Help! *pics* Need A Good Derm To Diagnose Me In Los Angeles. + So Much Confusion. Candia? Leaky Gut? Gluten Sensitivity?

[BoyWonder]

I really am hoping someone will read this and help me because im at my wits end . life has become miserable for me and i dont want to say its not worth living because there are so many other far worse things....but iit sure feels like it because i have to hide out in the house all the time i cant go out and meet people or go to the beach or do "natural" things with my girlfriend because i dont want her to see me and think i have some kind of weird disese

this whole thing has cost me my relationship with friends , my girlfriend, tons of wasted money going to see doctors only to be told "oh its just eczema heres some steroids" ive been to like 6 or 7 different derms and theyve all been a waste of time..

hopefully someone on here will see my situation and know whats going on

im 23 years old and as of july of last year i NEVER had any problems like this...

all of a sudden in august of last year i started getting these tapioca like bumps in between the webs of my finger and on my hands..

they looked like this

http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/2417/img0950qi3.webp

http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/3167/img0956lk3.webp

http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/1904/img0903ml8.webp

i was bored one day and decided i would "pop" one of them to see if something was going on..well stupid me.

it ended up irritating the area , i left it alone ...

1 week went by 2 weeks went by 3 weeks went by i noticed that it wasnt healing and i found it to be very odd...

it started getting bigger and bigger and becoming more and more inflamed

at its worst it turned up like this

http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/4070/img0864bb0.webp

i had bacterial swabs done biopsies done and nothing came back abnormal ...for good measure the doctor put me on all kind of antibiotics which did not help... (more on why i think antibiotics might have caused something later in this post..)

finally the doctor just decided to inject it with some kenalog to clam the inflammation...surprisingly this worked

http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/4497/img08811zy8.webp

it started drying up. i was so relieved but during and around this time i also noticed that i was getting little itchy bumps all over my body many of which resembled the bumps on my hands, some of which resembled pimples ...

they sprouted up all over my legs, my arms, the sides of my torso, my butt, and my shoulders and back

http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/8289/img0879ns5.webp

the doctors i went to dismissed it as either folliculitis or eczema they said here take these antibiotics, apply these steroid creams, and make sure u moisturize and it should go away.

well i did all three and it seemed to help some but im still getting randon new bumps that pop up everyday, they itch like crazy..

which leads me to ask...

1.) based on what ive described so far does it look like i have DH? do most docs misdiagnose dh as eczema or something else?because all the docs i went to just brushed it off as eczema yet ive never had "eczema" prior to july of 07..

2.) could the antibiotic use in the early stages to treat my hand killed all the good bacteria and cause some kind of candida yeast overgrowth? (i read candida overgrowth can cause eczema and skin problems)

3.) could i be suffering from leaky gut and not actual gluten sensitivity? i read that people with leaky gut develop stronger food sensitivies to things that they really didnt have a problem with before?

hopefully someone on here will know what im talking about because im so tired of explaining things to people and having them just brush me off or misdiagnose me

ps i begged my last derm to biopsy an area of my hand (he was looking for scabies or something else) if he could also see if there was DH present in my biopsy...he said he would look for it but i dont think he knew what he was doing because i read on here that the only way to successfuly test for DH is if they biopsied the area AROUND the lesion. he took a biopsy from the actual lesion itself.

please help guys

[rlbcabjm]

My daughter has these same bumps on her hands and they also popped open. At the time she also had cold sores on her lips and canker sores in her mouth. I thought hers was the herpes simplex virus which can also spread to your hands. I'm not sure now after seeing your pictures. Did they check for the herpes simplex virus. She is not officially diagnosed as celiac, but is definately casein intolerant and has gastroparesis. Her celiac blood test was negative, but she had been gluten free for 3 months when it was taken. We haven't seen the doctor since her sores broke out. She had a doctors appt. on the 24th. She still has the bumps on her hands but not on her lip or in her lip. She has had the bumps on her hand for about 3 weeks.

[irish daveyboy]

Have you explored the possibility of Allergic Contact Dermatitis ??

.

It seems a lot of people are allergic to Nickel !!

this is found in Kitchen Utensils, the Stainless Steel Sink,

Cutlery, Wedding bands (so called white gold), Pots and Pans.

