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Does Dh Hurt?

nettiebeads

By nettiebeads
in Dermatitis Herpetiformis

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nettiebeads Apprentice
nettiebeads
Posted

My boss's son has been having health problems for quite awhile, and specifically a rash with blisters that hurt that have not responded well to any treatment. I'm suspecting DH, and my boss is starting to think that too. I don't have DH but do have celiac, so I'm wondering if this could be DH? Any opinions?

TIA

Annette

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gf49erfan Rookie
gf49erfan
Posted
My boss's son has been having health problems for quite awhile, and specifically a rash with blisters that hurt that have not responded well to any treatment. I'm suspecting DH, and my boss is starting to think that too. I don't have DH but do have celiac, so I'm wondering if this could be DH? Any opinions?

TIA

Annette

Annette,

I had DH with the blisters and the major burning feeling, DH usually is on knee's , elbows, buttocks, other places to like belt line and scalp.

I had it for years and doctors thought it was allergic reaction to soap or deodorant, so he gave me Dapsone, which I took for years, not knowing anything about Celiac.

I sure do remember the burning and itching, don'y miss it at all, but do remember.

I'm recently diagonsed with Celiac, after about a billion doctors.

I would recommend a gluten-free diet, I just started, so it's going to be frustrating sometimes, but this site here is a blessing for me

Allen

nettiebeads Apprentice
nettiebeads
Posted
  • Author
Annette,

I had DH with the blisters and the major burning feeling, DH usually is on knee's , elbows, buttocks, other places to like belt line and scalp.

I had it for years and doctors thought it was allergic reaction to soap or deodorant, so he gave me Dapsone, which I took for years, not knowing anything about Celiac.

I sure do remember the burning and itching, don'y miss it at all, but do remember.

I'm recently diagonsed with Celiac, after about a billion doctors.

I would recommend a gluten-free diet, I just started, so it's going to be frustrating sometimes, but this site here is a blessing for me

Allen

thanks. The next time my boss's d-i-l is in the office, I'll pull up some pics of DH and see if they look similar.

Annette

jnifred Explorer
jnifred
Posted

just to second what was already posted.....YES it hurts........I had it when pregnant with my last child but my rhuemy doc, derm doc etc....couldn't figure it out. They thought about biopsying it, but for some reason didn't.....so it took me a while longer to figure out the gluten link......anyway......it was very painful......I am now convinced it was DH.......good luck!!

Fiddle-Faddle Community Regular
Fiddle-Faddle
Posted

It depends where the pain is. My DH-type rash hurt where the blisters were--itching and burning like crazy.

But if the pain is not on the surface, but underneath, (like a pinched nerve, but running the whole length of the nerve, say the whole arm if it's on the arm), then itmay be shingles. I've had shingles, and have to say that the rash part of it can look fairly similar to severe DH, but when I had a DH-type rash (it was never officially diagnosed), it was totally symmetrical on both arms. When I had shingles, it went from my neck all the way down one arm (along one of the spinal nerve pathways).

Either way--what a bummer. :(

nettiebeads Apprentice
nettiebeads
Posted
  • Author
It depends where the pain is. My DH-type rash hurt where the blisters were--itching and burning like crazy.

But if the pain is not on the surface, but underneath, (like a pinched nerve, but running the whole length of the nerve, say the whole arm if it's on the arm), then itmay be shingles. I've had shingles, and have to say that the rash part of it can look fairly similar to severe DH, but when I had a DH-type rash (it was never officially diagnosed), it was totally symmetrical on both arms. When I had shingles, it went from my neck all the way down one arm (along one of the spinal nerve pathways).

Either way--what a bummer. :(

Ooh, Ouchie wow wow! Thanks everyone; I'll talk to my boss; she's pretty much convinced that it must be celiac/DH since the drs in his area are without a clue as to what is causing his problems. (Now there's a big surprise!). Funny, but not.

Annette

  • 3 months later...
Kristen R Newbie
Kristen R
Posted

From what I've read DH is mostly itchy (though I may be wrong about this)--shingles, (Varicella Zoster Virus) however, is extremely painful and I believe may be mistaken for DH by some celiacs. Shingles only becomes itchy when scabs begin to heal. Shingles is also characterized by extreme sensitivity to touch, and is often accompanied by a strong burning sensation. If not treated it can lead to Prosperthetic Neuralgia, which is an extremely painful condition that is chronic until the underlying cause (usually celiac disease or another food allergy, HIV or cancer) is treated. Shingles usually appears as a band (the name is a derivative of 'shingle', or latin for 'belt') on the arm or torso, and initially appears on only one side of the body before spreading to other areas. The first day it is not raised, but after a day or two it becomes raised before pus-filled blisters develop. The blisters remain for at least a week (sometimes a month or longer!) before they break and the skin starts to scab. I have several scars on my body from the outbreaks that I've had, which have gotten progressively worse.

I am finally realizing that I have celiac disease. My sister does, and after I developed shingles for the second time recently I knew something was very wrong with me. I am fairly young, and shingles is rare in people my age (early 30s). I googled celiac and shingles and came up with plenty of hits.

Shingles can be treated with Cyclovax, which comes in topical and oral forms. However, if the outbreaks are caused by gluten allergy, then the shingles will not go away, as it is occurs due to the immune system being compromised. As we poison our bodies with gluten, they eventually break down, and development of shingles is the final point of the 'breaking down' stage. If shingles is recognized within the first day or two (the second time I knew exactly what it was) and is treated with cyclovax immediately, the outbreak is likely to be much shorter (but the rash will still take at least two weeks to go through its cycle).

I have yet to have an endoscopy to confirm that I am celiac, and cannot go gluten-free until I have it done. I plan to cut way down on my gluten intake, though, lest I develop another outbreak of shingles. I cannot bear the thought!

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Fiddle-Faddle Community Regular
Fiddle-Faddle
Posted

Shingles always follows whatever SINGLE nerve in which the chicken pox virus has settled and gone dormant. It's not always the trunk.

I did have postherpetic neuralgia--it went away on its own in about a year.

Also, unlike shingles, DH tends to be symmetric--you will see exactly the same number and location of clusters on each side of the body, or on each arm, or wherever it hits, it will be identical on each side. Very weird, isn't it?

In my case, shingles and the following postherpetic neuralgia had nothing to do with gluten.

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