Thank you to everyone who commented in this forum - it kept me sane through the 11 weeks my PR lasted! At times, it felt like my body would never be free of red scaly spots, but all of the sudden (at about the 9-10 week mark) they began to turn brown, spread out, and then disappear - now, you can barely tell my skin was ever effected. Only slight shadows of a few of the last spots remain.
The psychological effects of this rash, for me, were much worse than the physical ones. It was misdiagnosed twice as a fungal rash, and although I had my own suspicions at about 6 weeks that it was PR and mentioned this to 2 doctors, neither were familiar with it and prescribed a fungal wash/advised me not to moisturize, and that actually made the PR worse. Finally, a dermatologist was able to see me, and knew right away it was PR.
My advice - if you have this rash, try not to panic, and stay off of Google (if you're prone to anxiety like me). I didn't have the classic herald patch (that I know of), no significant viral illness I remember before I broke out, and my rash spread very slowly over the first four weeks, becoming worst at about the 8 week mark. I did feel "off", achy, and had a sore throat for most of the duration of the rash - maybe because the rash is suspected to be cause by a virus? My spots were classically red, scaly, concentrated on my stomach and back, and did follow Langer's lines, but some also became purpuric (had little broken blood vessels in them) usually right before they started to disappear. These petechiae were what caused me so much anxiety (they can be a sign of leukemia or lymphoma), but doctors reassured me this was just because of the viral nature of the rash. So bottom line - try not to panic, and know that it will eventually clear up! Take vitamin C and zinc to boost immunity, get maybe 5-10 minutes of sun a day on the rash, try to keep stress levels as low as possible, and moisturize (I used Ceravae brand lotion)! All of the above helped me in the end - to all suffering from this right now, hang in there!
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Thank you to everyone who commented in this forum - it kept me sane through the 11 weeks my PR lasted! At times, it felt like my body would never be free of red scaly spots, but all of the sudden (at about the 9-10 week mark) they began to turn brown, spread out, and then disappear - now, you can barely tell my skin was ever effected. Only slight shadows of a few of the last spots remain.
The psychological effects of this rash, for me, were much worse than the physical ones. It was misdiagnosed twice as a fungal rash, and although I had my own suspicions at about 6 weeks that it was PR and mentioned this to 2 doctors, neither were familiar with it and prescribed a fungal wash/advised me not to moisturize, and that actually made the PR worse. Finally, a dermatologist was able to see me, and knew right away it was PR.
My advice - if you have this rash, try not to panic, and stay off of Google (if you're prone to anxiety like me). I didn't have the classic herald patch (that I know of), no significant viral illness I remember before I broke out, and my rash spread very slowly over the first four weeks, becoming worst at about the 8 week mark. I did feel "off", achy, and had a sore throat for most of the duration of the rash - maybe because the rash is suspected to be cause by a virus? My spots were classically red, scaly, concentrated on my stomach and back, and did follow Langer's lines, but some also became purpuric (had little broken blood vessels in them) usually right before they started to disappear. These petechiae were what caused me so much anxiety (they can be a sign of leukemia or lymphoma), but doctors reassured me this was just because of the viral nature of the rash. So bottom line - try not to panic, and know that it will eventually clear up! Take vitamin C and zinc to boost immunity, get maybe 5-10 minutes of sun a day on the rash, try to keep stress levels as low as possible, and moisturize (I used Ceravae brand lotion)! All of the above helped me in the end - to all suffering from this right now, hang in there!
August 13, 2016 - 2:37pmThis Comment
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