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Could This Be Dh?

loomis

By loomis
in Dermatitis Herpetiformis

Recommended Posts

loomis Rookie
loomis
Posted

Hi

I have itchy red bumps that often occur symmetrically on my elbows, calves, forearms and lower back. They do ooze when scrathed and get blistery sometimes.

My doctor says it is excema. My son has been having very oily stools with poor growth and i have been wondering if he has celiacs so i have also started to wonder about my rash.

The rash definately is worse if i take hot showers or baths. Anyway i can usually (not always) prevent the rash from occuring by using eucerin lotion with alpha hydroxy after every shower and i can get the rash to go away by using 1% hydrocortosone.

If it was DH would these drugs not work???

Thanks so much!

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Nancym Enthusiast
Nancym
Posted

That does sound ezcema, but ezcema is also something that can be caused by gluten. Does your skin peel after you've had an outbreak? Mine does. Also moisturizing seems to help my ezcema too. I don't really get it full blown any longer but I'll get the itching and peeling that used to come after the red oozing bumps. For some reason, I always get it in late summer... Weird!

lovegrov Collaborator
lovegrov
Posted

Hard to diagnose by Internet, but those treatments don't work on DH.

richard

loomis Rookie
loomis
Posted
  • Author
Hard to diagnose by Internet, but those treatments don't work on DH.

richard

Great to know. i won't worry then until i have a better reason.

thanks everyone for the replies....i don't think it peels but maybe...

georgie Enthusiast
georgie
Posted

My rash appeared this year and Dr said it was excema. It was in exactly the same spot on each leg which I thought was weird. It would itch and itch and had red dots and a thick area of skin. I didn't think of DH at all - hadn't heard of it - and then when I read more I started to wonder.

Anyway after 6 months gluten-free - the rash has gone ! The skin still itches a bit there - but not as badly. Does that sound like DH ? Would a skin biopsy now still be accurate ?

Guest Villanfam
Guest Villanfam
Posted

You can look up pics. of both, online. I have DH, but I get it on my fingers and toes (weird) At first I thought that I had gotten herpes somehow, but I had never had a manicure or pedicure before in my life. I knew when they were coming on because my toes would itch and swell a little and then the bump came, a small, red, raised, bump. It hurt and I'm glad I don't get them anymore, except when I get glutenated :( .

BTW, my son who is aslo + for celiac disease, used to have Roscea and Excema. No more though :D

Courtney

georgie Enthusiast
georgie
Posted
You can look up pics. of both, online.
I did but mine seemed just a small area compared to the pics I saw where people were covered all over. Can you just have a small area of DH ?

Today my friends daughter came to visit. Multiple food allergies. But one thing that is annoying her is the huge 'excema'. Can you still have DH even if you are gluten-free ?

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Budew Rookie
Budew
Posted

They called it eczama for me too. Cutting out white potato helped. I also got an ointment triamcinocline

it seems to help the thick skin annoyance. It also got a bit better by only using vasoline as a moisturizer.

I had the finger and toe problem several years ago. Actually a cortizone shot helped clear that up. When I think back, way back then I as baking a lot. I wonder if it was the trigger. When I stopped baking I stopped having that type of rash.

I discovered that detergents effect it too. I now only use bleach and vinegar for cleaning. I don't know if it has helped.

Electra Enthusiast
Electra
Posted
Hi

I have itchy red bumps that often occur symmetrically on my elbows, calves, forearms and lower back. They do ooze when scrathed and get blistery sometimes.

My doctor says it is excema. My son has been having very oily stools with poor growth and i have been wondering if he has celiacs so i have also started to wonder about my rash.

The rash definately is worse if i take hot showers or baths. Anyway i can usually (not always) prevent the rash from occuring by using eucerin lotion with alpha hydroxy after every shower and i can get the rash to go away by using 1% hydrocortosone.

If it was DH would these drugs not work???

Thanks so much!

I'm not a dr. by any means but I have two sons who have exzema very badly and one daughter who has DH and EXZEMA NEVER oozes on my children or has big blisters (at least in our case). I has exzama when I was a child and get it on my hands when I use certain types of soap to wash dishes and it is always teeny tiny little blisters that if scratched have so little fluid that I would never describe it as oozing. I would definitely say it's DH (from my experience and having seen both). If it looks like bug bites that ooze or even a mild case of the chicken pox then it's DH (AGAIN IN MY OPINION)!! I would definitely get a skin biopsy if you are unsure. It couldn't hurt right?

