This is getting ridiculous

[Rajah]

I did end up going to the dermatologist for that rash that, 2.5 months later, is *still* going strong on my hands and feet.

And right now, I'm taking 4 -- yes *4* different medicines trying to clear this up, plus a cream, plus one more in the wings to start on later this week if it doesn't clear up by then.

Sheesh!!!

What's interesting is when my parents talked to my grandparents about this, they discovered that a friend's son (about my age I think, maybe a little older) came back from WDW at about the same time with a *very similar rash*. Hmmm. And the only thing that worked on him was a homeopathic cream made of osha root (I think that's right -- other name is bear root?). So they're sending some of that down to us because regardless of treatment, this is just getting *worse* and worse. And I mentioned that to the dermatologist (that he came back with it and they diagnosed it as something from Africa??) and he just brushed it off. No, it's not due to an infection, it's just an allergic reaction because you haven't been having any other symptoms like a cough, right?

Um.

Wrong? I *told* him this...? But because a family member and a couple of friends also have a cough and achiness, etc, then they're "not related".

Sigh.

I'm beginning to wonder if we're ever going to get this solved.

 

[worm761]

have you considered going to another doctor and getting a second opinion? if after 2.5 months my doc hadnt figured out what was wrong and wasn't really making much of an effort (sorry but that's what it sounds like from your post) then i would definitely go to another doc.

hope this new cream works!!!

 

[FreshTressa]

I agree!

How frustrating. If I had insurance, I would just keep going to doctors, maybe even try an alternative medecine one, until you get to the bottom of it. You shouldn't have to live like that!

 

[Rajah]

Yep, this is the third doctor. I went to my allergy doctor first, and he didn't have any luck, mentioned it to my endocrinologist while I was in for a check-up there and he tried something, no luck, both recommeded I try this guy, who I've only been going to for a week now, but as of yet, no luck. We've also asked the opinion of a family member who's a doctor, and he said based on what we described, he agreed with what all 3 other doctors had said: allergic reaction, they can be stubborn to get rid of, keep doing what we're doing.

 

[Carl]

None of them have tried a cortisone? I had a rash from using bleach which would not clear up until the doctor gave me an oral prednisone. The doctor said that my skin had developed an allergy to itself! Good luck.
Carl

 

[C.Ann]

I don't get over here to the CB much anymore so I didn't get the beginning of the "rash" story..

Could you tell me what and where it is - if it itches like crazy - and if you have these little raised bumps?

The part about coming back from WDW caught my eye because I had an AWFUL time when we came back in Sept. of 2001..

 

[helenabear]

Tammi, I am so sorry you are still dealing with this. I wish I knew what to tell you! I just hope it goes away soon {{hugs}}

 

[Rajah]

Originally posted by C.Ann
I don't get over here to the CB much anymore so I didn't get the beginning of the "rash" story..

Could you tell me what and where it is - if it itches like crazy - and if you have these little raised bumps?

The part about coming back from WDW caught my eye because I had an AWFUL time when we came back in Sept. of 2001..

I haven't been posting much about it here C.Ann, so you haven't missed much of the story.

Back in September of this year, my parents and I spent a long weekend at WDW. We had 1 full day and 2 half days, one to either side of the full. Near the end of the one full day, my hand started breaking out in a raised bump. Looked and acted like a mosquito bite. But within a few hours, it had spread all over my palm and to my other hand. Just about 4 bumps on each hand, but it itched and stung. We had benadryl and some prescription cortizone cream back at the resort so when we returned about an hour or two later, I took a benadryl, used the cream, and didn't think anything more of it.

Well, it didn't go away, so I kept taking a benadryl -- but just one or two a day. When it hadn't gone away after a week (about 3 days after we got back from the trip), I made an appointment with my allergy doctor. He had me stop the benadryl, start a prescription antihistamine, and use my prescription cortizone cream. After a week and a half, nothing. Actually, the opposite -- it got worse. So he had me double the amount of antihistamine I was taking. Still didn't help. So he had me continue to take the doubled antihistamine (Atarax if I remember correctly) *and* add doxepin (an anti-anxiety medication that apparently has the occasional side effect of "breaking" the cycle on an allergic reaction). 5 days of that was all I could take, I didn't like the way the doxepin was making me feel so after talking to him, we decided to stop the doxepin. By that point, we'd run out of his ideas. ( ?? How does an allergy doctor run out of ideas in just under a month??) So he said go to a dermatologist.

