Skin Rash

[angie-thomas52]

Okay, so I have been gluten free for almost 3 years now (yay!) and after I was diagnosed with Celiac, I also developed dermatitis herpetiformis, lactose intolerance and the onset of Crohn's. Long story short, in the last two weeks I have developed a rash on my arms and legs that seems to be spreading and clustering closer together, however it isn't spreading onto my abdomen, hands or feet. It itches like crazy, and I have tried just about everything to soothe it and nothing works. I use all gluten-free hair, skin, etc. products due to the dermatitis, I haven't switched laundry detergents or anything like that and it clearly isn't any form of poison ivy or anything like that because my boyfriend hasn't gotten it and we live together. Anyway, I'm wondering if it is a dairy allergy or something along those lines and am hoping that someone else has dealt with this and can help me out. Thanks!!

[Mother of Jibril]

What does the rash look like? Is it red? Is it flat or raised? How long do the individual spots take to go away? Have you tried hydrocortisone cream? Be careful with it, but that tends to work for hives. It might be autoimmune and not a true allergy (caused by food, detergent, etc...).

[angie-thomas52]

What does the rash look like? Is it red? Is it flat or raised? How long do the individual spots take to go away? Have you tried hydrocortisone cream? Be careful with it, but that tends to work for hives. It might be autoimmune and not a true allergy (caused by food, detergent, etc...).

The rash isn't red, it is flesh colored (until I start digging at it, of course) and they really haven't gone away for two full weeks. I will say that if my mind is off of it itching like crazy, I don't notice all that much. They are raised spots, and I can see them even if I haven't been scratching. But, like I said before, it is spreading and clustering all over my arms and legs, but not onto my hands, feet or abdomen. I've tried googling several things that I have thought it may be, but can't find a definite solution tot he problem. I've done the hydrocortisone and it simply doesn't work. I still put it on, for peace of mind, but it doesn't work. I'm going to try and cut out dairy tomorrow to see if that relieves my symptoms.

[Mother of Jibril]

It doesn't sound like hives then... so it's probably not an allergic reaction! What about keratosis pilaris? That's a flesh-colored rash with tiny raised spots that clusters on the arms and legs.

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One other quick thought... some kind of insect (scabies?). A dermatologist could take a scraping and probably figure it out pretty quickly

[angie-thomas52]

It doesn't sound like hives then... so it's probably not an allergic reaction! What about keratosis pilaris? That's a flesh-colored rash with tiny raised spots that clusters on the arms and legs.

Open Original Shared Link

One other quick thought... some kind of insect (scabies?). A dermatologist could take a scraping and probably figure it out pretty quickly

I know quite a bit about keratosis pilaris (I used to be an esthetician) and I'm fairly confident that it isn't that particular condition. I, at first, thought it may have been some sort of bug because it began after I was golfing on Father's Day with my family---but I wasn't sure if an insect bite, etc. would last this long.

Today I got one giant bump on my leg that was exactly like a hive, but then it went away and I didn't get anymore. It has now spread onto my behind (terrific, right?) so I'm starting to get concerned.

I'm sure everyone is wondering why I just don't go see a doctor and that is because I don't have any health insurance. I'm up to my eyeballs in medical debt due to the colonoscopies, endoscopies, etc. that I had to have w/o any insurance. I am trying to avoid going to the doctor, but I may have to just go : (

[Guest caz]

What about pityriasis rosea??

cheers caz

[rlbcabjm]

I too am dealing with a crazy rash on my arms. Mine are tiny red raised bumps that are forming a huge raised patch on both of my forearms and are now extending up past my elbows. They are extremely itchy. I don't have blisters that I can see, but when I scratch them I can feel a watery liquid. Even though it has raised bumps my skin feels slick like everything is burned together. I have had them since last Wednesday and no medicine is working on it. I suspected my daughter as having celiac and she was diagnosed with DH in May. I went gluten free with her to make it easier on her. We both ended up getting glutened last week. She has a few bumps, I have a ton. Any ideas what this could be. Thanks, Claudia

[Angels~Exist]

I am very pale and I have tan/brown rashes from the top of my arm to halfway to my elbow. They are round/oval raised patches. They don't itch. My doctor suggested that they may be a type of celiac rash.

[MissyJoy]

I know quite a bit about keratosis pilaris (I used to be an esthetician) and I'm fairly confident that it isn't that particular condition. I, at first, thought it may have been some sort of bug because it began after I was golfing on Father's Day with my family---but I wasn't sure if an insect bite, etc. would last this long.

Today I got one giant bump on my leg that was exactly like a hive, but then it went away and I didn't get anymore. It has now spread onto my behind (terrific, right?) so I'm starting to get concerned.

I'm sure everyone is wondering why I just don't go see a doctor and that is because I don't have any health insurance. I'm up to my eyeballs in medical debt due to the colonoscopies, endoscopies, etc. that I had to have w/o any insurance. I am trying to avoid going to the doctor, but I may have to just go : (

What if it isn't an insect bite, but its chiggers that you picked up while you were golfing? If you had to hunt for any balls in the woods or tall grass, it may be that they got on you and burried in your skin. I've had chiggers from hiking in the woods, and they cause a terrible itch. Its just a thought to consider. If you think it may be chiggers, I only know of one way to kill them - use fingernail polish on every little bump until they suffocate and die - I know its gross.....

[DreamWalker]

Aside from the hydrocortisone cream what else have you tried? Since it's flesh colored, it definitely doesn't sound like DH. Yet, I thought I'd mention this anyhow. Post celiac disease diagnosis, my GI told me to take benadryl when I broke out in a reddish blistery-looking, very itchy rash on my face. (Although, I was glutened the night before.) Anyhow, after about two and half weeks & no response to benadryl, I emailed the company (still new at the gluten-free thing and a bit naive) who told me they were unsure if the product was safe due to shared facilities. I stopped taking benadryl, switched to prednisone, and by week three the rash was noticeably better.

Although, yours doesn't sound like DH or an allergic reaction, when I was little I kept developing white rashes (very itchy) all over my arms, legs, etc in the summer. My grandmother took me to an allergist & as it turned out I was allergic to grass. The rashes were rather resistant to the creams I was prescribed. (Ah. Sorry. Too young to remember what their formal names were.) Yet, eventually, they'd subside & only returned if I played in the grass in shorts/short sleeves. Then they seemed to disappear until I was 19 & one summer I couldn't get the white rashes on my arms to leave for three months. Prednisone was the only thing that calmed them down.