Hi, I had a run of illnesses all clustered together: I severely injured my back, got cystitis on the same day and then, in the course of trying to treat that took Codeine which brought on an attack of Sphincter of Oddi. These are severely painful and I needed a Buscopan injection from an OOH surgery. Possibly because of the severe back pain and having to sleep sitting up on the sofa (I'm still on it, although lying down, 4 weeks later!) I couldn't heal the cystitis and it took 3 courses of antibiotics to do it, but even now, I still have a 'twitchy' bladder and irritation, so it doesn't feel quite right. On top of this I have some kind of eye infection/rash which won't clear up either.
The end result of this cluster-f*** of complaints was I was taking a very limited dose (no more than twice a day) of OTC Ibuprofen for a few days, which doesn't agree with me (my body doesn't like NSAIDS), and I was infrequently using Voltarol gel which I had been assured by the out of hours doc "wouldn't upset my tummy"). I foolishly used the Voltarol gel on my Achilles Tendonitis and bingo! day later I have a return (I hadn't had it in 4 years) of my Urticaria on my ankles. Only something was wrong with it - it just kept getting worse and worse and spreading up my legs. I got an urgent doctor's appt' because I thought this has to be a drug reaction. She drew on me so I could monitor its creep and sent me off with steroids. This is my first day of taking them and it does seem to have worked, in that it's dropped the severe itching and the swollen water-retention pain, however, what I thought was urticaria has now gone purple and I have two large purple patches on my legs, which Dr Google's images suggest is a purpura rash and most probably, by looking at it, Vasculitis.
I still think this is probably a drug reaction. But I assume it is autoimmune in nature and I've never had vasculitis before. I don't know whether I should relax, as the steroids will take care of it and it's probably just a one-of thing, or whether I should see a doc to have the diagnosis confirmed, in case the rash does go away but I was the only person who saw it and therefore 'knows' it was vasculitis.
I apologise for the long-winded story, but I needed to give some context so you know this didn't come out of the blue. If it is drug related, am I safe to assume the steroids will fix it and that I can leave my body to heal it, or do I need to consult with someone in case my (5 day, 8 tablets a day) regime of Prednisolone is not appropriate? Any advice most gratefully received. I HATE going to the docs and I seem to have moved in there recently, but if I do need to go for my long-term health I'd rather bite the bullet. Many thanks!
P.S. Will this damage clear up as it heals or will I be left with scars, because it looks horrendous?!