[Lola B]

Can anyone shed some light on the connection between NSAIDs and DH? My teenage daughter has DH and she also suffers from chronic migraine headaches. She had been taking Aleve, and her DH is flaring back up again. The dapsone doesn't seem to be helping control these new flareups. Thanks!

[Dan300]

Hi Lola, Dr Tom O'Bryan ( a Chicago area Dr ) travels around the country giving lectures to doctors and the public about Gluten intolerance, in part of it he talks about migraines where a study was done with 10 severe cases that tried thr GFD. 7 had full recovery , 2 no change , 1 refused the diet. www.theDr.com hope this helps Dan

[gaingus]

I remember going through the same issues myself. There was a very small thread asking about Microcristaline Cellulose some time back (it is in the inactive ingreditents list on Aleve).

http://www.celiac.co...showtopic=17030

As for me, I quit using it and have gone to plain tylenol for headaches and the migraines are few and far between. The only DH flare-ups I get now is from accidental glutening.

I've done some other google searches on it and found that the FDA says it is safe as long as proper manufacturing processes are used.

[Lola B]

gaingus, on May 21 2009, 10:22 AM, said:

I remember going through the same issues myself. There was a very small thread asking about Microcristaline Cellulose some time back (it is in the inactive ingreditents list on Aleve).

http://www.celiac.co...showtopic=17030

As for me, I quit using it and have gone to plain tylenol for headaches and the migraines are few and far between. The only DH flare-ups I get now is from accidental glutening.

I've done some other google searches on it and found that the FDA says it is safe as long as proper manufacturing processes are used.

[Lola B]

Thanks for the info! One more ingredient to be on the look out for.

[ChemistMama]

Lola=

From what I've read, yes there is a link between NSAIDS and flares.

http://archderm.ama-...mmary/130/2/257

BEfore I was gluten-free, the two things that would make my DH worse were iodine and advil. Make sure she takes a vitamin that is low in iodine (less than 150 mg), I use iodine free vitamins. I'm not brave enough to take advil yet. I've heard that once the gluten is 'out of your skin', maybe after a year, you can bring iodine and NSAIDs back into your diet.


I also found an article where they studied the effect of ibuproven on dapsone levels but there isn't abn abstract, so I'll keep hunting.

http://archderm.ama-...mmary/130/2/257

I would suggest to her to try tylenol for migraines and see if this helps.

[flourgirl]

Hi Lola. I hear ya. When I was a teen I had chronic migraines. Bad enough they used to put me down for days. Even as an adult I would get occaisional migraines. I'm convinced that they were Celiac related. I also used to get terrible rashes and blamed them on poison ivy. Anyway, after I was seriously ill and finally got a diagnosis (also had DH almost everywhere at the time) I went gluten-free. No more migraines! After about 1 1/2 years no more DH. I stopped all salts, anything with iodine and realized I could take nothing except tylenol for pain while I had DH. Good luck to your daughter in getting rid of both!

Oh, yeah....I did not try dapsone, but there are bath soaks, and a clear Calamine that may help alleviate the burn.

[GottaSki]

I recently discovered that Advil Gel Caps caused my first ever rash.

I have always used Advil or Generic tablets, not gels for pain. This past December I bought Gel Caps and had my first ever itchy rash...lasted for 7-8 weeks.

During this time I was being tested for many different illnesses and was in the docs office often. As I became more frustrated with lack of diagnosis my blood pressure was rising at each doctor visit (I have reg very low BP). Anyway...doctor suggested I switch to tylenol for pain as advil can raise BP. The rash disappered. It was not until just last week that I discovered it was the gel caps.

Last week I went back on advil for pain because tylenol doesn't work for my arthritis type symptoms. I felt like I'd been glutened...could not find the gluten in the gel cap ingredients or online, but went back to reg advil tablets and have had no reaction.

While I can not prove the gel caps caused the rash...the timing is dead on.

[Lola B]

Very interesting about the gelcaps. My daughter had been taking Aleve gelcaps for the migraines and new DH breakouts kept erupting. They seem to be clearing up now that she's off of the Aleve. We'll switch to Tylenol for the migraines - although it doesn't seem to help as much with the headache pain, but it's better than having both the headache and the intense itching of the DH.

