Trazodone And/or Essential Oils

[Melon]

Has anyone who has a DH-like rash been taking Trazodone and/or using essential oils. I had been taking Trazodone for years for sleep (loved it), then I started using essential oils and started getting a DH-like rash. I stopped using essential oils, but the rash continued.

The rash started going away after 5 or so months when I stopped Trazodone. The rash has stopped.

Maybe it all was a drug eruption (as lesion biopsy suggested). But with a family history of Celiac, and the pics of DH matching what I had, I'm wondering if anyone else had a similar rash from Trazodone.

Also wondering if anyone ended up on this site after using essential oils thinking they might have DH, but didn't.

Anyone?

Thanks!

[LauraTX]

Are you diagnosed Celiac?  A lot of people with rashes will end up on the forum because their rash looks like a DH picture. Many times it is not DH, since rashes look a lot alike.  However, DH and Celiac diagonses are commonly screwed up by uninformed doctors, so that is important to be cautious of.

 

A lot of those essential oils are not regulated, so you really don't know what is in them.   Some companies may have good quality control, but even then, you can react to them just like any other product.  They can also react with medications, and some of those are not studied enough to have warnings out about them.  If your doctor diagnosed it as a drug eruption, that is very possible, and here are is a link you may find interesting regarding that possible rare side effect of trazodone.

 

http://www.currentpsychiatry.com/home/article/drug-eruptions-6-dangerous-rashes/175546395bd1b6bb943360e719c04083.html

That one is long but hit Ctrl + F and enter trazodone

 

There are other articles I pulled up about trazodone drug eruptions, but it looks like most are from the 80's and not fully available online.

[Melon]

Thanks, LauraTX. I will read your linked info!

I am not diagnosed celiac. My mom and niece are, though. What puzzles me is that I thought it was the essential oils (in the bath, topically, and diffusing) because the rash started a couple of weeks after I started using them. (Loved them, too ;()

A demalogist thought it was pityriasis rosea and said I didn't need a biopsy, but we did one anyway (of lesions not adjacent skin). Biopsy said arthropod bites, drug erruptions, or hypersensitivity an allergen were the most likely causes.

I ruled out bites and assumed it was a hypersensitive reaction to essential oils. I sold them all and my diffusers, but the rash didn't go away.

I had been taking Trazodone regularly for sleep for four years and didn't think I could suddenly have such a reaction to it. But I am now thinking that was the likely cause.

I was about to get a DH biopsy when I got the bill for the first one. I decided to wait, and the rash seemed to die down when I was home over the holidays and staying up too late with family to take a sleep aid and get up at a reasonable hour!

I had an endoscopy in 2010. No celiac. I do have

Microscopic Colitis, though, that only flares with certain pharmaceuticals and NSAIDS.

Off to read your link and get some unaided sleep....

[Melon]

As an update, I had a celiac blood test. Negative. And I'm getting similar lesions from other prescription drugs. Not DH. 

[squirmingitch]

I took Trazodone but only briefly. It upset my tummy & made me nauseous but that was very early on in my gluten-free life & I know my gut was in poor shape so I imagine that was why the Trazodone made me nauseous. At any rate, I did not have any bad reaction to it in any other way. 

At least you now know what's going on. You might have to resort to warm milk & meditation to sleep.

Wishing you the very best but don't forget to get tested around every 2 years or sooner if symptoms present.

[Melon]

So, I've been off any prescription drugs for a month or more. I'm still getting occasional lesions and times when every scar turns angry red. My new question is could it be related to high triglyceride levels, which I have? 

 

[Jmg]

3 hours ago, Melon said:

So, I've been off any prescription drugs for a month or more. I'm still getting occasional lesions and times when every scar turns angry red. My new question is could it be related to high triglyceride levels, which I have? 

 

I know you've tested negative for Celiac, but have you given the gluten free diet a try anyway?  I tested negative, but my skin improved markedly once gluten-free. The other big dietary influence on skin for me at least is dairy. Keeping a food diary and excluding those may help you exclude them as factors?

[Lorjenn22]

Yes it may be the trazadone. Medications can hv gluton in them. Its funny you say that bc i was just diagnosed celiacs. But I have sleep issues prior and I took trazadone. I remember getting rashes, I couldn't say for sure that it was at the same time but probably was given your description and both things occured along time ago! 

[Victoria1234]

I take trazadone and don't have any rashes. I had horrible DH years ago, way before I started taking T. 

[Melon]

Hi, All,

My GP still insists i’m being bitten. SMH. I got another one who said my lesions look like an atypical psoriasis. So, I did some googling. Seeing a new dermatologist on Monday. I think this could be my problem: guttate psoriasis. https://www.everydayhealth.com/psoriasis/living-with/understanding-guttate-psoriasis/

Wish me luck. It’s only been three+ years!

[Jenna1028]

Since I found this topic through a google search, I feel the need to respond - even though this post is old, and my response may go unseen - it might help someone else doing a search. 

Through my research of DH, I've learned that only 20% test positive for celiac through a biopsy. Some people have had to undergo an intestinal biopsy - and even that can show as negative. 

The best, and only way to know for sure is through genetic testing. 

I'm celiac and started showing symptoms at 31, and now at 45, through genetic testing, I finally have the results I always knew existed. I used 23andme - but you could use whatever service, as long as they run this test, you will know for certain. 

