Recurring pityriasis rosea

Hi there, I have had pityriasis rosea for more than 6 months now, its spread over most of my body and even a tiny breakout on my face, I have now ignored the doctors over it being Viral, I am on my 5th day of application of a fungal cream called Daktacort, its got something called miconazole nitrate in it, things are going well and my shoulders are almost clear now, only thing is its £5 a tube, but its certainly done more for it than anything the doctor has given me

I'm 20 and first showed signs of it when I was about 17-18 and I get it recurring at least 3-4 times a year. I however don't get the herald patches anymore and it just comes out into the little spot type patches. I've been given a cortico steroid cream which seems to help but I think you are right in that stress can help to bring it out!

Oh my gosh - to hear people have it recurring or never really going away makes me feel so much better (not that I wish it on anyone, but I don't feel so alone!)

I first got it 2 years ago (age 31). I had noticed 1 rash on my stomach, but thought nothing of it until a week later when I got up to take the dog out and felt like I was going to throw up. I felt sick all day (like really really bad). Then I noticed this rash on my back. Needless to say I freaked the hell out! I had never heard of PR before and thought I had chicken pox - I was due to take a flight in 2 weeks, so obviously was unhappy at that prospect as I would have had to cancel!

So as a lot of people do, I jumped on the internet and made myself feel worse with all the other possibilities it could have been, till I came across PR. Everything then made sense from the way I had been feeling, the herald patch, the itching I had had leading up to it (didn't have it on the patches luckily) and the formation of the rash. I went to the Dr and they confirmed that's what it was.

It seemed to take AGES to go - like 6 months! It would go in one place then pop up in another. I did feel somewhat lucky that I had it in places I could easily cover, and it was never in a really outwardly visably place.

So when it went I was so relieved, but then every now and then I'll get a random small patch of it pop up. It's usually only 1-3 small rashes on one particular place at a time, but they are so recognizable as PR (to me anyway).

When you read about it and everything says that it's super rare for it to come back, it was making me feel really freaked out that I keep getting little breakouts of it, but to know there are others out there in the same situation makes me somewhat at ease!! So thank you all for sharing your stories

I first experienced PR the week leading up to my wedding in Jamaica. The doctor basically said it would go away on its own (LOL). It progressively got worse over my wedding and honeymoon. When I got back to the states it had spread up to my neck and down to my groin. It looked like I was literally covered in poison ivy. I have never felt so helpless in my entire life. I tried EVERYTHING. I am very fair skinned so I didn't really want to "tan." However, I went to another doctor to get a second opinon and she told me she doesn't reccomend tanning to anyone, but that i needed to go to the tanning bed. Well I did, and had the most miserable night of my life. I woke up the next morning, and my PR was basically gone. I went back to the tanning bed that night again and by the next day my PR was gone. 

I am a CPA and I will honestly get in once a year or every other year around the time I get busy and stressed. Every time I come down with it, I get a month membership at the tanning bed and tan a few times and it goes away every single time. 

I will only use the tanning bed to get rid of PR but I must say, tanning is invaluable when it comes to PR. 

Hi I'm just confused how do I have this if i never caught a virus, someone please help me

Several years ago I had it & suffered for a year, tried everything...even went to a tanning booth for several months (& I hate tannng booths, I was just desperate). I took something called EPX Body Immune & it was gone in 2 weeks, done. Recently it reoccured & I tried to get the EPX again but can't find it anywhere.  I called EPX, they told me that they were trying to get more product from their formulary people in the UK.  Then they suggested I just find & take the strongest dose of Allicin supplement I could find. EPX body immune has 200mg of Allicin....start from there, it couldn't hurt.

Just thought I would include my case. I'm 47. I got PR for the first time 2 years ago in late winter / early spring. Had it again last year around the same time. It is now the end of Feb and here we go again. I am in the early stages of my third occurrence.

I moved back to Montana 6 years ago after living in the desert of AZ for 23 years. I suspect it is somehow triggered by the seasons and might stop if I return to the desert.

