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Dh?

GravStars

By GravStars
in Dermatitis Herpetiformis

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GravStars Contributor
GravStars
Posted

OK, so I've suspected celiac as a possibility for a while but haven't had the money or insurance to get tested. I went gluten-free once for 5 days and another time 7 days, no improvement, so I stopped (I know I probably didn't give it enough time). I'm going to get tested when I can, but decided to go gluten-free again, this time for at least a month. So this is day 4, and I don't know if this is DH, but right after I went gluten-free this time I started getting itchy bumps on my legs, which seemed to appear at night. I thought it was a bug in my bed at first, but each night new bumps appear. Actually I dunno if they appear at night or I just notice them when I'm in bed or first wake up. I just got out of bed b/c 2 or 3 more appeared (or started itching). I checked my bed, no bedbugs in sight! But I will wash my sheets tomorrow. Most of the bumps, a bunch, are on my left foot, several on both legs, 2 or 3 on my arms. They're itchy as heck, round, red, with a clear pus sac in the middle (until I scratch or squeeze them and they break). They're not clustered together, kind of spread out seemingly randomly, and about the size (and look) of a smaller pimple. Does this sound like DH? I've had various symptoms beginning about 10 yrs ago that have led me to suspect celiac, but I've never had anything like these bumps before.

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elonwy Enthusiast
elonwy
Posted

Not to be gross here, but could it be scabies? I got them once from bedsheets at a hostel. Woke up with itchy red, clear on top, bumps all over my legs, some on my hands and arms. They tend to get worse at night. Any Planned Parenthood (donation based, no insurance needed) would be able to tell you if thats what it is. They are easily treated but you do have to wash everything in your house to make sure they go away. Don't want to freak you out at all, just a thought.

There was an article a couple weeks ago on how bedbugs are coming back in the US.

Elonwy

GravStars Contributor
GravStars
Posted
  • Author
Not to be gross here, but could it be scabies? I got them once from bedsheets at a hostel. Woke up with itchy red, clear on top, bumps all over my legs, some on my hands and arms. They tend to get worse at night. Any Planned Parenthood (donation based, no insurance needed) would be able to tell you if thats what it is. They are easily treated but you do have to wash everything in your house to make sure they go away. Don't want to freak you out at all, just a thought.

There was an article a couple weeks ago on how bedbugs are coming back in the US.

Elonwy

Well I had to google scabies b/c I'd never heard of it. I don't see how I could have gotten it. I haven't had "personal relations" with anyone in a long time, and because I have no job or social life right now, and little contact with people, certaintly not prolonged physical contact of any kind, so I dunno. It says they take 4 to 6 weeks to appear and things were the same 4 to 6 weeks ago so I dunno...

It just seemed weird that they poppoed up the day I went gluten-free, coincidence probably, and maybe it is just some bugger in me bed. Although a few months ago I got some round bumps on the top of my hands, some were skin-colored and some more red, itchy, and symmetrical (about equal on both hands) but did not fill with pus.

Shrug.

Debbie65 Apprentice
Debbie65
Posted
Well I had to google scabies b/c I'd never heard of it. I don't see how I could have gotten it. I haven't had "personal relations" with anyone in a long time, and because I have no job or social life right now, and little contact with people, certaintly not prolonged physical contact of any kind, so I dunno. It says they take 4 to 6 weeks to appear and things were the same 4 to 6 weeks ago so I dunno...

It just seemed weird that they poppoed up the day I went gluten-free, coincidence probably, and maybe it is just some bugger in me bed. Although a few months ago I got some round bumps on the top of my hands, some were skin-colored and some more red, itchy, and symmetrical (about equal on both hands) but did not fill with pus.

Shrug.

I got scabies years ago when I did a nursery placement in teacher training college. If I remember correctly the advice I was given then was that my own children could contract this from any toys etc that I had touched. I was up all night cleaning everthing as you can imagine. The rash looked more like plough tracks in the skin however - not really spotty.

Are the dogs in the pic yours? " months ago my cats had fleas and because the creep around my ankles I got bitten badly only in that area - 25 spots I counted. We use a good treatment but this year the bugs just seemed to be immune to it. Maybe that´s your problem.