I decided to go back on the benadryl, but take it more faithfully than I was (like every 4 hours instead of the once a day I was doing) since in the past, that's been what has worked the best on me. Granted, I hadn't had hives since I was about 12, but it has happened to me before and benadryl cut it before.

A week later, after it still hadn't gone away and was starting to move from just the palms to palms, backs of hands, fingers and appearing on my feet and ankles, I had an appointment with my endocrinologist. I asked his opinion, and he had me try Zantac for a week and if that didn't work, he also suggested the dermatologist. So I tried it, it didn't work, and the rash just kept getting worse. (And yes it is raised bumps to start out with, anywhere in size from the size of a small eraser to a finger-print or slightly larger, and after medication will settle down to little red marks, frequently red -- well, "rings" isn't quite the right term because they aren't always round. But red outlines.)

Finally got an appointment with the dermatologist last week after people here on the DIS said yes he *could* have other ideas to try. He had me try yet *another* antihistamine (periactin I think?) which for 5 days didn't do a *thing*, not even help the itching, but finally starting Monday it's doing something. I had my followup today and he said if it's not gone by Friday, double it *and* add Clarinex. And in the meantime, starting today, add Tagament (sp?) 3 times daily, *and* use a new prescription cream (corbetasol I think) three times daily whether I'm breaking out or not, and to check back in 2 weeks. And if the periactin doesn't stop the itching, take a benadryl on top of all of this.

What I'm dealing with now are raised bumps as earlier described that either itch, burn, sting, or all 3, some of the smaller ones I don't even notice, and they've now spread to my arms in addition to the palms, backs of my hands, and my feet. They look and act like small hives and rash.

Now, in addition to all of this, I'm also fighting cold / flu-like symptoms that may or may not be related. Since my mom is down with similar symptoms and a couple of friends have been home sick for a few days in the last 2 weeks, we can't really say whether it's related or not. But it's enough that it kept me home on Monday, and sent me home again today, and I'm probably not going in to work tomorrow.

We *were* thinking this was started by me touching some of the mold/mildew/slime on Splash Mountain since it started on that hand and within the typical window of time when an allergic reaction would occur. But now that it's being so stubborn, we're not sure. Plus that's just a guess anyway -- there's SO MUCH stuff in WDW that I could have come into contact with, there's really no telling what started it. And no I haven't changed any soaps, detergents, medications (prior to this starting anyway) etc and both the allergy doctor and the dermatologist agree it's unlikely to be due to food.

 

[Serena]

I'm sorry Tammi, that sounds so frustrating. I hope they find an answer soon.

 

[Karel]

Hang in there. I had a strange rash on my right hand and feet for almost a year. It was awful, looked awful, itched something awful. Dermatologist was no help at all.

Finally I was using a steriod cream (?) but I think in the end, Zim's Crack cream from the drugstore helped me the most and it just disappeared. I think it was some sort of eczema. Sometimes I stil have feet stuff and I'll get like an itchy watery pimple on my hand for a few days but I use the Crack cream and it goes away.

 

[Tiggeroo]

They've done allergy tests? My aunt had an allergy to nickel and she ended up with an ongoing rash on her hands.There was creme that would start to heal it. But everything everywhere seems to have nickel in it.

 

[DoeWDW]

Being the true WDW addict that I am, I say if you got it there, you need to go back so you can leave it there! Any excuse for a Disney trip, right??

Seriously, I don't have any more ideas but I do hope your rash goes away soon!

 

[Rajah]

Originally posted by DoeWDW
Being the true WDW addict that I am, I say if you got it there, you need to go back so you can leave it there! Any excuse for a Disney trip, right??

Hey Doe, I like that reasoning! LOL!!!

Tiggeroo -- yep, I was getting allergy shots for over a year before this happened. I've since put them on hold until this stops, though.

 

[C.Ann]

Originally posted by Rajah
I haven't been posting much about it here C.Ann, so you haven't missed much of the story.

Back in September of this year, my parents and I spent a long weekend at WDW. We had 1 full day and 2 half days, one to either side of the full. Near the end of the one full day, my hand started breaking out in a raised bump. Looked and acted like a mosquito bite. But within a few hours, it had spread all over my palm and to my other hand. Just about 4 bumps on each hand, but it itched and stung. We had benadryl and some prescription cortizone cream back at the resort so when we returned about an hour or two later, I took a benadryl, used the cream, and didn't think anything more of it.

