[lizard00]

Over the past couple of months, I've noticed that my son (who is 4) always has what appears to be scratches on his back. But he goes to daycare and they play outside a lot, so I kind of wrote it off as something that happened outside. But, he hasn't been to daycare in almost a month, and I noticed that the scratches don't look any different. So, I started looking really closely at his back, and he has these little bumps up and down his back,(mainly on the sides of his back onto his actual sides) and then he has scabs from where I can only imagine he has scratched at them. So, I asked him if his back itched, and he said a little. They don't really seem to bother him much, but I notice that he has his hand up the back of his shirt often.

I had him tested for celiac last year as a routine screen, not because he was really having any symptoms. It came back negative, and I was ok with that. Recently, he's been telling me his tummy hurts, but it seems to go as quickly as it comes.

However, with that and this crazy rash thing on his back, I'm wondering if there really is something going on. I have absolutely no experience with DH, other than the pictures that I found when I googled it. It looks like it's appearance can manifest differently in people...

So my questions are: Does it have to be painfully itchy? Could it possibly just look like little red bumps? Any other ideas for what could be causing them? (I use dye free/fragrance free detergent... already thought about that) Can DH be caused by topical gluten?

Thanks!!

[janetw]

Oh no Liz! I'm sure you need this to think about right now.

Is it symmetrical?

[jerseyangel]

Gosh Liz--I don't know too much about DH, but I'm sorry the little guy is having these symptoms.

[lizard00]

janetw, on Oct 1 2009, 03:28 PM, said:

Oh no Liz! I'm sure you need this to think about right now.

Is it symmetrical?

I would say yes. It's more pronounced on the sides of his back onto his sides, then down around his hips. There don't appear to be many, if any, in the middle of his back all the way down.

What's one more thing, right??

[lizard00]

So, I had the pediatrician take a quick look at it today while I was there with my daughter, and he says it's eczema. I'm not really convinced of this, but I will try out his suggestion and see if we get anywhere. If not, I think I'll skip over going back to him and try a dermatologist.

[2GirlsMom]

lizard00, on Oct 6 2009, 12:27 PM, said:

So, I had the pediatrician take a quick look at it today while I was there with my daughter, and he says it's eczema. I'm not really convinced of this, but I will try out his suggestion and see if we get anywhere. If not, I think I'll skip over going back to him and try a dermatologist.

Hi! Yeah, my daughter's pediatrician also said she had eczema and she's DEFINITELY gluten intolerant. She got the rash but also Bi-Polar symptoms. I wrote about it here because it's such a story of hope! I would definitely consider gluten intolerance if nothing else!