Do your DH symptoms match this?

[Allo-london]

Symptoms: through day, random pin prick stinging in my skin. Could be anywhere. Feet, legs, back, occasionally face. Varies in degree of pain. No immediate sign of rash. It can feel "on the surface" of the skin, or "deeper" in the skin. Sometimes v painful, enough to make me jump. It's like being poked with a needle, or having a speck of hot fat from a frying pan land on you. Occurences of sudden itch also, or the stings are itchy themselves. Sometimes large patches of skin feel sensitive or sore for some time (hours maybe days). Like the other day a patch of skin on my back was just sort of sore/sensitive. Sometimes I experience what I can only describe as "waves of itch", almost non descript itching that you can feel but almost cannot describe where exactly. Around these times I tend to get red bumps on either side of my scalp. I think they may have vesicles that can pop (nice! but not pus, clear). I sometimes get them on my legs too. They are then sore, scab and take several days at least to heal up.

I have a raised ttg antigen level but a negative skin biopsy for DH and no villous damage on endoscopy. My skin sympoms cleared up for nearely 5 years when off dairy and gluten, but they came back recently. I need to know the cause.

Please, DH people, I know a lot of people ask, but I would really appreciate, if you can, do my symptoms sound familiar?! Do you get stinging or itching like this randomly but not on a rash/sores? And then the rash/bump/blisters elsewhere, or is your itching only physically at the point the rash?
 

[squirmingitch]

The rash, for me, and I think for most of us from what others have said on here, the sensation follows nerves. I can get rash that itches like mad 3 or 4 inches from the actual lesion. I think it's following the nerve pathways. Before I had my first major outbreak of rash, yes, I would get those sensations like little pops of hot oil landing on my skin. Funny, I hadn't thought about that until you mentioned it.

[Allo-london]

Thanks for your reply. Really appreciated! Can I pry and ask before the first major outbreak, did you get the sensations around usual lesion sites (whereever they are for you) or elsewhere. I'm leaning towards I possibly have some DH going on, perhaps it is "mild" in that not the full blown itchy rash, though enough to get these lesions. Probably some peripheral neuropathy going on I am guessing here. Being extrenmely strict on my diet right now and things very gradually improving, not fun though. Pretty sure dairy provokes reaction as well, but maybe other things, also so called gluten-free things sometimes seem an issue.

[squirmingitch]

No I didn't. Actually my back broke out & it began down low, all the way across & then in hours it had moved right on up my back all the way up & across. At the time, I thought it was nerves (as in mental) because I was going through a terribly stressful time. The stress is undoubtably what triggered it. Then by the next day it had crawled over my shoulders & onto my upper chest. I had no idea at the time that it I had celiac much less dh. All I knew was that I was burning & itching like crazy!

[Allo-london]

Yeah, it isn't fun. At least you know the cause know and can take steps to avoid. Thanks again for your replies!

[Allo-london]

Hi DH Forum - honestly I was really hoping for more people to answer my question. There must be hundreds of people read this with DH - maybe the greatest congregation of DH patients on the internet, and if so, the world and most likely the universe. Could you possibly please spare 1 minute to answer my original post?