Well, it didn't go away, so I kept taking a benadryl -- but just one or two a day. When it hadn't gone away after a week (about 3 days after we got back from the trip), I made an appointment with my allergy doctor. He had me stop the benadryl, start a prescription antihistamine, and use my prescription cortizone cream. After a week and a half, nothing. Actually, the opposite -- it got worse. So he had me double the amount of antihistamine I was taking. Still didn't help. So he had me continue to take the doubled antihistamine (Atarax if I remember correctly) *and* add doxepin (an anti-anxiety medication that apparently has the occasional side effect of "breaking" the cycle on an allergic reaction). 5 days of that was all I could take, I didn't like the way the doxepin was making me feel so after talking to him, we decided to stop the doxepin. By that point, we'd run out of his ideas. ( ?? How does an allergy doctor run out of ideas in just under a month??) So he said go to a dermatologist.

I decided to go back on the benadryl, but take it more faithfully than I was (like every 4 hours instead of the once a day I was doing) since in the past, that's been what has worked the best on me. Granted, I hadn't had hives since I was about 12, but it has happened to me before and benadryl cut it before.

A week later, after it still hadn't gone away and was starting to move from just the palms to palms, backs of hands, fingers and appearing on my feet and ankles, I had an appointment with my endocrinologist. I asked his opinion, and he had me try Zantac for a week and if that didn't work, he also suggested the dermatologist. So I tried it, it didn't work, and the rash just kept getting worse. (And yes it is raised bumps to start out with, anywhere in size from the size of a small eraser to a finger-print or slightly larger, and after medication will settle down to little red marks, frequently red -- well, "rings" isn't quite the right term because they aren't always round. But red outlines.)

Finally got an appointment with the dermatologist last week after people here on the DIS said yes he *could* have other ideas to try. He had me try yet *another* antihistamine (periactin I think?) which for 5 days didn't do a *thing*, not even help the itching, but finally starting Monday it's doing something. I had my followup today and he said if it's not gone by Friday, double it *and* add Clarinex. And in the meantime, starting today, add Tagament (sp?) 3 times daily, *and* use a new prescription cream (corbetasol I think) three times daily whether I'm breaking out or not, and to check back in 2 weeks. And if the periactin doesn't stop the itching, take a benadryl on top of all of this.

What I'm dealing with now are raised bumps as earlier described that either itch, burn, sting, or all 3, some of the smaller ones I don't even notice, and they've now spread to my arms in addition to the palms, backs of my hands, and my feet. They look and act like small hives and rash.

Now, in addition to all of this, I'm also fighting cold / flu-like symptoms that may or may not be related. Since my mom is down with similar symptoms and a couple of friends have been home sick for a few days in the last 2 weeks, we can't really say whether it's related or not. But it's enough that it kept me home on Monday, and sent me home again today, and I'm probably not going in to work tomorrow.

We *were* thinking this was started by me touching some of the mold/mildew/slime on Splash Mountain since it started on that hand and within the typical window of time when an allergic reaction would occur. But now that it's being so stubborn, we're not sure. Plus that's just a guess anyway -- there's SO MUCH stuff in WDW that I could have come into contact with, there's really no telling what started it. And no I haven't changed any soaps, detergents, medications (prior to this starting anyway) etc and both the allergy doctor and the dermatologist agree it's unlikely to be due to food. [/QUOTE
------------------------------------------------------------

Okay - that's the same thing I had.. It started on our way home in the car and persisted for well over a month.. It was AWFUL - my feet and ankles were the worst and I literally wanted to chop them off with an ax!!

I think the doctor gave me some sort of antihistamine, a sedative so I could sleep at night, and some sort of cream that could only be applied once a day..

What annoyed me almost as much as the rash was that the doctor just blew the whole thing off and never offered me any kind of explanation at all.. Still to this day I don't know what caused it but after hearing your story (and back when it happened to me I think others posted here about these strange itchy rashes) I really, REALLY would like to know exactly WHAT it is - and WHAT the connection to Florida is.. We stayed off-site, so I think we can rule out anything to do with the accomodations because you were on-site - right?

 

[KathyFP]

How frustrating - no advice just good wishes

 

[Annie68]

Not sure if this is what you have, but your symptoms sound similar to my DH's this past summer. He is in the medical field, so we suspect that he picked it up from a patient. The permethrin cream worked well, after 2 weeks all symptoms were gone. Just something to consider?


