Can Allergens, Like Corn, Re-Start The Dh Autoimmune Reaction ?

[Blaze422]

I have been tapering off my dapsone and thinking I was getting better, but recently entered back into the world of

Itching. My idea of "healthy" is still have a rash on my lower back and neck hairline and sporadic patches on armpits etc...but 1/3 of what I used to have and .but significantly less itch..

I'm pretty confident that I have avoided gluten, but I remember many posts that discuss DH being a S.O.B....

And that sometime she raises her angry head because she can simply be a bi€th.

(A disclaimer is that I had some honey whisky that apparently has been rated a 4 out of 10 on confidence of being gluten free.)

So maybe I'm crazy, but I could swear that after drinking Arizona green tea that is proud of "no preservatives or artificial colors or flavor" I'm itching ...a lot. And my legs broke out.

Looking at the ingredients it appears to Have high fructose corn syrup . So in my over active paranoia, I'm wondering if my DH is "smoldering" and if corn can act similarly to iodine or salycylates and aggrevate my condition. So until I rule it out..I've eliminated corn as best I can.

Thanks for reading my rambling thought. Opinions appreciated!

[squirmingitch]

Blaze, How many times did I ask myself if I was reacting to something that was not gluten? I finally learned not to second guess every single thing. How did I learn this? 1) Common sense  2) I reacted when there was absolutely nothing out of the ordinary that I had eaten.

Arizona Green Tea is gluten free, in fact ALL the Arizona teas are gluten free. 

 

To quote you:

"I remember many posts that discuss DH being a S.O.B....

And that sometime she raises her angry head because she can simply be a bi€th."

 

Yup, that's it.

 

9 full months after I had gone strict gluten-free & had improved so very much, I began to have a flare that got worse & worse & worse. It lasted from September through about May. It was the worst flare I had ever had. I did not get the tiniest amount of gluten. I have zero doubt about that. 

 

Relax. Stop torturing yourself. She's a b%$@# of the first order. The best thing you can do is to stop second guessing everything. Otherwise, she wins. And she's not going to win is she? 

[Blaze422]

LOL

So at the risk of being b%$@# slapped...

Are you saying foods that I have a sensitivity to will not cause a flare up?

[squirmingitch]

I'm not saying that b/c I can't say that 100%. There is nothing I've read that would allow me to say such. I wasn't sensitive to any foods before dh reared it's ugly head (other than shroomies which I just don't eat). Therefore, I wasn't/don't eat any foods I'm sensitive to so can not say from my own experience that I did not flare when eating foods I am sensitive to. It's awfully hard to prove a negative. No food sensitivity so no way to compare. The question is...... were you sensitive to corn before?

[kareng]

Maybe you have an allergy to these other foods that causes a rash?  Or adds a rash on top of the existing DH?  Now that sounds pleasant..... 

[Blaze422]

I am sensitive to corn (diarrhea )

The reason this all is on my mind because I'm seeing an environmental allergist next week out of desperation. He comes with a great reputation for being thorough and a great sleuth /detective type.

Quick recap : I never had any rashes until August 2014. Random stomach issue over the years and then slowly escalating rashes that were bilateral, reactive to iodine, not responsive to steroids.... but NOT insanely itchy.

Dermatologist agreed to try dapsone 25mg four times a day and I got 75% improvement in 4 months. Reduced dapsone to 25 mg twice a day and for 3 months have maintained status quo. Still have some rashes, some itchiness but manageable. Now in the last 3 weeks, things are flaring and spreading.

One thing I have been doing a lot past month or 2 is far infrared sauna and Epsom salt/baking powder/hydrogen peroxide baths .

Not sure if any of this is significant but thought I should increase dapsone again and see if I have a "hidden"

Allergen contributing to my pathetic state.

Thanks for any advice,

Mark

[kareng]

So.... You don't really know if you have DH? It was never biopsied? Then, maybe it isn't DH and it something else.

[Blaze422]

My history is. Typical to most posters...they find this forum after they have struggled for months.

That's when we learn about the problems with a biopsy after steroids or blood work after going gluten-free. I have discussed my history on other threads and was trying to save everyone from a tedious story.

So yes, I was biopsied and had bloodwork that were not positive for DH. And no, I don't want to do a gluten test and have

GI biopsy.

And yes, that is why I freely admit that while it behaves and looks like DH, it may not be.

But the question is...if a person has DH and is gluten free....can other food allergens cause a flare up?

[kareng]

I do not see a single mention that anything other than gluten causes DH on the U of C site.

[Blaze422]

I do not see a single mention that anything other than gluten causes DH on the U of C site.

Does iodine cause a DH rash to flare up?

Do salyclyates cause some DH sufferers trouble?

The question is not if corn causes DH ..but whether it can causes a DH rash flare up