.

It definately something to be explored, here's a link to a NZ site

that I'm sure you'll find interesting.

.

Open Original Shared Link

.

Best Regards,

David

[ravenwoodglass]

You need to go back to the derm and have them do another biopsy the right way. Here is a link to the NIH that you can print out.

Open Original Shared Link

"A skin biopsy is the key tool in confirming a diagnosis of DH. Doctors take a skin sample from the area next to a lesion and, using a fluorescent dye that highlights antibodies, look for the presence of IgA deposits. Skin biopsies of people with DH are almost always positive for IgA.

Blood tests for other antibodies commonly found in people with celiac disease

[Lisa16]

When I looked at the weeping wound with soft, curling skin on the edges, I immediately thought of a fungal infection.

You did say in the first bit there that you are gluten free. Have these skin problems been appearing while you are gluten-free or did it happen before? A little more information might be helpful. Do they happen after an accidental glutening? Or are they happening despite being gluten-free? And how long have you been gluten-free?

Lisa

[Atzu]

Hello ... And mutual sympathy btw.. Recently 6 months ago... I started getting these little breakouts, I have had exema since I was way young and have fought a battle on and off with this exema problem all my adult life. I,m 58 now. These little bumps started to appear, at first I thought they were flea bites or mosquieto bites.. but, they were differnet and didn't heal fast. I began to notice that they appeared as dual bites.. I would get two .. almost looking like a vampire bite. Strange. This has been going on for the last 6 months, another interesting pattern I want to share is that if I get a break out on lets say my right arm at the elbow, syncronisticly I get the same on the other side of my body on the other body part.. so my right gets a bump and my left gets a bump on the mirror side. This has led me to believe this problem is systemic and internal. Based upon my personal experience.. this is not exema.. or a rash or scabes.. ... After seeing your pic's and these are the same things that I have.. I'm making an appointment for the DH screening and hopefully starting to modify my diet... I can note that 6 months ago.. I started eating white rice and soy sauce every day, this along with an increase in bullion and broths.. all of this seems to be related. To excessive sodium and salts in the body.

Ok..gonna write my Dr. .next.... good luck.. and tks for the pics... it did help... Waves... ;-)

Don .

[ravenwoodglass]

Hello ... And mutual sympathy btw.. Recently 6 months ago... I started getting these little breakouts, I have had exema since I was way young and have fought a battle on and off with this exema problem all my adult life. I,m 58 now. These little bumps started to appear, at first I thought they were flea bites or mosquieto bites.. but, they were differnet and didn't heal fast. I began to notice that they appeared as dual bites.. I would get two .. almost looking like a vampire bite. Strange. This has been going on for the last 6 months, another interesting pattern I want to share is that if I get a break out on lets say my right arm at the elbow, syncronisticly I get the same on the other side of my body on the other body part.. so my right gets a bump and my left gets a bump on the mirror side. This has led me to believe this problem is systemic and internal. Based upon my personal experience.. this is not exema.. or a rash or scabes.. ... After seeing your pic's and these are the same things that I have.. I'm making an appointment for the DH screening and hopefully starting to modify my diet... I can note that 6 months ago.. I started eating white rice and soy sauce every day, this along with an increase in bullion and broths.. all of this seems to be related. To excessive sodium and salts in the body.

Ok..gonna write my Dr. .next.... good luck.. and tks for the pics... it did help... Waves... ;-)

Don .

Don one of the hallmarks of DH is that it usually has a bilateral presentation. I would imagine it was not the sodium and salts in the soy sauce and broths that are getting you but the wheat in them. Be sure to check out the link to the NIH site, too many derms don't do the biopsy correctly.

[climbmtwhitney]

Boy Wonder,

I'm sorry you're suffering so much!

You know what? The pic you posted of the rash in the web of your fingers is EXACTLY what I get. Same place too. Itches like mad.

And, the other pics you posted of the little bumps look like the rash I've had for years on both legs above my knees. It comes and goes in severity. Sometimes the bumps are more red then other times. Keeps me from wearing shorts sometimes. Very annoying!

