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I have a small,2cm target lesion on my skin at my right elbow.

Posted , 4 users are following.

jay63046
jay63046

I'm 72, male, a retired DO GP. This round spot came up about a week ago

The only symptom at the site is a little bit of itch, but I discount it because I have numerous other lesions due to Lichen simplex chronicus, and they cause fairy are areas of itch surrounding any scabbed or papular lesions. I am not I'll at present, but have had a really difficult six months with vague symptoms, low blood pressure, dizziness, and an episode of acute heart failure precipitated by a severe hypoglycemic attack.

1 like, 7 replies

7 Replies

  • linda94703
    linda94703 jay63046

    Posted

    Hope you will get the help you need, as a physician you are aware how difficult it can be to answer all medical situations. The body is a funny thing and even with modern medicine there is still so much that can't be answered or treated...good luck to you. I hope you will be feeling better soon..

    • jay63046
      jay63046 linda94703

      Posted

      Thanks for wishing me well. You're the only person to write to me directly. Funny thing is that at the present time I have no discomfy

      I've been treating my skin with triamcinolone for a couple months with good success. I'd had a rash that looked like serious abrasions on my legs and arms with individual sores on my shoulders and upper arms. Now I have small individual lesions kind of sparsely over my arms and legs. I was uncomfortable going out in shorts initially.

      I've had the rash for10 months and it's almost gone. My rash was diagnosed as Lichen simplex chronicus by biopsy. Then my target bruise showed up last week or so. I'm beginning to wonder if the Lyme disease diagnosis (POS titer) is the actual cause of my Lichen simplex.

      Thanks again.

    • Nancy_K_B
      Nancy_K_B jay63046

      Posted

      Oh, oh, but I forgot to add that I still have the LBBB which requires that I take a diuretic for the edema if not taking the lisinopril.  That was okay for a while - all's well on the energy and ankles front.... and then I discovered that i must have this lichen thing. 

      OH, So how apologetic my doctor was when he found out. Did you know that some diuretics can exacerbate lichen? something about sulfa I think he said. anyway, now i'm on another one and feel fine. Well this humidity in North Carolina is really a bear. I can't work in my garden worth a dang so I guess it's not quite worked out yet.  BUT I sometimes think getting this lichen recognized has been a blessing in disguise... I have become super aware of what it takes to be truly healthy as an anti-aging tactic. I'll never underestimate the value vitamins an minerals again!  

    • jay63046
      jay63046 Nancy_K_B

      Posted

      And I've never found anyvalue in vitamins for me, thanks for coming back.

      I take propranolol for my heart, and gave for 40 years. My GP wants to take it from me, but my heart just goes crazy with rhythm and I get panicky again.

      My best

      Jay63046

  • Nancy_K_B
    Nancy_K_B jay63046

    Posted

    Hi Jay.  Sorry for delay - it's been independence day stuff and my grandson and daughter visiting. 

    Have you had any time to read up here?  When I got diagnosed 6 months ago I think I read on this site around the clock for 5 days. then I had to sleep. grin. Anyway, I took an extended time off from working on writing a book to research this autoimmune stuff.  Here are my discoveries and protocol for solving for nutritional deficiencies and autoimmune diseases.  Hope it might be helpful. 

    https://patient.info/forums/discuss/pathway-into-and-out-of-autoimmune-diseases--661033

    I too have had heart failure (well left bundle branch block that I never knew I had until 4 years ago, I'm 72) and I found out about Vitamin D at that time.  but I didn't know about the extent of the need for it and it's cofactors.. I probably  had LS for years without knowing it - which seems to match what the doctors say. 

    So anyway, I certainly don't want to put my foot in my mouth talking with a DO GP.  but for what it's worth your comment about "low blood pressure, vague symptoms and dizziness" sounds alot like something called  Wilson's Syndrome that has a bad rep with conventionly trained doctors... BUT which fits the description of many many people... I thought mostly women, though.  What's your baseline temperature taken without getting out of bed in the morning?  My temp anytime of day is about 96.8 to 97.1  F. You'd have to look up more if interested. 

    but gosh, Jay, hypoglycemia too? I used have that years ago... well maybe i still do and just have moderated my food for so many years I don't realize it. (protein for breakfast; no cheating on a bit of sugar until TWO meals of the day etc. what were you doing to yourself - grin?  I sure hope you are feeling much better since that heart episode.

    I'd really be interested to know what a doctor does for his own heart failure?   I let them give me lisinopril (ACE inhibitor) for 2 years until I really hated how much hair I was losing. I rejected statins out of hand. and I went looking for an integrative cardiologist if there was such a thing.  My first doctor told me i'd be dead in 5 years if I didn't take statins - some heart study out of Seattle told him so. It's 5 years at the end of this year.  I FOUND an integrative guy. wow. He took one look at my data and said I don't see a heart failure patient here. I see a person who got a virus that landed in her heart the same as lands in your lungs and you call i pneumonia or whatever. 

    Oh but back to your lichen.... is that why you are here? we don't know about simplex - but lichen sclerosus is definitiely proven to be autoimmune; and LYME"S disease is apparently a gateway to autoimmune diseases.  So see if anything in my list of items feels right for you.  and Let us know how you are getting on. 

    • jay63046
      jay63046 Nancy_K_B

      Posted

      A big Thank You. Your loving concern gives me a great boost and more to think about than all the doctors. What I know from my heart catheterization is that I have a blocked main artery, the LAD, front left and it has collateral circulation around it, so it's been there a long time. I'm 72 too so I guess it's just gotten to me at last

      I feel good most of the time - I'm pretty much bed bound. I get up a lot, get out to my doctors and pay the price of low blood pressure, but the cardiologist says I can live this way, and I told him I didn't want to live this way.

      I'll have surgery on that artery as soon as my Lyme disease tests neg. I'm taking amoxicillin for it. I think, in my uneducated way that the Lyme disease brought on my Lichen simplex chronicus, but I'll never know I'm sure.

      My Lichen simplex is purely superficial, but sure can itch. I've had it on my arms and legs with a few spots on my body, but no genital involvement. I've been using Kenalog cream, a prescription from a dermatologist. It's been really helpful. Most of my scabs have gone but the remaining ones are new and it takes about two weeks to see an improvement. I'd gotten better so I slacked off and I got more itchy spits.

      Thanks again. I'm here and doing fine

      Jay63046

  • shelia22921
    shelia22921 jay63046

    Posted

    If it changes color starts getting bigger, or has a border , itching go get check by skin doctor. 
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