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Site updated Sunday, August 07, 2005
Click here to view my original theoryMy Latest Theory:
HS is often, though not always, associated with a number of other symptoms and diseases. These tend to cause a lot of confusion and make diagnosis extremely difficult. They also compound the problem of finding the cause. When searching for a single cause for all of the symptoms and diseases associated with HS, there doesn't seem to be a single genetic defect or pathogen that is historically known to be capable of producing such a wide range of problems. If it were just a matter of finding the cause of the lumps and lesions caused by HS, we might be able to easily identify a single pathogen that causes the infection. Since it is not bacterial (although staph may play a role) it must be another type of micro organism.
Of the micro organisms I have researched (on the internet) there are a few that possibly could be responsible for the actual infections of the apocrine sweat glands (though there is no research available that directly relates to this), thus causing the swelling and eventual draining which is the primary symptom described as HS. All of the micro organisms I am considering are either yeasts that have the ability to transform into a fungus-type organism, or funguses known as dermatophytes. While each is known to be capable of producing some of the symptoms possibly associated with HS, none are capable of directly causing all of them.
These pathogens have rarely ever been associated with HS in any documentation I could find. These pathogens exist in and on most people and are considered “normal flora” by most. They are never beneficial to their host, but they are usually kept under control by the beneficial flora living in and on the host, and by the immune system of the host. As such, they are considered by most to be benign, and in most people, they never cause a problem.
But most micro organisms are considered to be opportunists. If the conditions of their environment are favorable, they will multiply and spread. It has been clearly shown in many studies that the pathogens I am studying can become overgrown if the host environment becomes favorable. Factors that are considered to make a host environment more favorable to these pathogens include:
• Disruption of the life cycle of beneficial flora
• Weakened immune system
A disruption of the life cycle of beneficial flora can be caused by many things. A person's pH level can become more acidic as a result of many things. These pathogens prefer an acidic environment. The beneficial flora our body needs prefer a more alkaline environment. So as our body becomes more acidic as a result of our diet or other factors, beneficial flora may die-off, and harmful pathogens may take their place. The problem becomes steadily worse because these pathogens produce more acid, killing off more beneficial flora, and further colonization by the pathogen takes place.
Antibiotics are frequently cited as a factor in disruptions of our beneficial flora. Broad spectrum antibiotics kill bacteria indiscriminately, regardless of whether they are helpful or harmful to us. Antibiotics do not kill funguses. So it is easy to see how taking antibiotics could kill a lot of our normal, helpful flora, thus providing an opportunity for the unaffected pathogen to reproduce and colonize areas once inhabited by them.
Other factors may contribute to disruptions in our flora. Exposure to heavy metals such as mercury, lead, and cadmium have been suggested. It has been suggested that emotional stress may be a factor in our body's ability to maintain a healthy environment for beneficial flora.
So there are many things that could cause a disruption of the life cycle of our beneficial flora.
Our next line of defense against these pathogens is our immune system. Some of the same factors that affect our beneficial flora can also have a negative impact on our immune system, causing it to become unable to control the growth and spreading of these pathogens. Many factors can cause immune system disorders.
But many people who have these pathogens present in and on their bodies do not experience an overgrowth despite their use of antibiotics, poor diet, or exposure to heavy metals. They do not develop HS or the related symptoms and diseases. If these pathogens are to be considered as a cause of HS and related symptoms and diseases, there must be something that establishes a difference between how those people's bodies react to the pathogens, and how HS sufferers bodies react to them.
The answer may lie in an allergy. A definition of the term “allergy” states:
“1.
Basically, when a person's body is unable to defend itself against a particular harmful substance or micro organism, the immune system responds by taking extreme measures. These are often self-destructive.
Some people are allergic to peanuts, pollen, bee stings, or whatever. Others are not. Genetics probably play a role in the allergies we have. But like all genetic traits, they are not always inherited by offspring.
As such, an allergy to these pathogens that some people inherit would be able to cause severe reactions that affect their immune system. Others who do not have an allergy to the pathogens do not have a strong reaction to them, even if they disrupt their beneficial flora or suffer briefly from a weakened immune system.
This allergy to the pathogen(s) might explain why there seems to be a genetic link involved with HS, but not always. Many of the symptoms and diseases often associated with HS may be part of a secondary reaction to the pathogen(s). These symptoms manifest in some, but not others. Each individual's immune system may react slightly differently, and to different degrees. This could be affected by many factors including stress, diet, and environment. This could account for why symptoms and related diseases are so varied amongst HS sufferers.
The all-important factor in determining if these pathogens may be the cause of HS as well as many of the related symptoms and diseases might rely on determining if an allergy to these pathogens can be observed in the majority of HS sufferers and not observed in a control group of people who do not exhibit signs of HS and related symptoms and diseases.
