Dh Vs. Pemphigus?

[FlyGirl]

I was struck by how similar the DH rash is to my mother's skin problem. However, she was diagnosed with Pemphigus in 2002, another auto-immune skin problem. Is there any crossover between these two? Her 'treatment' has been a list of foods to avoid.

[ravenwoodglass]

A quick google search turned up an awful lot of stuff which I don't really have time to go through right now. I would advise you to enter pemphigus and celiac into a search engine and take a look at some of the articles, it appears they may very well be associated. Has she had a celiac panel or any other celiac testing?

[FlyGirl]

Actually, after reviewing the options I realized that my mom must have been diagnosed with bullous pemphigoid as that is the proper look and symptoms. Her main complaint is the severe itching and painful nature of the sores. At first they were exactly like the raised blisters shown in both the DH and bullous pemphigoid references. Now they typically don't blister but cause purple-ish itchy painful spots that sometimes do ooze clear liquid. Searching on both celiac & pemphigoid does pull up a number of matches, but no clear association. Seems even less is understood about pemphigoid than celiac.

My mom has several food sensitivities but is uninterested in doing anything with that information. She admits that if she stops eating wheat her nose 'stops dripping' and it appears that she stops getting the sores. But at 87, she's not very impressed by the idea that she should inconvenience herself with dietary restrictions.

I have dairy, soy and wheat issues, but have no celiac diagnosis. I had an endoscopy (2 weeks with gluten after 6 months without) and my gut looked like the picture of health, negative biopsies and blood work. My niece was just advised to eliminate wheat due to some rash and other issues she was having, don't have the details on that one yet. Eliminating wheat has become very fashionable so there is no reason to make assumptions here.

[ravenwoodglass]

I have dairy, soy and wheat issues, but have no celiac diagnosis. I had an endoscopy (2 weeks with gluten after 6 months without) and my gut looked like the picture of health, negative biopsies and blood work.

You need to be actively consuming a full gluten diet for at least 3 months before testing can have any possibility to be positive. If you were gluten free for 6 months that is plenty of time for the antibodies to leave the blood and the villi to heal and it takes time for them to get to the point of damage where doctors will diagnose celiac.