Undiagnosed Skin Condition (PICS)
Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2011 8:39 pm
First of all, hello to everyone on these boards!
I'm a new member, and have come here for further advice and opinions. I'll give you a rundown of my story:
It all started when I went hunting last spring and ended up rubbing my arm against some poison ivy, and got it pretty bad up my whole arm. Standard topicals just weren't cutting it, so I finally got fed up and went to my doctor. He gave me a steroid shot in the arse, prescribed me a topical steroid cream, and Prednisone to take for a 3 week period until the poison ivy was gone.
I tell ya, it sure was nice watching that poison ivy literally diminish before my eyes after that treatment. About a week went by after it was pretty much cleared up, and then out of nowhere I started noticing small pustules appearing on my mid chest area. I figured somehow the poison ivy spread onto my chest, so I instantly started applying the topical steroid to that area. Only this time, it wasn't doing anything to help. If anything, it was making it worse. Not long after, I started getting the same symptoms on my face. I've never had (bad) acne in my life, and now I was experiencing what seemed like the worst case ever. Finally I admitted defeat and went back to my doctor. After looking over my chest and face, he instantly pointed out that this was no poison ivy anymore, but folliculitis.
He reassured me that this was a typical reaction to Prednisone, and could be cured up after a script of Doxycycline. Relieved, I went and got my antibiotics and took them for about a couple weeks. To my amazement, NOTHING was happening. If anything my symptoms were getting worse. So, I went back to my doc and explained my situation further. He was surprised that the antibiotics had no effect, and said the only other thing he knew that may help was a topical antibiotic, Mupirocin. I wasn't pleased that he wasn't sure what else to do besides use this topical, but nonetheless - I went and picked it up and gave it a go.
The Mupirocin seemed to help somewhat, but definitely was not a cure. Since then, I've been to 4 dermatologists, and have been on 2 different antibiotics with no success. I've tried to get a culture done but each derm I've seen passes my story off as if it's no big deal and a culture isn't necessary. SO. That's about when I decided that my wallet wasn't big enough to keep forking at money to these people that really have no idea what the hell they're talking about, nor are able to help me.
After all this was said and done, I did more and more searching on the web and came across info on Demodex mites. Originally looking at Keratosis Pilaris forums, is actually where I found the subject. I should also mention, I've done pretty rigorous treatment for KP as well, and that's never seemed to help my condition at all. The way that these mites were explained I thought for SURE this was what I had. It only made sense that when your immune system is diminished (Steroids in my case), that in turn the Demodex Mites take over. I felt the crawling sensation on my scalp and face. Not so much on my arms where it appears the worst, though.
I followed a SEA BUCKTHORN treatment, with the soap, shampoo, moisturizer, as well as taking 1000mg + Sea Buckthorn tablets internally everyday. It's been over a month now and I've seen very little improvement. The places that these spots bother me the most is over my arms, because it's so darn RED, BUMPY, and NOTICEABLE. Ugh, makes me really hate life- let me tell you. So I came across this site, and have been reading about a lot of success with DS products. I've included links to a few pictures of my arms and legs so you can get a better idea of what I'm dealing with here.
What I'd like an opinion on is if I might very well be dealing with a demodex infestation here, even though the Sea Buckthorn products aren't working as they should be? Maybe I need something more powerful? I'm hesitant to try any Borax treatments because the idea of ingesting that stuff scares the holy hell out of me. I'm more than willing to try DS products, but want some other opinions before I fork out more money.
I'm a new member, and have come here for further advice and opinions. I'll give you a rundown of my story:
It all started when I went hunting last spring and ended up rubbing my arm against some poison ivy, and got it pretty bad up my whole arm. Standard topicals just weren't cutting it, so I finally got fed up and went to my doctor. He gave me a steroid shot in the arse, prescribed me a topical steroid cream, and Prednisone to take for a 3 week period until the poison ivy was gone.
I tell ya, it sure was nice watching that poison ivy literally diminish before my eyes after that treatment. About a week went by after it was pretty much cleared up, and then out of nowhere I started noticing small pustules appearing on my mid chest area. I figured somehow the poison ivy spread onto my chest, so I instantly started applying the topical steroid to that area. Only this time, it wasn't doing anything to help. If anything, it was making it worse. Not long after, I started getting the same symptoms on my face. I've never had (bad) acne in my life, and now I was experiencing what seemed like the worst case ever. Finally I admitted defeat and went back to my doctor. After looking over my chest and face, he instantly pointed out that this was no poison ivy anymore, but folliculitis.
He reassured me that this was a typical reaction to Prednisone, and could be cured up after a script of Doxycycline. Relieved, I went and got my antibiotics and took them for about a couple weeks. To my amazement, NOTHING was happening. If anything my symptoms were getting worse. So, I went back to my doc and explained my situation further. He was surprised that the antibiotics had no effect, and said the only other thing he knew that may help was a topical antibiotic, Mupirocin. I wasn't pleased that he wasn't sure what else to do besides use this topical, but nonetheless - I went and picked it up and gave it a go.
The Mupirocin seemed to help somewhat, but definitely was not a cure. Since then, I've been to 4 dermatologists, and have been on 2 different antibiotics with no success. I've tried to get a culture done but each derm I've seen passes my story off as if it's no big deal and a culture isn't necessary. SO. That's about when I decided that my wallet wasn't big enough to keep forking at money to these people that really have no idea what the hell they're talking about, nor are able to help me.
After all this was said and done, I did more and more searching on the web and came across info on Demodex mites. Originally looking at Keratosis Pilaris forums, is actually where I found the subject. I should also mention, I've done pretty rigorous treatment for KP as well, and that's never seemed to help my condition at all. The way that these mites were explained I thought for SURE this was what I had. It only made sense that when your immune system is diminished (Steroids in my case), that in turn the Demodex Mites take over. I felt the crawling sensation on my scalp and face. Not so much on my arms where it appears the worst, though.
I followed a SEA BUCKTHORN treatment, with the soap, shampoo, moisturizer, as well as taking 1000mg + Sea Buckthorn tablets internally everyday. It's been over a month now and I've seen very little improvement. The places that these spots bother me the most is over my arms, because it's so darn RED, BUMPY, and NOTICEABLE. Ugh, makes me really hate life- let me tell you. So I came across this site, and have been reading about a lot of success with DS products. I've included links to a few pictures of my arms and legs so you can get a better idea of what I'm dealing with here.
What I'd like an opinion on is if I might very well be dealing with a demodex infestation here, even though the Sea Buckthorn products aren't working as they should be? Maybe I need something more powerful? I'm hesitant to try any Borax treatments because the idea of ingesting that stuff scares the holy hell out of me. I'm more than willing to try DS products, but want some other opinions before I fork out more money.