Unexplainable rash...

I am a 35 yr old white male.  

When I was 5 years old I developed a rash from allergy to pseudophedrine.  It was deemed Scarlet fever but my research shows that it was just an allergic reaction.  

4 years ago I took a product with ephedrine in it and I developed rash/burns on my inner thigh, feet and hands and it lasted for 2 months on and off.  It was NOT itchy but it burned like crazy.   Steroid creams, shots, nor over the counter remedies alleviated it.  It just went away.

2 years ago I had blood work done to see how my health was, I was overweight and wanted to lose some pounds.  The results of the bloodwork were that my proteins were not breaking down correctly and my liver enzymes sluggish due to autointoxication.  The blood work was done by Directlabs who have since been deemed a very objective and reliable lab for this kind of work.

I had always been in shape for I was a boxer and runner.  No big deal, I just wanted to "detox" my body and researched some methods and settled on a "vegetable juice and supplement" diet.  

So I started the juice and supplement program and 2 days in I developed the same rash that I had gotten before but this time it was more intense as it spread to my hands and feet and groing and waist and inner arm and on my hands and feet it cracked and bled.  So I stopped juicing and took some meds to clear me up.  1 month it took.

I started the juice 3 months later and just used certain minerals and veggie juice that I knew would not hurt me and it worked well, no rash.  

I think I am close to figuring out what caused the previous rash and it seems that it was from too much vitamin intake and/or a certain supplement.  

I took energy powder that was listed as a "natural vaso-dialtor. it contains nutrients designed to cause a temp. increase in circulation and a healty skin flush lasting about 10 minutes". It had a 200mg dose of niacin in it.

Problem was that my flush lasted 2 months.  

Just 3 days ago I started to juice again and went one step at a time and did NOT use the energy powder but used something else that had a 200mcg dose of biotin in it and now I have the same rash.  However, the rash did not surface until I made a bowel movement at 9am the day after taking all of the product.  It seems like the bm "ignited" the rash for within 2 minutes of the movement I could see the groin start to get red and burn and now it is to my waist and feet although not as bad as before.

My questions are:

Could those products have caused these problems?
Is there a correlation amongst ephedrine and niacin and biotin?
Could I be allergic to the beets that were used in the juicing?
Could it be a problem with my liver or kidney due to my bad blilirubin levels?
Is there a specialist out there that I can see who may be familiar with this type of problem?

[Alan Rockoff, MD]

I'm afraid I can't even begin to answer your questions.  First, I have never seen a rash to ephedrine.  Second, if a doctor diagnosed scarlet fever (strep), I don't know what kind of "research" would have let you discount this.  Third, I don't know what "autointoxication" means or what blood tests diagnose it.  Fourth, "detox"-ing is a term popular in the alternative health community which cannot be translated into medical terms.  Fifth, the many juices and supplements you have taken are far too complex to allow anyone to pin down which, if any, of the ingredients was the culprit.  Besides, I've never once seen a rash caused by juices or supplements.

My advice is to let a skin expert actually see your rash and offer a diagnosis.  You may at least want to think about reconsidering your convictions about what these rashes are (namely that they are allergic in nature.)

Good luck.

Dr. Rockoff

[granadino]

Just so you know any derm or med I have seen automatically prescribes steroid cream or some kind of shot but I don't care about making it better, it will get better, I just need to find out what has caused it.  It has taken much of my time out of my life for I can't walk nor exercise when I have this rash.

Thanks in advance and sorry for the length, just wanted to get you the whole story.

[granadino]

Thank you for your comments.