Scabies
Scabies is an itchy condition of the skin caused by a tiny mite (Sarcoptes scabiei).

Symptoms
The mite burrows into the skin, especially around the hands, feet, and male genitalia. It does not usually affect the neck and head, although it may in infants.

The itching is due to an allergic reaction to the tiny mites, and is associated with a rash of red, raised spots. The itch is worse at night, and may often affect more than one family member.

Causes
Scabies is caused by a mite (Sarcoptes scabiei) which burrows under the skin, but the rash and itch are much more widespread than the location of the mites.

The mite may be passed easily by close contact and commonly starts at the wrist, presumably having been picked up through holding hands.

Diagnosis
Diagnosis is often made clearer because more than one family member has an itchy rash. Sometimes burrows can be seen, especially near to the wrists. The doctor may sometimes manage to remove a mite from a burrow in order to look at it under magnification.

The diagnosis can be made difficult because the rash can look like other itchy conditions eg eczema.

Treatment
There are three main types of treatment in use for scabies in the UK. All are applied to the whole body except the head and neck, and the whole family should be treated at the same time.

The treatment of choice at the moment is Permethrin, in view of its relative safety, ease of application, and as it tends not to irritate the skin. This should be left on for at least eight hours. This may be used for the head and necks of children less than two years old.
Benzyl benzoate emulsion. This is washed off after twenty four hours, and repeated two or three times. In infants or young children it is wise to dilute in two or three times as much water, as this helps reduce skin irritation.
Malathion. This is washed off after twenty four hours.
The treatment kills the mites, but their bodies are still in the skin and as it is this that we are allergic to, the itch persists until our own natural defence systems break down and get rid of what is left of the mites. This process takes about two weeks and therefore the itch continues for about two weeks after the treatment.

Do not be disheartened, this is to be expected and does not mean that the treatment has failed. In the mean time you may find that an antihistamine tablet or medicine (either prescribed or bought over the counter) will reduce itching.

 

[C.Ann]

Originally posted by Annie68
Not sure if this is what you have, but your symptoms sound similar to my DH's this past summer. He is in the medical field, so we suspect that he picked it up from a patient. The permethrin cream worked well, after 2 weeks all symptoms were gone. Just something to consider?


Scabies
Scabies is an itchy condition of the skin caused by a tiny mite (Sarcoptes scabiei).

Symptoms
The mite burrows into the skin, especially around the hands, feet, and male genitalia. It does not usually affect the neck and head, although it may in infants.

The itching is due to an allergic reaction to the tiny mites, and is associated with a rash of red, raised spots. The itch is worse at night, and may often affect more than one family member.

Causes
Scabies is caused by a mite (Sarcoptes scabiei) which burrows under the skin, but the rash and itch are much more widespread than the location of the mites.

The mite may be passed easily by close contact and commonly starts at the wrist, presumably having been picked up through holding hands.

Diagnosis
Diagnosis is often made clearer because more than one family member has an itchy rash. Sometimes burrows can be seen, especially near to the wrists. The doctor may sometimes manage to remove a mite from a burrow in order to look at it under magnification.

The diagnosis can be made difficult because the rash can look like other itchy conditions eg eczema.

Treatment
There are three main types of treatment in use for scabies in the UK. All are applied to the whole body except the head and neck, and the whole family should be treated at the same time.

The treatment of choice at the moment is Permethrin, in view of its relative safety, ease of application, and as it tends not to irritate the skin. This should be left on for at least eight hours. This may be used for the head and necks of children less than two years old.
Benzyl benzoate emulsion. This is washed off after twenty four hours, and repeated two or three times. In infants or young children it is wise to dilute in two or three times as much water, as this helps reduce skin irritation.
Malathion. This is washed off after twenty four hours.
The treatment kills the mites, but their bodies are still in the skin and as it is this that we are allergic to, the itch persists until our own natural defence systems break down and get rid of what is left of the mites. This process takes about two weeks and therefore the itch continues for about two weeks after the treatment.

Do not be disheartened, this is to be expected and does not mean that the treatment has failed. In the mean time you may find that an antihistamine tablet or medicine (either prescribed or bought over the counter) will reduce itching.

---------------------------------------------

Darn! I thought we might be on to something there until you mentioned the "wrist" thing.. Nothing anywhere near my wrists - no one else in my group had it but me - and where on earth could I have picked it up in Florida?

I'm dying to find out what this "Florida" phenomena is.....