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How Does Dh Look Different From Excema?

Mrs. M.

By Mrs. M.
in Dermatitis Herpetiformis

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Mrs. M. Apprentice
Mrs. M.
Posted

I was diagnosed with celiac disease a couple weeks ago. I have been reading about this condition and trying to figure out whether my 8-year old daughter might have it too. She has frequent stomach aches and also has a very itchy rash on her elbows and knees. She has complained of itchy knees for the past year. The rash is red and bumpy. I have always thought it was excema. Could it be DH? How can you tell? Is there a specific distinguishing appearance to DH?

Thanks for any advice.

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zippitty5 Newbie
zippitty5
Posted

I was diagnosed with celiac disease a couple weeks ago. I have been reading about this condition and trying to figure out whether my 8-year old daughter might have it too. She has frequent stomach aches and also has a very itchy rash on her elbows and knees. She has complained of itchy knees for the past year. The rash is red and bumpy. I have always thought it was excema. Could it be DH? How can you tell? Is there a specific distinguishing appearance to DH?

Thanks for any advice.

Sounds like a classic case of DH

Symptoms

Symptoms of dermatitis herpetiformis include:

zippitty5 Newbie
zippitty5
Posted

I feel for you and your young daughter. Get her tested.

eatmeat4good Enthusiast
eatmeat4good
Posted

It isn't always symmetrical, but red, itchy, bumpy and over the joint areas make her rash sound very consistent with DH.

They should be able to biopsy it next to the rash, but the biopsy isn't always positive even if it is DH.

You could try avoiding gluten and see if she improves, but it takes very strict avoidance of gluten and cross contamination too. So you wouldn't want to take the burger off the bun for example.

Some people have to limit iodine. Thyca.com can tell you how.

My son healed without limiting iodine, but I did not.

There are sites with pictures, but some of them are so severe that you can miss that you have a milder form. DH has many presentations from the descriptions here, but the one you gave is a "classic" DH rash description.

Best of luck to you both.

squirmingitch Veteran
squirmingitch
Posted

I agree with zippity & eatmeat.

Rushmore Newbie
Rushmore
Posted

I was just going to ask the same thing. One dr told me it was Dh and told me he thought I had celiac. He was a dr at a walk in clinic. So then I went to another dr and she said it was excema.(sp). I have had this rash for about 10 months on my lower right leg now two above my knee and some on my arm. My stomach problems are still present. The same dr told me it was thyroid along with excema. I guess now I have my mind set that I have celiac since my thyroid test came back just fine. Do you think it is Dh?

squirmingitch Veteran
squirmingitch
Posted

Here is one test to find out if it is allergy related. If you take say Benadryl or an antihistamine & the rash goes away then it is not dh. Although antihistamines may give some relief from the itching of dh they will not make the dh go away.

DH is the itchiest thing you've ever known. It is relentless. I do believe a person could literally go insane from the itching of it. If dh could be bottled it could easily be used to torture ANYONE into telling state secrets. It could be used as torture on prisoners of war.

Could you post some photos of it?

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Ryniev Apprentice
Ryniev
Posted

Here is one test to find out if it is allergy related. If you take say Benadryl or an antihistamine & the rash goes away then it is not dh. Although antihistamines may give some relief from the itching of dh they will not make the dh go away.

DH is the itchiest thing you've ever known. It is relentless. I do believe a person could literally go insane from the itching of it. If dh could be bottled it could easily be used to torture ANYONE into telling state secrets. It could be used as torture on prisoners of war.

Could you post some photos of it?

That's how they suspected what mine was. After going through benedryl, allegra (I was already taking Zyrtec for other allergies) they gave me a drug called Hydroxyzine that was supposed to help me "sleep through the itchiness" all it did was keep me awake still itchy and sedated. Also two rounds of prednisone which did NOTHING either. Steroid creams too.

I've had eczema all my life and this is much, much worse. I think after 2.5 weeks I've started to feel a little relief. I've been so tired the last 7 months, I feel like I've aged 5 years.

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