I experienced mild itching during the first two episodes and it seems to be the same this time. I have not done anything to treat it. Generally clears in a couple months.

My herald patch in past has been somewhere on my trunk. This time it is just left of the pubic area and I thought it was jock itch until the familiar rash started. (no wonder the antifungal cream wasn't working lol) I have never had jock itch and in the back of mind was considering it could be another herald.

I contracted genital herpes at age 20. I've read there may be a connection between the herpes virus and PR but my first PR wasn't until 25 years after contracting it. I am currently taking daily medication for the herpes to keep it dormant and have not had any breakouts since starting the medicine 6 months ago. In previous PR years I was not medicating, so that obviously has no effect.

Spending time in the sun will worsen your PR, it will burn and itch with excuciating pain the suns rays is not good for PR, I have had some bad experiences over the years, I was first diagnosed with PR when I was 18 and now I am 55 it can come and go just like that but I found that benadryl helps if you catch it before it gets really bad, I was told that it would go away evenually but it visits me on a yearly basic most of the time when I forget to cover up from the sun, so stay covered.

I have yet to read the replys. But i also have this issue and i live in florida. I also my job is outdoors/i rent out kayaks to people. I just had a break out yesterday and I procured this disease here in florida. So from my exp. The sun doesn't help it. It actually causes break outs in my case. Also i tend to get very sick the next few days until the flare up starts to dissapear. Feels like i have a stomach bug at the moment. -also I use fungal foot cream mixed with vitamin e lotion 2 times a day and it typically vanishes within 5 days. ...wish there was more "knowledge" on this skin issue. They also you can't give it to another person but (before I say the next part, my doctor told me I have "pity roses" thats my nickname for it..i have been checked for any stds) my boyfriend also has this skin issue..so either we are two unlucky people for having a rare skin issue or in some cases it can be passed on...

Has anyone had any problems with drs and this rash?

Im pretty sure I have recurring PR

But my dr said i never had it in the first place since mine was painful the first time.

Was anyone elses painful

Hello! For anyone interested, this is what I've found. I'm not saying it's going to be relevant, but I thought I'd share, for what it's worth.

I've had PR twice full-on (first aged 27 and second aged 41; the second one from knees to neck for about 10 weeks). I've had 'brushes' with it many times. All of these times had something in common:

- High levels of stress, particularly emotional stress

- A certain amount of suppression of the truth of a situation, which I then, apparently, somatised

- Poor diet, and too much alcohol

- I also now know that I will get a rash before it appears because I will dream of something large and red/fiery that heads towards me in a dream: the first time, I was about to be swept up by a red double-decker bus; the second, I was inundated with lots of skydivers dressed in red. The biggest attack (when I was 41) was forewarned by a dream of raging bulls bursting out of the earth accompanied by lava. In a way, quite accurate, given it was an 'angry' rash and it burned like crazy.

When I get a dream, or get a herald patch, I do the following:

- I clean up my diet completely - no alcohol, low sugar, no NSAIDs, low caffeine. I drink lots of water.

- This is going to sound a bit woo-woo, but it helps a lot: I say to any emerging spots: "I see you. I know what you are. Go away." This appears to work quite well - though it could be a false correlation

- I check my stress levels

- I look at what I might not be addressing in my life emotionally - particularly anger, grief

- I check if I'm somehow going against what I'm meant to be doing. For example, the first bout of PR broke out a couple of days before I got married. My marriage was not good. A part of me knew that. I ignored it, but my body did not.

- I'm particularly vigilant during the 'danger zone' of late winter/early spring. Summer seems to help - but that might be because I love summer and so I am generally more upbeat. I hate winter; it hits when I've just about had enough of the cold

Them's my 2c. I hope they help someone.

For 10 years I have been having PR, every year it keeps coming since I was 17 and now I’m 27. I’m tired of having it, recently I started looking for home remedies of how to get rid of it “ currently I’m doing the tea tree and coconut oil mixture also I try to stay in the sun 10-15mins a day”. 

I read online about it that if u are pregnant and get PR u might face a miscarriage or have pre-mature babies