folliculitis or a new intolerance symptom? - Page 2

[beka1977]

Is it Dermatitis Herpeformis?

http://www.celiac.com/articles/178/1...nks/Page1.html

Basically DH is "celiac of the skin". It often occurs on bottoms - although mine happens on my belly and in my ears. It itches like you would not believe. Mine was also misdiagnosed for YEARS, and I finally figured it out myself.

[kjbrown92]

She was already tested for celiac. And it doesn't quite look like that.

They have not biopsied anything. I was wondering if he was going to scrape one on the last run, since it had come back.

Re FAILSAFE, she doesn't get any additives except some sulphites in her coconut milk, but she only has the yogurt about twice a week. She does eat avocadoes about twice a week. Otherwise, she doesn't have food coloring, flavoring, or any of the other "bad" things on the list because of her many intolerances. And she's been having avocado and the coconut milk during this time of clearing (while on the abx, and off potatoes and eggs).

I guess I just have too many variables. My father said "you're not a scientist". Well duh. Never said I was. But I'm trying to get to the bottom of it (so to speak) and trying to determine the cause. I waver between believing the doctor (folliculitis) and my gut (egg or potato).

[crunchy_mama]

Originally Posted by beka1977

Is it Dermatitis Herpeformis?

http://www.celiac.com/articles/178/1...nks/Page1.html

Basically DH is "celiac of the skin". It often occurs on bottoms - although mine happens on my belly and in my ears. It itches like you would not believe. Mine was also misdiagnosed for YEARS, and I finally figured it out myself.

this was my first thought, but I tend to think of things related to this as it is our experience.

[menomena]

Originally Posted by kjbrown92

Re FAILSAFE, she doesn't get any additives except some sulphites in her coconut milk, but she only has the yogurt about twice a week. She does eat avocadoes about twice a week. Otherwise, she doesn't have food coloring, flavoring, or any of the other "bad" things on the list because of her many intolerances. And she's been having avocado and the coconut milk during this time of clearing (while on the abx, and off potatoes and eggs).

I thought this too last year when I first heard about the diet.

I finally read the book though and it's so much more than additives, preservatives and colors. There are naturally occurring food chemicals in many (most) fruits and vegetables, as well as diary products and meats that are not super fresh. If your library has a copy of the book, it would be a good read at the very least.

We finally bit the bullet and tried it and we are allergy-symptom-free for the first time since we got on this nightmare of allergy merry-go-round. We are still dairy allergic (IgE) and we are still GF (and probably will be for a super, super long time) and legumes are still tricky (no soy, carob & guar gum for sure - will trial lentils and beans in a week or two if we stay otherwise clear) - so it didn't "cure" our allergies or other intolerances - i.e. we are still avoiding the known triggers - but it sure did clear up her skin and helped her sleep better. And the screaming and tantrums are way, way, way down (and are much shorter when they do occur). So, it was that last "unknown" mystery factor for us.

[crunchy_mama]

Originally Posted by menomena

I thought this too last year when I first heard about the diet.

I finally read the book though and it's so much more than additives, preservatives and colors. There are naturally occurring food chemicals in many (most) fruits and vegetables, as well as diary products and meats that are not super fresh. If your library has a copy of the book, it would be a good read at the very least.

We finally bit the bullet and tried it and we are allergy-symptom-free for the first time since we got on this nightmare of allergy merry-go-round. We are still dairy allergic (IgE) and we are still GF (and probably will be for a super, super long time) and legumes are still tricky (no soy, carob & guar gum for sure - will trial lentils and beans in a week or two if we stay otherwise clear) - so it didn't "cure" our allergies or other intolerances - i.e. we are still avoiding the known triggers - but it sure did clear up her skin and helped her sleep better. And the screaming and tantrums are way, way, way down (and are much shorter when they do occur). So, it was that last "unknown" mystery factor for us.

We are doing Feingold, which I think includes some of the food "chemicals" not allowed on that diet, but I was shocked to figure out all the additives that I didn't realize were there. Like any nuts can have the bags sprayed with bht and not be labeled. All kinds of additives can be added that you just don't even know about even on things you wouldn't think would have anything, like dyes on oranges or a ton of other things. We are off of salicylates now and it really seems to making a difference in behavior.

[momofmine]

My older son had some bumps similar to what you describe on his bottom. I believe that they were staph, and his system was too off balance from the abx he had. I dabbed tea tree oil on them, and they never progressed beyond a red bump. But they would fade and reappear in different spots (stayed on his butt). I refuse to give them abx ever again, and I really just believe that he needed to build up his immunity to it and get the good bugs back in stronger numbers in his gut, and that is what has seemed to happen. He is now doing much better, is stronger, and is not having the intestinal sypmtoms (this is my older son, my younger son still is), and those bumps have not come back.

