Did anyone find a secondary condition after Sweet's diagnoses?

[Danae_mae]

I'm just wondering if anyone has found a secondary condition after they had been diagnosed. Reason being I feel so crappy during this outbreak. I haven't seen my dr (dermatologist) yet. It takes over a week to get in to see her and while she diagnosed me with Sweet's and also Bechet my other dr wasn't on board with the Bechet's . The other specialist (rheumatologist) thinks it's better to not have a specific diagnoses. That I don't have a bad enough outbreak of anything specific. I actually have including blood work that is consistently abnormal. I am too tired to name all my symptoms and I feel like giving up on all Dr.s as I have had poor luck for many years now. Any advice on how I could approach my doctor and get help. Should I even care about a second diagnoses? I just feel terrible.

[Shell567 Administrator Sweet's Syndrome UK]

Hi Danae,

Neutrophilic dermatoses (ND) such as Sweet's syndrome (SS) and Behcet's can sometimes be difficult to diagnose. On rare occasions, someone can develop more than one form of ND, or there can be an overlap in symptoms between different forms of ND. When this happens, a general ND diagnosis is given, or the patient is diagnosed with the closest match.

In up to 50% of cases there is no underlying cause for SS - the figure was 71%, but more recent research now states 50%.

When there is a trigger, one of the commonest is infection, and in 15-20% of cases, SS develops secondary to some form of cancer. In your case, the latter has probably already been ruled out.

SS can develop secondary to autoimmune conditions, and inflammatory bowel disease, e.g. Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. However, most of the time, this doesn't happen. Also, as SS can potentially develop secondary to so many different autoimmune conditions, it would be difficult for me to tell you which need to be considered. Have your doctors already ruled out certain conditions?

Here's a list of SS triggers: helpforsweetssyndromeuk.wor...

SS itself can cause lots of different symptoms, so there's a good chance that many of your symptoms are directly related to SS. Here's a list of symptoms: helpforsweetssyndromeuk.wor...

Danae, I'm afraid that it's difficult for me to advise you on this matter. Sometimes, someone can have problems with SS for many years, but there is no trigger or underlying health condition. Also, any symptoms that a person develops may or may not be related to SS.

Michelle.

[Shell567 Administrator Sweet's Syndrome UK in reply to Shell567]

I've had SS for over 20 years. I also have the autoimmune condition, rheumatoid arthritis, but in my case, there is no connection between the two. However, I do have two triggers - infection and skin damage.

[Shell567 Administrator Sweet's Syndrome UK in reply to Shell567]

Danae, what medication are you taking?