Celiac is relatively new, and many doctors just don't know what to look for. Additionally, with so many presenting symptoms, and unreliable testing, it's hard for patients to know the truth. And given all the other issues and diseases/risk factors - patients really need to know right away. 

Hope this helps!

[kareng]

53 minutes ago, Jenna1028 said:

Since I found this topic through a google search, I feel the need to respond - even though this post is old, and my response may go unseen - it might help someone else doing a search. 

Through my research of DH, I've learned that only 20% test positive for celiac through a biopsy. Some people have had to undergo an intestinal biopsy - and even that can show as negative. 

The best, and only way to know for sure is through genetic testing. 

I'm celiac and started showing symptoms at 31, and now at 45, through genetic testing, I finally have the results I always knew existed. I used 23andme - but you could use whatever service, as long as they run this test, you will know for certain. 

Celiac is relatively new, and many doctors just don't know what to look for. Additionally, with so many presenting symptoms, and unreliable testing, it's hard for patients to know the truth. And given all the other issues and diseases/risk factors - patients really need to know right away. 

Hope this helps!

The problem with diagnosing Celiac by genetics only is - about 30% of people have the gene but only about 1% of people have Celiac.  They can biopsy next to the blister and diagnose DH that way.  

[Jenna1028]

4 hours ago, kareng said:

The problem with diagnosing Celiac by genetics only is - about 30% of people have the gene but only about 1% of people have Celiac.  They can biopsy next to the blister and diagnose DH that way.  

That's really good to know, too! Thank you for sharing!

[No more doughnuts]

Hi there...I have DH and Celiac disease...for over 15 years now.  As we know, Celiac disease is an autoimmune disease.

I was on a very strict gluten free diet but kept getting setbacks, (rash, muscular pain, joint pain, migraines, loss of balance).

Keep in mind now, gluten is one type of LECTIN.  So, I went on a LECTIN free diet and within weeks all symptoms gone!!!  No nightshade vegetables, no beans or legumes, (no peanuts or cashews as they are legumes), no corn, no rice....these are grains...they have lectins.  All these cause inflammation for those of us with an autoimmune disease.  Make sure you look up lectin free diets...!

Yes, it is a very hard diet to follow, however, if you want to stop your inflammation setbacks, this will do it!!!  I feel like a new human being.  When you have an autoimmune disease, lectins are deadly for us.  Please, I urge all of you to do your homework on this...because doctors really aren't informed.

[Wheatwacked]

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/history-of-celiac-disease

"Doctors had known about celiac for years. But there was no consensus on its cause, or how to treat it. It acquired its name in 100 A.D., when Greek* physician Aretaeus of Cappadocia was stumped by an ailment with symptoms of weakness, malnutrition, and diarrhea, which he dubbed koiliakos." 

"In 1950, Dicke published his findings that wheat and rye flour aggravated celiac symptoms. Importantly, he also gave the children wheat starch to no ill effect, discounting the theory that complex carbohydrates were the cause. With the help of other colleagues, he later pinpointed gluten as the ultimate culprit."

On 10/28/2019 at 4:21 PM, kareng said:

Celiac is relatively new, and many doctors just don't know what to look for.

[kareng]

18 minutes ago, Wheatwacked said:

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/history-of-celiac-disease

"Doctors had known about celiac for years. But there was no consensus on its cause, or how to treat it. It acquired its name in 100 A.D., when Greek* physician Aretaeus of Cappadocia was stumped by an ailment with symptoms of weakness, malnutrition, and diarrhea, which he dubbed koiliakos." 

"In 1950, Dicke published his findings that wheat and rye flour aggravated celiac symptoms. Importantly, he also gave the children wheat starch to no ill effect, discounting the theory that complex carbohydrates were the cause. With the help of other colleagues, he later pinpointed gluten as the ultimate culprit."

The comment about “Celiac being new” that you are trying to claim I said - I didn’t.  If you look, you will see I quoted the person who said it.  Rather than argue a relatively minor point in her/ his post , I only addressed the misconception that having a gene for Celiac does not diagnose Celiac.  
 

 

Edited November 6, 2019 by kareng

[Wheatwacked]

Sorry I mis-copied that, I thought it was strange. It was Jenna1028 that made the original statement.

[Jenna1028]

On 11/6/2019 at 2:27 PM, Wheatwacked said:

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/history-of-celiac-disease

"Doctors had known about celiac for years. But there was no consensus on its cause, or how to treat it. It acquired its name in 100 A.D., when Greek* physician Aretaeus of Cappadocia was stumped by an ailment with symptoms of weakness, malnutrition, and diarrhea, which he dubbed koiliakos." 

"In 1950, Dicke published his findings that wheat and rye flour aggravated celiac symptoms. Importantly, he also gave the children wheat starch to no ill effect, discounting the theory that complex carbohydrates were the cause. With the help of other colleagues, he later pinpointed gluten as the ultimate culprit."

yes, through my research I see that. But I've had celiac my entire life, and not one doctor has ever thought to test me. Maybe because of the internet some doctors are educating themselves. But if I showed the rash I have - after looking online - there is no reason a doctor couldn't figure out what it was. I just don't think they are used to seeing it yet. 

Miscarriages, migraines everyday, rashes since I was a kid, the list goes on and on. A doctor should've known. 

And for someone like me, who has been wheat free for fifteen years because of a wheat allergy diagnosis, chances are that any testing I do will show as negative because I do not ingest wheat on a daily basis.