Microbiome Fever

I've always been fascinated with the fact that we have 10X more microbes living in us than cells. Each of us is a walking ecosystem that is not separate from our environment, this is called our microbiome. This concept has radically altered how I see "my" body as not a continuous individual but a host to communities of microbiota that help regulate different aspects of my health and even mood.  We are the sum total of our human genes and the genes of millions of other lifeforms that have lived within the human microbiome for millennia.

I work in the field of solar energy and have been fighting climate change since I graduated from UC Berkeley in 2013. I am fascinated (and horrified) how rapidly our environment is changing and becoming more inflamed around us. It wasn't until I was 26 that I started turning my gaze inward to look at how my own microbiome was suffering from a lack of balance and how that could be related to psorasis, allergies, and asthma. 

Reducing our microbiome with antibiotics 

Advances in modern medicine have allowed us to understand how to treat illnesses caused by bacteria and viruses, and the miracle of antibiotics has extended lifespans and reduced suffering around the world. But we live now in an age where antibiotics are popped like candy, and growing up I took way more antibiotics than I care to think about in a quest for a quick fix.

My well-meaning mother took me to a dermatologist when I was in 7th grade and had bad facial acne who prescribed me antibiotics (Tetracyclines) over a year long period to ward it off.. I also had bad allergies and asthma growing up (more on this later) and went to an ENT (many times) who would prescribe me azithromycin and Amoxicillin to combat recurring sinusitis infections.

Basically growing up my immune system was overacting and then my microbiome was pummeled again and again with doses of heavy antibiotics. Ugh!

Plaque psoriasis and the microbiome 

Plaque psorasis started appearing when I was about 18 years old with a small patch on my scalp at the hairline. It's progressed since then to large patches on my legs and thighs, with smaller patches on my back and stomach. The absolute worst place it appears though is on my eye lids causing me to look high all the time unless I apply topical steroids on my eye lids which I'm not comfortable with long term.

I was interested to learn early on it was an autoimmune disease and while its definitely genetically passed down, it was probably triggered and worsened due to environmental conditions outside and inside of my body. I'm sure 10+ years of abusing antibiotics coupled with a Western diet high in sugars, carbohydrates, and fats were part of the problem. (I've never had a weight issue and have always considered myself to be a "healthy" eater. That said, I enjoy In N' Out every now and again.)

The National Psoriasis foundation is posting more on the frontier of the microbiome and its regulation in treating psoriasis. People are eating certain diets and avoiding inflammatory foods, taking probiotics, and even experimenting in helminthic therapy.

Baseline with topical steroid treatment - April 4, 2018

Not too fun! 

 My Microbiome Baseline - UBiome 

Last year I decided to take a snap shot of my microbiome using UBiome Explorer test. A consumer-friendly $89 test that takes a high level sample of my microbiome. 

Throughout this process of healing myself using helminths and dieting I will be conducting a time trail test over the next three months using UBiome's services. 

Here's some of the results from last year: