Help with recurrent rash (dots) on right Forearm

Hi,

I've been having a recurrent rash on my right forearm for awhile. I was fine until last September, when I came down with tonsilitis and was given erythomycin for it. This was the third course of antibiotics I'd been on in less than two months. I was on erythomycin in early July (before root canal therapy), then after the root canal I was played on Clindamycin. In early September i was given eryth for my tonsilitis. It took my throat infection away after a day, but I was left itching my right arm (with red dots/rash) and had a white tongue. I stupidly kept taking the medicine for several more days, going back to the doctor after my right arm was filled with a red rash - flat dots on the skin. I was put on benedryl and after a week or so it was basically gone.

However since then I've had a lot of problems. My tongue gets white and I get what looks like geographic tongue -- especially after drinking milk, coffee, etc. For the longest time after that antibiotic treatment I had problems with stomach acid, digesting fatty foods (i'd cough, get a runny nose) and a recurrent flat rash on that same right arm/forearm. The rash is flat red/dark dots (pin-sized) on my upper forearm and skin fold area. Most of the time you cannot feel the dots, although my current breakout you can feel them -- like tiny pimples. I began taking good bacteria supplments and after a short relapse, went away. But it always returns -- I noticed especially after drinking milk, eating cheese. Or maybe it's when I drink soda or get hot. I noticed the same type of rash on that arm after a hot shower, or after laying out in the sun. This week I've been drinking lots of water, eating right, and my tongue looks so much better it's absurd. But my right arm is still prone to these damn dots, and i'd never had problems with dairy food before the problems with the antibiotic. I should mention that I've gotten boils/nodules on my upper inner thighs for the past two years also, where the skin rubs together. I went to the doctor about that and he told me to use heat, and it went away quickly. They do recur, though, always in the same spot.

So what do you think? Thanks for any help before I see a dermatologist. Otherwise I feel perfectly fine and have for awhile.

[Alan Rockoff, MD]

You not only feel perfectly fine, I'm sure you are.  The symptoms you describe do not correspond to any disease.  This episode seems to have triggered an intense desire to ruminate and look at your body and monitor its sensations.  Because none of those you write about (e.g. "the damn dots") means a thing, you are far better off ignoring them and getting on with it.  If you're still concerned, ask a dermatologist to have a look.

Best.

Dr. Rockoff

[Loudawg]

Thanks doc.

-Lou

[rmo]

The problem with your tongue sounds like thrush. It's a fungal infection that happens when you are on antiobiotics for a long period of time. The antibiotics kill all the bacteria, good and bad. They usually prescribe Nystatin for the fungal infection.
-mike

[jjaniero]

Why is it that every time I read a post with a symptom this doctor cannot identify, he claims it doesn't exist except in the person's obsessive imagination?  Probably because there's no known prescription drug he can hawk to deal with it.  The sorry state of Western medicine today.

[Debs]

I too am taking Erythoromcin for recurrent boils.  I have also noticed pin ***** sized red spots on my skin.

[lotustorm]

A related discussion, Mystery Rash - not nothing was started.