Since folks started posting pics, I've been wondering if I have DH too. They all look like me. I had always thought DH was a blistering rash, but I guess it doesn't have to be. Hmmm.

I have been diagnosed Celiac based on a biopsy from 5 years ago showing stage 1 damage. At the time they weren't looking for Celiac but H. Pylori, so they only noted the changes. Then with the genes, + Enterolab and + dietary response, they dx'd Celiac. I'm curious if I should biopsy the rash. Won't change what I'm doing, but maybe then they can give me the right stuff to get rid of it. All I hear is eczema and the creams don't work. They do help on my fingers, but not my legs.

Also, wondering if you get this? I get spontaneous cuts on the tips of my fingers at the corners. So-oooooo painful. I can have 6 fingers affected at a time. But, they've almost completely disappeared since going gluten-free. And, years of different dermatologists couldn't help. I used to superglue my fingertips to close the cuts.

Last Friday I was working with drywall--stupid I know--but I figured I'd be fine. Well on Saturday I noticed the leg rash was prominent and spread down the sides of my calves. It's never been there before. And, I've got 2 new finger cuts plus all my glutening symptoms. Hmmm.

Can anyone else shed some light on this for us???

Thanks!

Jill

[BoyWonder]

You need to go back to the derm and have them do another biopsy the right way. Here is a link to the NIH that you can print out.

Open Original Shared Link

"A skin biopsy is the key tool in confirming a diagnosis of DH. Doctors take a skin sample from the area next to a lesion and, using a fluorescent dye that highlights antibodies, look for the presence of IgA deposits. Skin biopsies of people with DH are almost always positive for IgA.

Blood tests for other antibodies commonly found in people with celiac disease

[BoyWonder]

When I looked at the weeping wound with soft, curling skin on the edges, I immediately thought of a fungal infection.

You did say in the first bit there that you are gluten free. Have these skin problems been appearing while you are gluten-free or did it happen before? A little more information might be helpful. Do they happen after an accidental glutening? Or are they happening despite being gluten-free? And how long have you been gluten-free?

Lisa

hi lisa i just went back to my post i have no idea why it said "gluten free" i originally said "girlfriend" ? very weird ...

i am not gluten free nor have i tried going on a gluten free diet yet...the reason i havent gone completely gluten free yet is because ive been eating products with gluten my whole life and ive not experienced any problems whatsoever not even the slightest. im a very logical person and i know there just has to be a reason why im suddenly having these kinds of reactions....

my only explanation is that i have a candida overgrowth in my intestines or that i have leaky gut syndrome or something which has heightened my allergies to certain foods?

these skin problems honestly just happened so randomly back in july...i didnt do anything special , i wasnt consuming more gluten than usual or anything

u said it might be fungal i thought of that too...wouldnt a biopsy also determine if something was fungal?

the biopsy i had done didnt show any fungus...

[BoyWonder]

Hello ... And mutual sympathy btw.. Recently 6 months ago... I started getting these little breakouts, I have had exema since I was way young and have fought a battle on and off with this exema problem all my adult life. I,m 58 now. These little bumps started to appear, at first I thought they were flea bites or mosquieto bites.. but, they were differnet and didn't heal fast. I began to notice that they appeared as dual bites.. I would get two .. almost looking like a vampire bite. Strange. This has been going on for the last 6 months, another interesting pattern I want to share is that if I get a break out on lets say my right arm at the elbow, syncronisticly I get the same on the other side of my body on the other body part.. so my right gets a bump and my left gets a bump on the mirror side. This has led me to believe this problem is systemic and internal. Based upon my personal experience.. this is not exema.. or a rash or scabes.. ... After seeing your pic's and these are the same things that I have.. I'm making an appointment for the DH screening and hopefully starting to modify my diet... I can note that 6 months ago.. I started eating white rice and soy sauce every day, this along with an increase in bullion and broths.. all of this seems to be related. To excessive sodium and salts in the body.

Ok..gonna write my Dr. .next.... good luck.. and tks for the pics... it did help... Waves... ;-)

Don .

i too have symmetrical bumps...

if i get it on my right elbow i will get one around the same spot on my left elbow..

[BoyWonder]

Boy Wonder,

I'm sorry you're suffering so much!