Since I do not have a lab to test this theory, and I have been unable to find sufficient information online, I must rely on taking another approach. While it does not necessarily establish whether or not these pathogens cause an allergic reaction, it may establish their presence on test subject A (Me). It may further establish the relationship between the pathogens and related symptoms.
This “experiment” has already been performed. In trying to determine if the pathogen that causes HS is a fungus, an anti-dandruff shampoo containing 1% Ketoconazole was used as a body wash. Ketoconazole is a strong anti-fungal medication. The HS affected area was washed using the ketoconazole shampoo.
Two pathogens targeted in this experiment included Candida albicans and Pityrosporum ovale. Both are yeasts that can transform into a fungus. Both are reportedly killed by Ketoconazole. There are many similarities between them, including many of the symptoms observed in those who have experienced an overgrowth of them. In fact, they are often found together. In the case of dandruff and seborrhoeic dermatitis, Pityrosporum ovale is often considered the cause, and Candida albicans is considered a secondary infection. Their overall pathology is very similar, and their preferred environment is nearly the same. In other words, if your body is good enough for one, it's good enough for the other.
The other pathogens targeted in this experiment were of the group of funguses known as “Tinea”. There are many varieties of Tinea known to be responsible for ringworm (which is not caused by a worm at all), athletes foot, jock itch, nail infections, and other skin rashes. These I consider to be a less likely cause of HS, but I have not ruled them out completely. Evidence suggests that Tinea varieties can often be observed infecting patients who have been diagnosed with an overgrowth of Candida albicans and/or Pityrosporum ovale. Ketoconazole has been indicated as a treatment for Tinea-related symptoms.
My use of Ketoconazole shampoo as a body wash, including HS affected areas with draining lesions, rendered dramatic results. Symptoms such as dandruff, dry skin on face and body, deep itching in ears, red rash on chest, peeling skin on hands, and thick calluses on feet were drastically reduced or practically eliminated. On the HS affected area, old scars were somewhat reduced and showed signs of healing, and existing, draining lesions showed signs of healing. The foul smell associated with HS went away almost completely.
Additional benefits were observed. Depression and anxiety were greatly decreased, as well as back, neck and joint pain. Cravings for sweets, carbs and alcohol subsided. These are all within the known effects of the pathology of Candida albicans and Pityrosporum ovale. At that point, I concluded (possibly erroneously) that Candida albicans was most likely responsible for HS and many of the related symptoms and diseases. I began treating myself for a systemic infection of Candida albicans using supplements that are said to kill Candida albicans, replace beneficial flora, and boost the immune system.
Additional measures that should be taken to combat Candida include dietary changes, but I have not been able to affect these changes in diet due to my financial situation.
But the fact remains that Candida may not be the cause of HS, but quite possibly a secondary infection that aggravates HS by assisting Pityrosporum ovale in maintaining an acidic host environment. Of course, that assumes that Pityrosporum ovale is in fact the cause of HS, which still has yet to be proven. But regardless of what the actual pathogen is that causes HS, it is highly likely that it is a fungus, given the positive reaction of my body when the anti-fungal medicine ketoconazole was used.
To complicate matters further, I have had three notable events since I began this experiment. Around the time I began taking supplements to treat Candida albicans and boost my immune system, I had a new flare-up. A single lump formed, grew to the size of a small marble, and then shrank and disappeared within 4 days time. The second event occurred one night after I had been on the supplements for about a week. I experienced memory lapses, dizziness, confusion and anxiety. Eventually I gambled on the notion that these were the result of low blood sugar and I ate a cookie. These symptoms went away and have not returned. The third event directly involves my existing HS lesions. They had stopped draining and had been healing slowly. On the day following my low blood sugar incident, I experienced swelling in this area. That night, one of the lesions drained a substantial amount of blood. There was very little odor and the drainage did not seem to contain puss. Since that time, the lesions seem to be healing faster.
The cause of the new flare-up is not known, and the reasons for it being significantly more mild than previous flare-ups I've had are unknown. The reason for it's rapid disappearance is unknown as well. I have no means by which to study this. The incident where I seemed to suffer from low blood sugar might be explained by the fact that while I was attempting to decrease my sugar, carbohydrate and alcohol intake, I was also free of the cravings for these things. In fact, I wasn't very hungry at all, so I just didn't eat very much. As for the swelling and draining of the existing lesions, I can not really explain this either. But it is promising that there was nearly no odor, and the drainage was what looked like healthy blood with no visible puss.
Another side effect of my treatment is constipation, or more precisely, a reduction in bowel movements. This may be an effect of the iron supplements.
