I have posted on another thread, but I thought I should share my story and see what ya'll think. I apologize in advance of the rambling nature of this post ![:)]()
I'm a 56 male who takes no prescriptions, but also doesn't drink water. I'll have 2 glasses of coffee and 2 glasses of wine, but not because I'm thirsty.
I share that because when I began having itchy earlobes and neck/hairline rash and a few random bumps on my knees, fingers and gig toe...the dermatologist told me it was eczema. Stop taking 30 minute hot baths, use Dove soap, Switch to Dreft detergent , drink 8 glasses of water and use lots of Curave lotion.
Fast forward 3 months and I have seen 3 dermatologists and used several steroid ointments with absolutely to relief. I became convinced that I might have DH...but my itch is 3-4 on a 10 point scale. I haven't seen anywhere that DH can have mild itch. (I confess that at least I haven't seen it)
My son in law is extremely gluten intolerant (but no Celiac) and I have tried to avoid gluten but have not been obsessed. I have been avoiding ""bad" foods and following the instructions of the dermaotolgists but every week there's another area of rash.
My shoulders and low back got rashes...but when my elbows got beet red rashes, even the dermatologist agreed that we might be dealing with DH. She performed a biopsy on 2 locations and they both came back atopic dermatitis. 2 weeks later I requested bloodwork for allegens and IgA, and also got patch tested on my back.
Bloodwork was negative except for dander and mites ( dermatologist says they would affect respiratory, not skin)
Patch showed sensitivity to latex and perfumes.
Problem is that now my back is significantly worse. Perhaps the tape is the cause...but it's been over a week since the tape was taken off. The beet red elbows healed 3 weeks ago...now one is flaring back up.
I currently have rashes on my wrists, hairline, scattered across my back...from my neck to my butt ..like a light hit of buckshot. One elbow, and an area above my groin. One week it appears on one clavicle...the next week the other also..
So yesterday I went back to my dermatologist and she is surprised..wow...that looks pretty bad. I am there to get lab order for CBC and G6PD prior to starting a stair-step Dapsone protocol ( 25mg 4xday...increased by 25mgx4 each week). Her attitude is that the rashes could be a hard mystery to solve..it's all about figuring out the allergen. But she is totally open to the possibility that I have DH...and that not all victims...I mean patients exhibit the same pattern or symptoms. I will go strict gluten-free and use the Dapsone to see if the rashes go away.
OK...the bottom line is that I am confused about so much of what is going on...and kind of hope it is DH so I have answers.My primary question is HOW MANY OF YA'LL TAKE DAPSONE? Some questions/ thoughts
1. Is it true that DH rashes sometimes a medium itchy?
2. I have read about false negatives...just recently read that steroid ointments can screw up the biopsy accuracy. Is that true and any chance of a link to the source.
3. I am told that I had a positive patch result to latex..but I'm a dentist and have worn latex gloves for 30 years and never had any redness of my hands from the gloves. ( I have switched to non-latex, nitrile gloves) Is this explainable?
4. Some-one posted that their niece had a peanut/tree nut allergy. My understanding is that food allegies like that would elicit a tongue or lip sensation...breathing issues etc...Can a food allergy ( or latex for that matter) explain migrating rashes that I have been dealing with?
5. I read that if you have issues with latex, you might also have issues with avocados, bananas, tomatoes
etc. Then there's the iodine issue. My plan is to avoid gluten, iodine, avacados etc and take Dapsone.
If that doesn't work...I'm going to be significantly bummed.
6. I'm still drinking my red wine.
I'm a 56 male who takes no prescriptions, but also doesn't drink water. I'll have 2 glasses of coffee and 2 glasses of wine, but not because I'm thirsty.
I share that because when I began having itchy earlobes and neck/hairline rash and a few random bumps on my knees, fingers and gig toe...the dermatologist told me it was eczema. Stop taking 30 minute hot baths, use Dove soap, Switch to Dreft detergent , drink 8 glasses of water and use lots of Curave lotion.
Fast forward 3 months and I have seen 3 dermatologists and used several steroid ointments with absolutely to relief. I became convinced that I might have DH...but my itch is 3-4 on a 10 point scale. I haven't seen anywhere that DH can have mild itch. (I confess that at least I haven't seen it)
My son in law is extremely gluten intolerant (but no Celiac) and I have tried to avoid gluten but have not been obsessed. I have been avoiding ""bad" foods and following the instructions of the dermaotolgists but every week there's another area of rash.
My shoulders and low back got rashes...but when my elbows got beet red rashes, even the dermatologist agreed that we might be dealing with DH. She performed a biopsy on 2 locations and they both came back atopic dermatitis. 2 weeks later I requested bloodwork for allegens and IgA, and also got patch tested on my back.
Bloodwork was negative except for dander and mites ( dermatologist says they would affect respiratory, not skin)
Patch showed sensitivity to latex and perfumes.
Problem is that now my back is significantly worse. Perhaps the tape is the cause...but it's been over a week since the tape was taken off. The beet red elbows healed 3 weeks ago...now one is flaring back up.
I currently have rashes on my wrists, hairline, scattered across my back...from my neck to my butt ..like a light hit of buckshot. One elbow, and an area above my groin. One week it appears on one clavicle...the next week the other also..
So yesterday I went back to my dermatologist and she is surprised..wow...that looks pretty bad. I am there to get lab order for CBC and G6PD prior to starting a stair-step Dapsone protocol ( 25mg 4xday...increased by 25mgx4 each week). Her attitude is that the rashes could be a hard mystery to solve..it's all about figuring out the allergen. But she is totally open to the possibility that I have DH...and that not all victims...I mean patients exhibit the same pattern or symptoms. I will go strict gluten-free and use the Dapsone to see if the rashes go away.
OK...the bottom line is that I am confused about so much of what is going on...and kind of hope it is DH so I have answers.My primary question is HOW MANY OF YA'LL TAKE DAPSONE? Some questions/ thoughts
1. Is it true that DH rashes sometimes a medium itchy?
2. I have read about false negatives...just recently read that steroid ointments can screw up the biopsy accuracy. Is that true and any chance of a link to the source.
3. I am told that I had a positive patch result to latex..but I'm a dentist and have worn latex gloves for 30 years and never had any redness of my hands from the gloves. ( I have switched to non-latex, nitrile gloves) Is this explainable?
4. Some-one posted that their niece had a peanut/tree nut allergy. My understanding is that food allegies like that would elicit a tongue or lip sensation...breathing issues etc...Can a food allergy ( or latex for that matter) explain migrating rashes that I have been dealing with?
5. I read that if you have issues with latex, you might also have issues with avocados, bananas, tomatoes
etc. Then there's the iodine issue. My plan is to avoid gluten, iodine, avacados etc and take Dapsone.
If that doesn't work...I'm going to be significantly bummed.
6. I'm still drinking my red wine.