It’s been a long time since I have posted (I think).
I have a rash spreading all over my body. It started on one side of the face (stroke was ruled out) and now seems to be spreading where clothes has touched my body. It doesn’t seem likely that its heat involved in that California has been having one of the coolest Spring/Summer in the 42 years I have lived here. On my torso, the skin is turning red - not much in the way of bumps — and too large an area to blame shingles. I don’t remember whether I’ve ever had chicken pox anyway.
The only time this has happened before was in 2018 right after I was first diagnosed with CLL — which still is supposedly quite mild. I might guess stress — but then again the past year has been the most stressful year of my life.
Has this happened to someone else? I have been taking 2x180mg fexofenadine (antihistamine) to try and contain it - but its only been a day.
well, if anyone has any insight, please let me know. If not, I wish you all a good year. Thanks again.
Jon
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Jonquiljo
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No swelling or pain. Just red and itchy. Not really blistery — a few small bumps. Nothing remarkable. Antihistamines seem to help a little , but it may take time. I don’t understand what is going on.
Thanks for the advice, but pharmacists in the US don't see patients. I cantget any medical opinion. All I can get are appointments weeks out — late June. An emergency room will do nothing. When I had this 5 years ago, no ER would do anything but bill me.
If your rash is blistery and one sided or wraps in bands on torso, I might still suspect shingles. Regardless of whether its shingles or not, or related to cll or cll meds or not, seeing a dermatologist might be your best plan.
Rashes can be notoriously difficult to diagnose the type of rash and the cause. Rashes can be difficult to treat as well. The dermatologist need not always know the cause of the rash to treat it. Steroid creams and but one option.
I would report it to your cll doctor as well, but a dermatologist is likely more skilled at actually treating it.
Not very blistery and in large areas. I have had shingrix vaccine and also seen pictures of shingles rashes. What I have is more red and itchy than anything else. A few bumps -not not like in picture of shingles I’ve seen.
..is a very good website to look up specific skin conditions in order to compare images with your rash, not that I recommend self diagnosis, just that it is a useful resource, eg. To look at cellulitis rashes
The usual question is always whether something has changed in..
- your diet
- your laundry liquids
- your washing soap/shampoo/etc
- any skin abrasion at the starting place of the rash
hi Jonquillo. I had sudden severe hives all over my body! Terribly itchy. But definitely hives rash some round some oval some stripe shaped. For two months. Body was literally buzzing!!! Turns out I have lupus on top of my CLL and was also found to have soy, wheat, milk and egg white food allergies, and ragweed and Timothy grass as well. This has been a particularly bad year for pollen all over. Might look those two places. Is the rash hot? Do you have a fever? Is it raised or flat ? Appear more in creases of skin? And as mentioned above, anything in your life changed - detergent? New bedding? New animal, new soap/shampoo? Water issues? Mold issues? Etc etc etc. i wish you luck. I stopped all the allergens (can't even eat foods manufactured in a facility that even processes any of my allergy foods!) and i still periodically have rash hives that pop up and then go away on their own and not sure where or why they are there. Rashes are hard to diagnose. I suggest rheumatologist. Allergist. Dermatologist. Leukemia doctor. Good luck and let us know !!
Everyone's mentioned great things, I'll add I once had a mixed herpes zoster/simplex rash over my back. So it looked really odd, and not like anything else. With clothes touching, I wonder if you inadvertently used *too much* laundry soap/conditioner, or it didn't rinse fully. Even in the shower, not fully rinsing if you happened to be rushed.
This happened to me 5 years ago — right after I was diagnosed with CLL. It went away after 5-10 days. I took 2x180mg Allegra back then and it seemed to help.
The strange thing is that it only happens where clothes has been. If clothes have been tighter (t-shirt for example) - itis worse and red. Vary few bumps — just red and itchy. I wore a long sleeve t-shirt yesterday and even though the arms were loose - the portion at the elbow and inner arm is red and itchy.
I send my clothes out to be washed. The woman who washes them says that she always washes them separately and with lots of water.
No Dr will see me right away. The best I can get is two weeks from now. A course of prednisone would fix this, but I can’t get one.
I think it's in the clothes. I would buy a whole week's worth of new cotton Ts, underwear, socks, and jeans and NOT send them out to be washed and see if your rash abates.
If you're sending the clothes out to be washed, you don't know what's happening to them, what the washer/dryer may have contained before your clothes. If this is the solution, I might buy a washer and dryer and wash clothes myself.
I agree with you, but I’ve been sending my clothes out to be washed for well over thirty years. This happened once before - so A friend washed my clothes once and I got the rash under control with antihistamines. After that I went back to the same place where I have been washing my clothes. I’ve used this person for about 10 years.
I was fine for 5 years - and it happened again 2 days ago. All I can say is that I had one bad batch and … boom. But I still am confused about what is happening here. Any thoughts? Thx.
I think lexie has the idea - if detergent and water hasn't changed, something got washed before your clothes and left continuing residue in the washer that is now "infecting" your clothes. Curtains would make a lot of sense, but it's not the only washable thing that could leave residue that would make you miserable...
Since my wife died a year ago, I order restaurant food delivered. I tend to order the same thing for weeks or months at a time. I don’t think its that.
In college my roommate washed curtains prior to my washing and drying a load of clothes. After dressing and driving to work I had to return home, itchy and a spreading rash where ever my clothes covered. The curtains were fiberglass blend and the fibers were all over my clothes. It was a lesson that I lived by, never using public laundries because not everyone uses common sense about what they load into machines.
Just started down this same road two weeks ago.... might be TEC. See my post here for details: healthunlocked.com/cllsuppo...
In my case it presented as red and very itchy skin. Some small bumps eventually, but only after a few days and associated itching. Started in groin (I mistook it originally for athletes' foot / jock itch) but spread to armpits, back, hips and thighs, and hands.
I needed a strong antihistamine (hyrdoxizine in my case) and a topical steroid (I ended up with clobetacol) applied 3x/day to get it under control. These were effective, just a pain to administer. Took a few days to kick in.
Unfortunately, I stopped usage after the rash and itching died down, only to have them reappear in new areas, mostly on hands and inner thighs. I am back on the medications. We'll see.
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