You know what? The pic you posted of the rash in the web of your fingers is EXACTLY what I get. Same place too. Itches like mad.

And, the other pics you posted of the little bumps look like the rash I've had for years on both legs above my knees. It comes and goes in severity. Sometimes the bumps are more red then other times. Keeps me from wearing shorts sometimes. Very annoying!

Since folks started posting pics, I've been wondering if I have DH too. They all look like me. I had always thought DH was a blistering rash, but I guess it doesn't have to be. Hmmm.

I have been diagnosed Celiac based on a biopsy from 5 years ago showing stage 1 damage. At the time they weren't looking for Celiac but H. Pylori, so they only noted the changes. Then with the genes, + Enterolab and + dietary response, they dx'd Celiac. I'm curious if I should biopsy the rash. Won't change what I'm doing, but maybe then they can give me the right stuff to get rid of it. All I hear is eczema and the creams don't work. They do help on my fingers, but not my legs.

Also, wondering if you get this? I get spontaneous cuts on the tips of my fingers at the corners. So-oooooo painful. I can have 6 fingers affected at a time. But, they've almost completely disappeared since going gluten-free. And, years of different dermatologists couldn't help. I used to superglue my fingertips to close the cuts.

Last Friday I was working with drywall--stupid I know--but I figured I'd be fine. Well on Saturday I noticed the leg rash was prominent and spread down the sides of my calves. It's never been there before. And, I've got 2 new finger cuts plus all my glutening symptoms. Hmmm.

Can anyone else shed some light on this for us???

Thanks!

Jill

Jill u mean the cuts will spontaneously appear? or u mean that ur skin is hyper sensitive and prone to cuts?

i know that ever since this problem of mine has occured, random cuts that i might get on my hands do take longer to heal..

since u said uve been diagnosed a celiac havent u gone gluten free? yet you are still experiencing these bumps?

and u said u have the same bumps as me in betwen the webs of your fingers..did u notice that mine has like a slight dimpling in the center of each bump? do u hav that too?

[ravenwoodglass]

Last Friday I was working with drywall--stupid I know--but I figured I'd be fine. Well on Saturday I noticed the leg rash was prominent and spread down the sides of my calves. It's never been there before. And, I've got 2 new finger cuts plus all my glutening symptoms. Hmmm.

Can anyone else shed some light on this for us???

Thanks!

Jill

Most drywall is not gluten free. The dust gets into everything and into the air. When you inhale the dust or if you have it on your hands and then touch a mucous membrane, like rubbing your eyes or nose, you are getting glutened. It does sound very much like you have DH and your body is telling you to let someone else do that drywall work. If the work is still going on and you have sanding to do, let someone elxe do the sanding and have them spray the joints lightly with water before they sand. Also make sure they wall off the room, I have use plastic tarps taped securely to the doors and have someone else vacuum thoughly with a shop vac.

[ravenwoodglass]

these skin problems honestly just happened so randomly back in july...i didnt do anything special , i wasnt consuming more gluten than usual or anything

Your body has simply reached the point where the antibody reaction has become strong enough to effect. Your skin issues really do seem to be DH, the most clearly DH of anyone that I have seen here, IMHO. I can't answer the query about celiac savvy derms in your area, I am on the other side of the country. Perhaps if you start a topic asking that someone will know but you can also call derms in your area, tell the nurse who answers that you strongly suspect you have DH and ask if the doctor has any experience with it.

Celiac can have different presentations and follow a different route of impact for us. For me it was neuro issues quickly followed by skin but it was many years before the gut stuff showed up as more than an occasional annoyance. Often we will be able to look back and tie in a stressful event or illness to the excaberation but not always.

After you have done all the testing you choose to do, which I strongly advise should include a full celiac panel, no matter what the test results are you should give the diet a good strict try. You do need to keep in mind that the antibodies in your skin take a while to resolve and even a tiny bit of gluten will keep that reaction going. I had a quick decrease in the number of new lesions from the day I went gluten free but for the first couple years even a small amount would cause a new lesion within jsut a few hours. After that 2 year period it now takes a lot of gluten for me to break out and my breakouts are very short lived and heal quickly without the nasty distinctive purpleish red scarring that DH usually causes.

