Pityriasis rosea associated symptoms (fatigue/anxiety/shortness of breath)
Posted , 5 users are following.
hey everyone! i just wanted to share my story and see if anyone here can relate and ease my anxiety. Four years ago i had my first bout with PR, I was 18 years old and i had broken out all over my torso. From what i remember i also experienced fatigue and anxiety do to the rash. I had it diagnosed by a dermatologist and it eventually cleared up. Two years ago i had another breakout of PR but it only lasted a few weeks and it was just on my abdomen.
Right now i am experiencing another small outbreak of PR and a dermatologist has diagnosed it again. i am under a lot of stress right now so the fatigue i am feeling associated with it is intense. I also went in to get an ultrasound of my lymph nodes because they became so inflamed.
The symptom making me the most anxious is the shortness of breath. It feels like i need to take an extra deep breath sometimes throughout the day but i do not notice it when exercising. My doctor thinks it is a mixture between fatigue and anxiety but i am curious to know if anyone else has felt this minor shortness of breath symptom as well as small recurrences of the rash!
-Alex
0 likes, 5 replies
betty44 alex10822
Posted
Hey!
It's funny (not in the haha sense) that you mention this. I first got PR about 6 years ago. It lasted around 6 months before I was finally free of it, but ever since then, if I'm ever stressed and overly tired in my life, then I end up getting a (luckily very minor) bout of it. Starts with me feeling run down and exhausted, sore throat then just blah for a few days. Usually only get one or 2 very small rashes, and then they're gone after a few weeks.
I am currently experiencing it right now - lots of stress at work and outside of it, so I'm not surprised it's reared itself back up. But a few weeks before, I did actually start having trouble with my breaths - to the point I thought it was the air near my desk and and had our EH&S guy test the air quality! He said it was fine, but the breath issue remained for a couple of weeks.
I don't have it now, even though I'm in the middle of this thing, but I'm now wondering if it's part of it. Like you, I don't notice it if I'm exercising or, honestly, if I'm distracted with something, but the second I notice it, the worse it gets - that part I can see as being more psychological, but it's possible it is something to do with the PR.
Have you experienced this before when you've had a recurrence of it, or is it a whole new thing?
alex10822 betty44
Posted
Wow i cant believe you had the same symptom. It has been so anxiety inducing because there are so many big issues that start with shortness of breath but if it is just a side effect of pr it makes me feel a bit better. I actually talked with my mom today and she said she remembers me saying i would get shortness of breath during classes and at work when i had my first bout of pr when i was 18. i also have noticed it rears its ugly head when i am under a lot of stress.
i am thinking it is associated with the fatigue and anxiety then because my doctor tested my blood, lymph nodes, heart, and lungs and she did not find anything concerning.
betty44 alex10822
Posted
So I guess we should start meditating, lol!!! But actually though - stress seems to be the biggest culprit.
It just sucks as it's like this known thing that people get, but so little information actually exists about it, so it's like we're out on this boat on our own trying to figure it all out.
And I totally hear you - shortness of breath is scary, especially when you can't immediately attribute it to anything. So as crappy as it is that you are dealing with it right now, I'm glad that you wrote this post as it's something to look out for next time I experience it too. And hopefully knowing you aren't alone with it, helps calm you a little.
I always laugh when I see medical write ups on PR, as they nearly all say that it only occurs once, and once you get it you don't have another bout of it, but that's clearly not the case as so many people seem to have flare ups of it. I think it's time for them to re-write their descriptions!!
stazstaz alex10822
Posted
Have you ever had it biopsied? PR almost never "comes back"... It is very often misdiagnosed.
I had PR for over a year (yeah, another of those almost never things) mine was biopsied, and no, I did not experience any illness/fatigue, but several people here have said they had flu like symptoms before the rash.
alley54886 alex10822
Posted
PR has given me the worst anxiety I've ever had. Before it, I got stressed but it was no big deal. Meditation and knowing that this will go away has helped. Oh and lots of chamomile tea to calm my nerves.