GravStars Contributor
GravStars
Posted
  • Author
I got scabies years ago when I did a nursery placement in teacher training college. If I remember correctly the advice I was given then was that my own children could contract this from any toys etc that I had touched. I was up all night cleaning everthing as you can imagine. The rash looked more like plough tracks in the skin however - not really spotty.

Are the dogs in the pic yours? " months ago my cats had fleas and because the creep around my ankles I got bitten badly only in that area - 25 spots I counted. We use a good treatment but this year the bugs just seemed to be immune to it. Maybe that´s your problem.

they are the family dogs, we also have two cats living here, so fleas is a possibility, i will have to ask my mom. if they are fleas she would surely have bites too because the cats spend more time in her room and on her bed than mine, and bugs seem to like her. but the last time we had fleas and i got bitten it was not like this, they didn't fill with pus and break open.

ok, so its probably some bug anyway, but does no one get DH like this? just wondering.

tarnalberry Community Regular
tarnalberry
Posted

I gotta say, the recurrence of bed bugs as a problem in the US scares me. *shudder*

If the bites tend to be on the side that you lie on (or the half of your leg that tends to be against the mattress), and a few of them form a bit of a line, it could be bed bugs.

Good luck figuring out what it is!

(Have you changed detergents recently?)

GravStars Contributor
GravStars
Posted
  • Author
I gotta say, the recurrence of bed bugs as a problem in the US scares me. *shudder*

If the bites tend to be on the side that you lie on (or the half of your leg that tends to be against the mattress), and a few of them form a bit of a line, it could be bed bugs.

Good luck figuring out what it is!

(Have you changed detergents recently?)

thanks.

no, haven't changed detergents. and after reading about bed bugs, i'm pretty sure that's not what it is. bed bug bites produce welts and then hard, white-colored bumps. these are distinctly red with clear pus filled middles (like a blister), then break, scab over and remain really red. they aren't like flea bites either. and i don't notice the scabies "trails" or burrows, but i guess that's still a possibility.

so no one thinks it could possibly be DH? from what i've read it sounds similar, except the bumps don't seem to appear symmetrically on both sides of the body.

well i washed my sheets so if it's a critter i hope that takes care of it.

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Katie618 Apprentice
Katie618
Posted

is your rash symetrical? DH will be on both elbows, or knees or feet, both hands, etc... i get puss filled blisters as well and wake up throughout the night scratching!! i also seemed itchier at night and when i first wake up (maybe cause you finally get to relax and forget about your day so the itch becomes more apparant) get a skin biopsy or blood test if you have dh, you have celiac disease and need to be gluten free!

GravStars Contributor
GravStars
Posted
  • Author
is your rash symetrical? DH will be on both elbows, or knees or feet, both hands, etc... i get puss filled blisters as well and wake up throughout the night scratching!! i also seemed itchier at night and when i first wake up (maybe cause you finally get to relax and forget about your day so the itch becomes more apparant) get a skin biopsy or blood test if you have dh, you have celiac disease and need to be gluten free!

no its not symmetrical and that's why i'm not sure. does it always in every case occur symmetrically? most of the bumps are on my left foot, some on my right, legs, 2 on each arm (but in different locations). not long ago i did get a symmetrical series of bumps on my hands, that were whitish to red in color but did not pus up. they went away.

that's what i also thought, that i noticed them more at night b/c i was more relaxed, and i have not felt anything biting. just washed me sheets, no visible critters before or after.

i would get a biopsy but i'm not working and have no insurance right now, so there's not much i can do. which is why i decided to go gluten-free for a month and get tested when i get a job, probably enterolab since it'll be cheaper and i don't know how long before i will get insurance. most of my symptoms are digestive (bloating, constipation), major anxiety, heart palps, ear ringing, i think i'm anemic, dizziness, always tired, blah, blah, blah. so when this blister thing started it naturally made me wonder since i already suspected celiac. but i really don't know about anything and i'm pretty tired of it all!

angel-jd1 Community Regular
angel-jd1
Posted

What about shingles?? just a thought.

