About five years ago I got a weird patchy red rash (itchy!) on the sides of both of my legs near my calves. Despite my doctor's best efforts with plenty of corticosteroid creams, etc. it just has never gone away. Finally, about two months ago, he put me on prednisone and it went completely away! However, the second I stopped the prednisone, it not only came back with a vengeance but I also got a terrible rash on the inside of my arms from my wrists up to my armpits and also on the backs on my hands and randomly up the back up my arm...this rash is just tons of little bumps that itch soooo bad. I went to a dermatologist who is trying to convince me that I have eczema, but this is too crazy to just be eczema. I have a friend with keratosis pilaris and another with pityriasis rosea and these rashes look much more like either of those than like eczema...it looks nothing like eczema... and also have a family history that includes both lupus and sarcoidosis but not eczema. When I first got the rash 5 years ago I had been exposed to a cat with ringworm and was also living in Louisiana when the Hurricane came through, so there was a lot of bacteria/fungi, etc. I really feel like this new dermatologist isn't really listening to me. I keep telling her that antihistamines don't work for me and she has insisted that I take Xyzal and some other heavy antihistamine anyway...I feel like they make me itch WORSE. I used Coconut Oil on my legs last night and it seemed to help soothe the itching a little bit, but I can't keep going on like this. The itch is so bad it's interfering with my job. I can't sit still, I can't sleep...I itch so bad all the time that I can't concentrate. Help?
posted on
Thu, 13 Mar 2014