[climbmtwhitney]

Jill u mean the cuts will spontaneously appear? or u mean that ur skin is hyper sensitive and prone to cuts?

i know that ever since this problem of mine has occured, random cuts that i might get on my hands do take longer to heal..

since u said uve been diagnosed a celiac havent u gone gluten free? yet you are still experiencing these bumps?

and u said u have the same bumps as me in betwen the webs of your fingers..did u notice that mine has like a slight dimpling in the center of each bump? do u hav that too?

Hi.

Yes, the cuts on my fingertips spontaneously appear. They start at the corner of my fingertip and are about 2 to 3 mm long. My skin just literally opens up. I started getting them after my second child (8 years ago). At first we thought I was allergic to the baby's wipes or diapers or something. But, no. That is the same time I just started going down hill. Then I had another baby 5 1/2 years ago and I completely fell apart physically. I have been gluten free since August 26--funny I know the exact day. But, like any newbie, I've been glutened by mistakes, restaurants a few times and things labeled gluten-free that weren't (which is so very irritating!)

And, yes, the rash I get occasionally in between my fingers does look exactly like yours. It's been a month maybe since I've had it, so I'll have to pay more attention to my other symptoms when I get it again. As far as the leg rash, it got really bad after the drywall incident, but is lighter again. I can still feel the bumps with my hand, but they've faded again a bit in appearance. Plus it's not itchy anymore. Overall, it has gotten a lot better after going gluten-free, but never completely disappeared. I'm still hoping!

Question for those with knowledge of a skin biopsy.....Is that a simple in-office procedure where they just scrape off a little skin? I'm wondering because it seems unlikely to be able to schedule something more major at the outpatient surgery center when the rash is at it's worse. You'd have to get lucky and get in on a cancellation or something. I'd love to do an official biopsy of my skin.

Thanks all!

Jill

[ravenwoodglass]

Question for those with knowledge of a skin biopsy.....Is that a simple in-office procedure where they just scrape off a little skin? I'm wondering because it seems unlikely to be able to schedule something more major at the outpatient surgery center when the rash is at it's worse. You'd have to get lucky and get in on a cancellation or something. I'd love to do an official biopsy of my skin.

Thanks all!

Jill

Yes the biopsy is a simple in-office procedure. You need to have an active lesion. They take the biopsy from the skin next to the lesion not the lesion itself. It is done with a local anesthetic and the amount taken is very small. Usually they use a little punch instrument. I just had a bandaid afterwards and no discomfort to speak of at all when I had a biopsy done years ago.

[Atzu]

Don one of the hallmarks of DH is that it usually has a bilateral presentation. I would imagine it was not the sodium and salts in the soy sauce and broths that are getting you but the wheat in them. Be sure to check out the link to the NIH site, too many derms don't do the biopsy correctly.

Hey Again: Just wanted to update a bit, I have contacted my Provider and am scheduling with a Dermatoligist. In the mean time, I stopped eating wheat products as soon as I read your post. Just in the few days since stopping I have noticed no new outbreaks. The small bite looking marks are decreasing in size and intencity. The general rashy look to my skin is changing back to a more normal and healthy state. And, with Big humor, I'm loosing some pounds in the process.

Still too early to tell, but looks to be in the right direction at the right time... Woo hoo... will keep in touch.

Thanks all. Don .. ( Atzu )

[ravenwoodglass]

Hey Again: Just wanted to update a bit, I have contacted my Provider and am scheduling with a Dermatoligist. In the mean time, I stopped eating wheat products as soon as I read your post. Just in the few days since stopping I have noticed no new outbreaks. The small bite looking marks are decreasing in size and intencity. The general rashy look to my skin is changing back to a more normal and healthy state. And, with Big humor, I'm loosing some pounds in the process.

Still too early to tell, but looks to be in the right direction at the right time... Woo hoo... will keep in touch.

Thanks all. Don .. ( Atzu )

I am glad to hear things seem to be improving. You need to avoid barley, rye and oats also not just wheat. One important thing though is that for the derm to be able to biopsy you need to have an active lesion. If no lesions are present when you see him you may want to ask if you can get a quick appointment if you have another breakout from accidental injestion or cross contamination.