Electra Enthusiast
Electra
Posted
I'm not a dr. by any means but I have two sons who have exzema very badly and one daughter who has DH and EXZEMA NEVER oozes on my children or has big blisters (at least in our case). I has exzama when I was a child and get it on my hands when I use certain types of soap to wash dishes and it is always teeny tiny little blisters that if scratched have so little fluid that I would never describe it as oozing. I would definitely say it's DH (from my experience and having seen both). If it looks like bug bites that ooze or even a mild case of the chicken pox then it's DH (AGAIN IN MY OPINION)!! I would definitely get a skin biopsy if you are unsure. It couldn't hurt right?

Oh and yes you can get DH on just small areas at a time. My daughter gets one or two bumps on her cheak sometimes and then a couple on her legs but never like the pics on line. They even tried to say they were flea bites at one time but we have NEVER had fleas and no one else in the house has any of these bumps so I wasn't buying it. Plus they couldn't find the holes that flea bites normally have and my daughters bumps had fluid so they said she had chicken pox even though she had already had the vaccine, but they never went away. Then I found Celiac and read about DH and when I tested positive I knew my daughter definitely had DH!! She can't possibly still have chicken pox after 6 mths LOL!!

marciab Enthusiast
marciab
Posted

I used to get tiny little bumps on my abdomen that I didn't know were there until they started itching like crazy. The always had little blistery tops and would continue to ooze and itch for several days or weeks at a time. And then just go away on their own. Until the next time ....

I got one of these the other day after licking an envelope, but only one.

I wonder if the pictures of DH are of the worst case scenarios ? I understand that they typically do that in medical journals.

BTW Getting hot like in the sun or shower will always make a rash show up worse. Marcia

Budew Rookie
Budew
Posted

Could this be a nickel allergy? On your belly makes me wonder about closures around the waist. The sore take a long time to completely go away. I put 2 and 2 together when I got button down jeans. The sores were right were the buttons touched. I have gtten more sensitive since going gluten-free.

Guest Villanfam
Guest Villanfam
Posted

I think for some individuals the DH still doesn't clear up (or not completely) even after going gluten free. I also was getting this weird rash in my armpit. It appeared right before Dx when I was eating

marciab Enthusiast
marciab
Posted

Budew,

I think you were asking me about the rash on my abdomen ???

Mine would be span about a 6" x 10 " area of my abdomen, centered around my belly button. But only would contain about 10 - 20 bumps. I never thought to see if they were in a symetrical pattern. This was just another of my "normal" CFS symptoms. :blink:

But, if it had been my jeans I would still have it. I have a nickel allergy and can only wear 14kt gold earrings.

I was never tested for celiac, so I don't know that this was DH. I've been trying to figure that out myself. What makes me so suspicious is the blistery top, oozing, itching and the fact that they are gone now.

Marcia

georgie Enthusiast
georgie
Posted
It itched like crazy!!! It was patchy and then it started spreading down my armpit and then I noticed small red bumps (very small). After going gluten free, it's gone, but the skin there is still a little thicker. I still have no idea what it was, but it's gone and I'm glad!!

That sounds like mine. The red bumps were small and like red pimples and they didn't ooze. But itched like crazy and perfectly symmetrical. My blood test for Celiac was negative but now I have had that rash I wonder if that make it a positive ? The skin is still thickened there - but the rash has gone after going gluten-free. Can I still get a biopsy ?

  • 2 weeks later...
flutewise Newbie
flutewise
Posted
Budew,

I think you were asking me about the rash on my abdomen ???

Mine would be span about a 6" x 10 " area of my abdomen, centered around my belly button. But only would contain about 10 - 20 bumps. I never thought to see if they were in a symetrical pattern. This was just another of my "normal" CFS symptoms. :blink:

But, if it had been my jeans I would still have it. I have a nickel allergy and can only wear 14kt gold earrings.

I was never tested for celiac, so I don't know that this was DH. I've been trying to figure that out myself. What makes me so suspicious is the blistery top, oozing, itching and the fact that they are gone now.

Marcia

flutewise Newbie
flutewise
Posted

Hi, I am reading here and clicking on some symptoms that myself and my 2 children have been having that are unexplained. I get the red bumps in lines right along the top of my calves and they itch like crazy. i have very dry skin as well and an all natural cream with peprmint in it has relieved it but I have to use it regularly. The dry skin is all over.

My Mom has psoriatic arthritis in her hands and feet and there are lots of our family with excema....my kids included. I think that i hve celiacs and that my son has the beginnings ad I know my daughter has food allergies but I am not sure about celiacs with her.

At any rate, I wanted to talk also about the belly rach.. I get that as my version of hives when I eat something offensive after a period of abstinence.. it stays only till my body clears our of the substance but it itches a lot.

Here's to a new year full of lifestyle changes and new information to get us all healthy!

Denise... undiagnosed

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