingual — may reduce the histamine sensitivity because the heparin is being obtained without the release of histamine.

We are back to the story of blind men describing an elephant. It is all one creature with various textures and characteristics. If we feel around long enough, the parts start to form a complete picture of what we have.