GravStars Contributor
GravStars
Posted
  • Author
What about shingles?? just a thought.

i don't think its shingles.

thanks for all the suggestions. i wanted to rule out DH, but no one yet seems to think it is, or has said it sounds like it, so i guess that's a no or don't know so far. hopefully it'll stop now that i washed the sheets.

ravenwoodglass Mentor
ravenwoodglass
Posted
no its not symmetrical and that's why i'm not sure. does it always in every case occur symmetrically? most of the bumps are on my left foot, some on my right, legs, 2 on each arm (but in different locations). not long ago i did get a symmetrical series of bumps on my hands, that were whitish to red in color but did not pus up. they went away.

that's what i also thought, that i noticed them more at night b/c i was more relaxed, and i have not felt anything biting. just washed me sheets, no visible critters before or after.

i would get a biopsy but i'm not working and have no insurance right now, so there's not much i can do. which is why i decided to go gluten-free for a month and get tested when i get a job, probably enterolab since it'll be cheaper and i don't know how long before i will get insurance. most of my symptoms are digestive (bloating, constipation), major anxiety, heart palps, ear ringing, i think i'm anemic, dizziness, always tired, blah, blah, blah. so when this blister thing started it naturally made me wonder since i already suspected celiac. but i really don't know about anything and i'm pretty tired of it all!

You do not have to have symetrical areas for it to be DH although it does tend to often present this way. The rash you are getting sounds a lot like the ones I would get. For me when these little blisters break they will 'burn' the surrounding skin and the rash will at times seem to move out from the first spot. But it also sounds like it may be fleas. If your immune system is in hyperdrive like it gets with untreated celiac you might see more of a reaction to the bites. Also there are times when fleas will strongly prefer one human over another. At my house my DS would be attacked by these little critters long before anyone else would. Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

Ursa Major Collaborator
Ursa Major
Posted
i don't think its shingles.

thanks for all the suggestions. i wanted to rule out DH, but no one yet seems to think it is, or has said it sounds like it, so i guess that's a no or don't know so far. hopefully it'll stop now that i washed the sheets.

I had been thinking for many years I was getting bites. Even mosquito bites in the winter! I've stopped having them gluten-free. Since I was the only one in my family getting those 'bites', I don't believe they were bites at all. Sometimes they'd look like flea bites, in lines of several on my legs, sometimes like inflamed mosquito bites, and sometimes like bed bug bites.

Washing my sheets never helped, going gluten-free did.

Now if, and that's a big if, you have bedbugs, just washing your sheets won't do a thing. They will hide in cracks (between mattresses), on the bed frame, in drawers, under base boards etc. during the day and come out at night when you're sleeping. It's impossible to get rid of them on your own, you'd have to hire somebody to do it.

Google for bed bugs signs, and find your info there. It tells you how to figure out if your house is infested with bed bugs.

GravStars Contributor
GravStars
Posted
  • Author
I had been thinking for many years I was getting bites. Even mosquito bites in the winter! I've stopped having them gluten-free. Since I was the only one in my family getting those 'bites', I don't believe they were bites at all. Sometimes they'd look like flea bites, in lines of several on my legs, sometimes like inflamed mosquito bites, and sometimes like bed bug bites.

Washing my sheets never helped, going gluten-free did.

Now if, and that's a big if, you have bedbugs, just washing your sheets won't do a thing. They will hide in cracks (between mattresses), on the bed frame, in drawers, under base boards etc. during the day and come out at night when you're sleeping. It's impossible to get rid of them on your own, you'd have to hire somebody to do it.

Google for bed bugs signs, and find your info there. It tells you how to figure out if your house is infested with bed bugs.

hi ursula, thanks for the response. i have googled bed bugs and my bites or whatever they are don't sound like bed bug bites from what i read. i haven't been getting as many the past few days, but a few are still popping up on a daily basis. several months ago i got a couple over a few nights, then they stopped. an inconsistent bug maybe! certain ones just seem to start itching out of nowhere, even if its not a new one and didn't itch after it first appeared. some don't seem to itch much at all. for right now it's just a *shrug*.

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