PR... eek!

Posted , 2 users are following.

Just thought I would write about my experience so far, as I've found it useful reading everyone elses!!

Similar to other people, I noticed a dry patch of skin just below the line of my trousers about 3 weeks ago that was about 2-3cm in diameter. I put E45 etc on it, but it neevr seemed to go away and just got a bit redder looking. Then it started itching when i wore my clothes, so I put a plaster over it... I think a week ago today was when I first noticed little pimple-like red spots on the left side of my stomach and the right side of my rib-cage, probably about 10 of them.

I sort of ignored them for a while, but they started getting bigger, and I thought maybe it was shingles. However once it started spreading all over the place I did some research and I figured it was probably PR and the dry patch was probably the herald patch! So now I have patches of quite big sort of flat-ish dry, red spots (i'm sure u know what I mean!) and the initial ones I had have kinda grown into bigger blobs, with littler red spots around them. I have it on most my stomach and ribs, and it creeping onto my back! Not cool!! There's only 1 or 2 on my neck so I'm counting myself lucky (SO FAR!!) and I can cover it... thank goodness it's winter!!! I've only had itching for the last 2days really.

I read somewhere that this stage of rashy nastiness, on average, lasts 10-14 days, so I'm just going to hope its the same for me!!! So this would be day 8... and having read some other posts I went on a sunbed today for 9 minutes to try and fry the little blighters, and initially it made the itching stop, but now I have the same minor itching.... but I'm hoping its them trying to inflict some final pain on me before shrivelling up!

But I'll see how it is tomorrow, and then probably go back on the sunbed on monday... coz even if it doesnt get rid of them, everything looks better with a tan!!

Just wondering how long it took for other people's to spread onto their arms/legs? Coz I'm sorta hoping that mine has stopped spreading... but I'm only on day 8! eeek! This is a sucky illness, give me regular flu any day!

0 likes, 4 replies

4 Replies

  • Posted

    Hi,

    my daughter has just last week been diagnosed with this condition. The doc said to get out in the sun as some have found that this helps. Thing is its 39 degrees celcius here in australia right now.

    My daughter also has a rare disease and has had a kidney transplant 19 yrs ago and some of the meds she is on says not to go in the sun !!!!!

    She is on a fair few drugs for her disease and the only changes she has made in the last 3 months is to deduce an antidepressant she was on.

    Could this trigger anything like this condition????

    Its now spreading from her bottom ( the main big one ) to her arms legs front and back. Its not all over but patches here and there. Probably over 20-30 now.

    any suggestions would be great. I sure hope they dont travel to her face.

    Sue ( mum to Serena 26 from australia)

  • Posted

    Hi sue--australia,

    Sorry to hear your daughter has this aswel! Theres quite a lot of information about PR if you search the internet, but obviously it's difficult to know how exactly it will affect each individual...

    But from my searches it seems there is no conclusive evidence that says what causes PR, although many people suggest it might be linked to stress... but as with all these things it's almost impossible to know if changing medications etc can trigger this, but it could well be possible.

    I think the main message for this illness, is it isn't harmful, it's just very annoying and frustrating, and you have to just wait for it to get better on it's own. Although people have made suggestions about how to make it better faster, it could be likely that their PR would have gone away without these treatments, at the same speed... but obviously I'm also willing to try anything to improve it!!

    After going on a sunbed yesterday, I haven't really noticed much difference, except the redness is less visible, but I think this is just because red is less visible on browner skin! But I imagine, once the PR starts going away, the sun would speed up the disappearance of the red marks, and make the less noticable, but I don't think it will actually shorten the amount of time the PR lasts.

    So probably if you're daughter is on meds that say don't go into the sun, it's not worth risking it, as this condtition does not usually last for more than a few weeks, and it could cause more damage in the long run...

    Let me know how she get's on!

  • Posted

    Thanks for that.

    Spots still spreading ........

    One other thing. Her doctor put her on 2000U of vitamin D per day. That was in november so I was wondering if there could be a connection there??????

    Sue

  • Posted

    So I'm about 3 and half weeks in, (12 days of the big rash) and it seems to be looking a lot better! I've been on two sunbed sessions, 9 minutes each, which was probs a bit too long as my skin hasn't seen the sun for a few months... but it seems to have dried out my rash a lot, and most of the little patches of rash are a lot less noticable... I had one or two spots on my neck, chest and upper back, but now these have either gone completely or are just a tiny bit dry to touch.

    The main rash on my front is still there, but lots of the smaller patches are less obvious and it's not ichy any more which is nice! It's still dry and a bit scaley, but thankfully its not bright red any more!

    I also (hopefully!) don't seem to be getting any new rash coming up. There are a few little spots that came after the initial rash that i was worried would turn into more massive patches, but these don't seem to be getting any bigger.

    So I'm not sure if the tanning has made the rash clear up quicker, or if it was starting to clear up by itself anyway, but it definitly helped me to feel like I was doing something about it! I think the main rash will probably hang around for another week or so, but just so long as it doesnt come up in places I can't cover up I'm not bothered!!

    So I would definitly recommend tanning, BUT CAREFULLY!

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