Another reason why I thought it was staph or strep or some bacteria is because he would also get a small bump near a place where a scrape or cut was healing up. This happened 4 or 5 times, I put tea tree oil on it, it went away. Happened at the same time that the butt bumps were coming up. Now, they are all gone. I haven't seen any, and the last time he got a scrape, it healed amazing, despite the fact that he knocked the scab off about three times.

So I think, for him, it was due to imbalance in the system.

[kjbrown92]

I'm doing acidophilus with her, and coconut milk yogurt, trying to get the beneficial stuff in there. I just can't get the thought out of my head that it's food related since she's had so much trouble with food in the past, and odd symptoms that don't SEEM related to food.

[Chinese Pistache]

Originally Posted by momofmine

My older son had some bumps similar to what you describe on his bottom. I believe that they were staph, and his system was too off balance from the abx he had. I dabbed tea tree oil on them, and they never progressed beyond a red bump. But they would fade and reappear in different spots (stayed on his butt). I refuse to give them abx ever again, and I really just believe that he needed to build up his immunity to it and get the good bugs back in stronger numbers in his gut, and that is what has seemed to happen. He is now doing much better, is stronger, and is not having the intestinal sypmtoms (this is my older son, my younger son still is), and those bumps have not come back.

Another reason why I thought it was staph or strep or some bacteria is because he would also get a small bump near a place where a scrape or cut was healing up. This happened 4 or 5 times, I put tea tree oil on it, it went away. Happened at the same time that the butt bumps were coming up. Now, they are all gone. I haven't seen any, and the last time he got a scrape, it healed amazing, despite the fact that he knocked the scab off about three times.

So I think, for him, it was due to imbalance in the system.

This was our experience with my dd. I believe hers was staph due to general bacteria imbalance.

[momofmine]

See I think that if abx helped, that indicates that it likely is bacterial. But that doesn't mean that abx are the answer (at least not in my book). Because we can't kill all the bacteria. We have to create the optimum environment in the body so that the body can deal with it and keep it in check on its own.

Now, I'm not saying I know how to do that exactly, but that's what I'm trying to figure out! But, for my older son, he seems to be back on track.

[kjbrown92]

Okay, she finished the abx on Sunday. And I've been rubbing either bacitracin or neosporin on her butt before I put her pull up on at night, as the doctor told me to. Since she went on the abx, she started sleeping through the night again. Last night she was up to go sleep with DD1, then up to move to my bed at 2am, then was fussing for the rest of the night. She's been a nightmare today. She just wet her pants (very rare occurence), and I said, "I might as well check your butt while I put on your new underwear." 2 new pustules. Ugh. 1 difference. Yesterday she had a lollipop that I had gotten especially for her to have for Halloween (yesterday was the Halloween party at preschool and we were EXTREMELY careful). She had 2. The only thing in them that she doesn't have regularly is organic chocolate. It is on her rotation, but we don't have it that often (because it's expensive and they can only have it one day out of 4, so they have to eat whatever they're having that day, or it gets stale). I thought it was going to be egg or white potato. So now the question, is it just a recurring infection/folliculitis. Or is it a chocolate reaction that is mimicing folliculitis. Aren't there any easy days?

[momofmine]

You know. I wonder if it it's not necessarily that it's a food reaction to the chocolate, but just that things are off balance, and the sweets can set things off in that direction. As I said, my son was having those very small red bumps on his bottom, but I put tea tree oil on them and so they didn't progress beyond that. But once his intestinal stuff got better, those bumps stopped coming back. SO, I really believe it is related to the bad bugs and/or the bacteria, and the yeast or whatever in the gut, and they are fueled by sugar. What do you think of that theory?

[momofmine]

Also, this is why I would be hesitant to keep using abx for it, because it keeps coming back. We can;t kill off all the bad bugs, we have to strengthen the body to handle them better next time.

[kjbrown92]

But 1) she passed the yeast "spit test" just 2 days ago. And 2) she has other sugar. She has maple syrup on cream of rice and pancakes/waffles, and she has sugar in tea. So it can't just be sugar.