[BigDogz]

I used to take Advil or Aleve years ago for menstrual cramps and did well with them. I stopped taking them 6 or 7 years ago because I was finding I was getting horrible stomach pains whenever I took them. Thinking back, they may very well have been gel-caps as I do remember buying that version for some time, although I can't definitively say it was during the stomach pain issues. Anyways, Doc suggested I switch to Tylenol. It didn't work as well, but at least the stomach pain went away.

In the past 6 months I was plagued with headaches (prior to going gluten-free) and was finding that I was taking Tylenol nearly every day, sometimes several doses per day, to control them. It seemed to help the headaches but, all of the sudden, the stomach pain was back and it seemed to correlate with the ingestion of the Tylenol doses. It didn't seem to matter if I was using namebrand or some generic knock-off, either.

I've gone back to using the Aleve and, so far, I've not had any problems. Then again, since going gluten-free I've not had nearly the occasion to take anything since the headaches are now (YAY!) few and far between. I can't say that I've noticed any corresponding flare-ups in my rashes from re-starting the Aleve but I was taking a short course of Prednisone for a case of poison ivy (I was able to confirm my exposure) and THAT medicine seemed to set the DH rash into high gear!

Has anyone else had stomach issues with taking Tylenol or am I just some utterly unique freak of nature?

[hollyfolly]

gaingus, on May 21 2009, 08:22 AM, said:

I remember going through the same issues myself. There was a very small thread asking about Microcristaline Cellulose some time back (it is in the inactive ingreditents list on Aleve).

http://www.celiac.co...showtopic=17030

As for me, I quit using it and have gone to plain tylenol for headaches and the migraines are few and far between. The only DH flare-ups I get now is from accidental glutening.

I've done some other google searches on it and found that the FDA says it is safe as long as proper manufacturing processes are used.

What is a DH flare-up? I'm new and seeing all these posts that are really scary! Trying to gather info, thanks.

[lovegrov]

hollyfolly, on Jun 24 2009, 10:06 AM, said:

What is a DH flare-up? I'm new and seeing all these posts that are really scary! Trying to gather info, thanks.

If you don't already know what DH is, you probably don't have to worry. DH is dermatitis herpeteformis, essentially the skin version of celiac. Most people with celiac don't have it.

richard

[Razzy]

"We'll switch to Tylenol for the migraines - although it doesn't seem to help as much with the headache pain, but it's better than having both the headache and the intense itching of the DH."

I am a nurse, and have DH. I have had severe migraines since I was 12, but much less often since I went gluten-free, and I only use Tylenol to treat them.

Migraines occur because, in response to "triggers", the blood vessels inside the brain dilate (swell/get bigger) and irritate the trigeminal nerve that supplies feeling to your face and head.

Ibuprofen (Advil/Motrin) and other true NSAIDS (Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs) like Naproxen (Aleve) and Aspirin relieve pain through the reduction of this inflammation and swelling.

Tylenol is not the same class of medication and does not reduce inflammation: it really ONLY takes care of the pain by a different mechanism. Because it doesn't directly reduce the swelling, it typically takes more doses of Tylenol to get comfortable, and the pain relief can feel less complete than with NSAIDS.

However, you can help Tylenol to work better for you: drink a strong cup of tea or coffee just after taking it, prepared any way you like it. The caffeine in these beverages will constrict the blood vessels, achieving a similar reduction in the swelling from inflammation to that which NSAIDS provide. Other gluten-free caffeinated beverages will do just as well.

Another helpful thing to do that assists with reducing the swelling and numbing the pain is to apply a cold pack to your head for 20 minutes at a time(frozen peas or corn wrapped in a dishtowel will do nicely) directly over the area that hurts the worst. For me, that's always my right eye and forehead.

Wearing sunglasses (even inside), darkening the room, and being in a quiet room (or one with "white noise" like a fan) can all help to make the headache go away more quickly by reducing environmental "triggering".

Hope this helps....remember that free advice can sometimes be worth what you pay for it.