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Rheumatologist and granuloma annulare?

Posted , 4 users are following.

dwbarb
dwbarb

Still looking for a doctor who can help.  I was going to try an allergist/asthma specialist since I have asthmaand ga, but was told I might want to try a rheumatologist?  Does anyone have experience with that specialist?  Guess since it is autoimmune?  Thanks!

0 likes, 5 replies

5 Replies

  • j0603
    j0603 dwbarb

    Posted

    Hello,

    Yes I went to a rheumatologist she prescribed told me to ask my dermatologist for a prescription for plaquenil. I took plaquenil and my GA disappeared after taking it for 3 months. Problem is with my immune system turned down I got shingles! i no longer take the plaquenil. There are great articles I have been reading about how this could be a bacterial infection in the skin and could be untouchable because it is hidden by "bio-film" which also makes it undetectable by microscope.

  • patty98033
    patty98033 dwbarb

    Posted

    I recommend the allergist.  My experience is that something over 2 years after being diagnosed with GA and having no remission, I had been reading posts on this site in the GA forums.  More than one person mentioned that after giving up gluten or wheat, their GI problems vanished and over a period of about 6 months to a year, they discovered that their GA was gone or nearly gone.

    I did an elimination diet removing wheat (gluten), dairy, soy and a few other things that are supposed to be the most common allergens and had no success after removing them for 30 days.  I do not have the IB problems but thought it was a good place to start.

    After no success with this, I then started looking for a place to do allergy testing figuring I needed help to determine if & what I was allergic or intolerant of.  I found an intolerance testing group in the UK and sent them a hair sample.  They came back with a report that had about 8 things that I was intolerant of, non of which i eliminated when I tried that.  

    I eliminated the food items and tried to stay away from the non-food such as Bermuda grass (which we have) and within about 30 days, I found that I was no longer getting new breakouts.  A few months later, I noticed that the ones on my hands & arms were fading.  It is nowa little more than one year later and the ones on my hands and arms are gone & my feet & legs are much better and continue to improve  I think that when you get rid of things that you are intolerant of, it gives your body a chance to heal.

    I have not taken any prescriptions but on a different site, someone with GA said that theirs got a lot better when she was taking zinc and another had improvement with niacinamide - both inexpensive supplements.  I plan to add them to my supplements.

    Good luck!

    Patty

     

    • patty98033
      patty98033 dwbarb

      Posted

      You are welcome!  And unless you have insurance that covers most of the cost of appointments, you might want to start with one of the 30 day elimination diets.  It you have the more common allergies or sensitivities, that might let you find out if one or more  of the things eliminated is causing your problem.

      I've been doing a ton of reading about this and i think that the reason that the professionals have not come up with this is that they don't keep you off of the food items for long enough.  According to others who have had success, it did not come quickly.  The ones who had success stayed with the plan because eliminating wheat or gluten made their GI problems go away so they stayed off of it having no idea until much later that this would also help their GA.  One of the two that I specifically remember had had GA for 10 years and the other for 20 years.

      Patty

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