So the experiment may have at least established a strong argument for the idea that HS is caused by a fungus. Pityrosporum ovale, Candida albicans, Tinea, or other funguses may be the cause. The possibility that an allergy to this fungus may be responsible for the specific manifestation known as HS may useful in determining exactly which pathogen is responsible. It would also serve as an explanation for why HS seems to be hereditary, but not always.
While the experiment was not scientific at all, there may still be some merit in the results. While I have failed to determine exactly which pathogen(s) may be involved directly or indirectly, clearly something of a fungal nature is implicated here. Even without determining the exact pathogen, we may still find a suitable treatment based on the pathology of the organism and the environment they prefer. On the skin, we know that we can kill the organism with ketoconazole. Internally, we may be able to reduce the number of offending organisms by altering our body's pH to a more alkaline environment, replacing our beneficial flora, and strengthening our immune system. While changes in our diet are definitely going to be an issue, they may not be as hard to follow as we think, because it gets easier as it goes along. The cravings become less as the pathogen is eliminated.
If an allergy to the pathogen proves to be a predisposing factor, we can say there will most likely never be a cure for HS. But either way, an effective treatment could easily reduce HS to an occasional, treatable annoyance similar to poison ivy.
My original treatment plan may still be completely valid since it addresses most of the issues revealed in my latest research. Regardless of which particular fungus is the actual cause, the treatment is pretty much the same. The goal is to kill the fungus on our skin, eliminate it from our internal organs as much as possible, and repopulate our internal flora with beneficial bacteria while maintaining an alkaline environment that favors these beneficial bacteria and inhibits the growth of the pathogens. Strengthening our immune system may be important also, but that may not be something we need to address unless we have other reasons for believing our immune system is suppressed. In fact, if an allergy to the pathogen is indicated, it may be better to eliminate the pathogen first, because our immune-response could be self-destructive. The stronger our immune system, the more self-destructive? This area of study requires much more research.
As for the many related symptoms and diseases often associated with HS, some may be part of the cause, and some may be secondary reactions. These yeast-fungus type pathogens cause extreme changes in the host body. The endocrine system, which regulates so many bodily functions, can be altered in a number of ways by the toxins released as waste by the pathogens. (Click here for my chart which shows the relationship between the symptoms, diseases and pathogens associated with HS) Ways in which the endocrine system can be altered severely affect the liver, pancreas, kidneys, adrenal glands, and more. With these organs not functioning properly, there can be many varied results.
While Diabetes is often observed in HS sufferers, it is not observed in all. Diabetes might contribute to causing HS by making a host environment more suitable to the pathogen. But Diabetes can also be a secondary reaction to the pathogen, resulting from changes in the endocrine system that were caused by the pathogen. So a person may have Diabetes and then develop HS, or a person may have HS and then develop Diabetes. Or a person may have HS and not develop Diabetes, depending on their body's reaction to the pathogen and other factors such as diet, sleep habits, stress, etc. So it's all very confusing.
The same may be true for other secondary, endocrine-related symptoms. To add further to the confusion, these pathogens are capable of infecting practically any organ in the human body, so they may cause symptoms specific to the organs they have infected. On the skin, they consume a substance called Sebum, which is the substance secreted by our sebaceous sweat glands. I have not been able to determine yet whether or not they can also consume substances secreted by the apocrine sweat glands.
But on the skin alone, they might cause different symptoms in different people. Some may develop dandruff, while others might develop seborrhoeic dermatitis or eczema (Pityrosporum ovale has been suggested, but not proven, to cause eczema).
Too many questions, not enough answers. But for now, I can say that Ketoconazole shampoo has a dramatic, beneficial effect on my HS. I believe that “probiotics” (beneficial bacteria) supplements will help. I feel I need to change my body's pH to a more alkaline environment. I feel it is very beneficial to decrease sugar, carbohydrate and alcohol intake. And I should quit smoking*. I feel this would be the best possible treatment for my HS and related symptoms.
* - surprisingly, cigarette smoke can actually provide a substance that Pityrosporum ovale and Candida albicans can use. While my cravings for sugar, carbs and alcohol have been greatly reduced, I have noticed that I have been smoking more since I began treatment. I attributed this to habit, since I have been spending a lot of time at my computer where I typically smoke while I work. But there may be more sinister forces at work here, as micro organisms cause cravings which cause me to smoke more. ???
Obligatory Disclaimer:
The information contained throughout this website is intended for educational purposes only. It is not meant to either directly or indirectly give medical advice or prescribe treatment. The information has not been scientifically validated or approved by any government or regulatory agency. Please consult with your physician or other licensed health care professional for medical diagnosis, prescription, and treatment.