[momofmine]

And, one more thing I just thought of (sorry for the multiple posts here!!), is that my first child had abx twice when he was younger. BOTH times his intestinal symptoms got better for a short time. My theory was that he did have some bacterial overgrowth in his bowels, and therefore the abx actually temporarily helped. (Not saying that this was the right thing for it, just explaining why I think he may have reacted that way.) The only time he had diarrhea from abx was when he had one dose of the abx that I would up giving my little one this spring. (I had forgotten about that, and wished I had remembered it, because I think my kids are sensitive to that one, gut-wise, and if I had remembered I don;t think I would have given it to him).

Anyway, that could be why your LO actually seemed to feel better, sleep better, etc while taking the abx, but now is back to night waking, etc.

[momofmine]

Originally Posted by kjbrown92

But 1) she passed the yeast "spit test" just 2 days ago. And 2) she has other sugar. She has maple syrup on cream of rice and pancakes/waffles, and she has sugar in tea. So it can't just be sugar.

Well, but see with gut issues I don't think it's that fast. I don't think it's that, you eat sugar, and then you would get a bump. I'm just wondering out loud if it is a possibility that it is being aggravated by things in general. And I don't necessarily mean sugar, because on the SCD for example, one would eat cooked apples and honey, and it doesn't feed the bad bugs. I just mean that, in general, that kind of sugar in the form of a chocolate lollipop would feed the bad bugs.

Just saying that it's possible that it's not a food reaction but instead is a result of an underlying problem. Even if it's not that at all, I would think that it would be wiser to try and strengthen the immune system to overcome it. Maybe look into colostrum? I wonder if that would help? We used tea tree oil on the bumps on my son's bottom, but they did not progress the way you described, so it either was not the same thing, or the TTO prevented it from getting to that point.

[kjbrown92]

She's had it ever since. I tried taking her off egg, white potato, and chocolate, and it didn't do anything. She still has 5-6 new ones a day, with tea tree oil rubbed on her whole butt twice a day. She's been wetting the bed since then and is crabby during the day.

If it's a food, it's something she's getting all the time (which doesn't make sense on a rotation diet) and if it is something she's eating, then why does the abx clear it up?

Why isn't the tea tree oil doing anything? I also have oil of oregano -- should I try that?

I REALLY don't want to go back to the ped and get more abx. I don't want her as dependent on them as I am with my stinkin' perpetual UTIs (went off them again Monday morning and I don't have one yet -- hooray!!).

[Chinese Pistache]

Does she take any supplements daily? Is your drinking water chlorinated?

[kjbrown92]

Drinking water is well water. No chlorine, flouride, or anything else. We filter it besides. She takes strawberry-flavored acidophilus tablets 2x day (but she's been having those since June without a reaction -- folliculitis didn't start until the last week of August). I tried to get coconut water kefir in them, but she didn't like it (just last week -- anyone want some kefir starter?). We do coconut milk yogurt 2-3x week. She does bone broth 2x week. I made my own sauerkraut (DH and I are eating it, but none of the kids will touch it).

Are you asking because you think there's something in the supplements that's causing a reaction? Or do you think she needs more healing stuff?

[Chinese Pistache]

No, I was trying to figure out if there was something she was taking more regularly than her rotation.

Did anything happen in August that might have sent her system out of whack? Some food reaction? An illness? If so, maybe daily probiotics (especially bifidus, which isn't in yogurt) would be helpful.

This folliculitis symptom royally stinks, though. My dd had it in the beginning (almost 2 yrs ago) for months. And then, it started showing up again when we reintro'd dairy and now, with strawberries. It's fading and there are no new ones forming, so I'm guessing things are settling down. I'm trying to dose her up on her probiotics, so that could be helping. Who knows?

[kjbrown92]

No new foods were introduced. No other illnesses that could have jogged a new reaction. The only thing she has everyday is the acidophilus, but again she was having that since June AND she had it through the two rounds of abx, and the folliculitis went away each time.

I just don't understand if it IS a food, then the abx wouldn't have helped because it wasn't actually bacterial, but a reaction, right?

It's like when DS gets the rash on his upper lip after eating something. Antihistamines don't work because it's not an allergic reaction; it's an intolerance, and antihistamines don't do anything for that. Know what I mean? So if the abx do work, then it is really bacterial... so I'm chasing something elusive thinking it's a food... no?

And if it really is folliculitis, then I can sort of understand the more restless sleep (if my butt looked like that, I'd be itching it!) but why would she be wetting the bed every night when she was dry during the abx? And so cranky during the day (except again, maybe itchiness makes her cranky)?

I want things to settle down, stay on the rotation for the 6 months (only 1 month to go) and then suddenly they'll be cured and able to eat everything again.... don't want too much, do I?

Maybe I'll get an appointment with the ND that Firefaery recommended and see what she says.