Cluster of red itchy bumps

[tonnibell]

I have a cluster of red bumps with white tips, very itchy, when scratched it is painful, I try not to scratch them but its almost impossible. The cluster is located on the left lower back, it started 2 days ago. I am getting other clusters in the stomach area also now.

[a10cowgirl]

This sounds like Shingles. If you've had chicken pox as a child, you have the virus in your body. It hides after the original disease, then comes back in later years as Shingles.

Some people with shingles may feel quite ill at first, almost as though they have the flu. These symptoms—fever, headache, nausea, and chills—may be part of the prodromal stage (prodrome refers to symptoms that appear before the rash appears).

Shingles occurs in two stages—the prodromal stage and the eruptive stage.

Prodromal Stage

The prodromal stage occurs about 2 to 5 days before the rash appears. Symptoms during the prodromal stage may include:

    * Fever, headache, nausea, and chills
    * Numbness on one side of the body or face
    * Tingling, burning, or shooting pain on one side of the body or face (pain may be constant or intermittent)
    * Itching on one side of the body or face

Eruptive Stage

During the eruptive stage, redness and swelling will appear at the site of the pain, along with clusters of blisters filled with clear fluid. New blisters will continue to appear for up to 5 days. These blisters can be scattered in patches or form a continuous band on the skin (dermatome), and they look a lot like chicken pox. The blisters can be mildly irritating, itchy, or intensely painful. Within 14 days, the blisters become filled with pus and then form a scab. At this point, they no longer contain the virus. The rash usually goes away in about 3 to 5 weeks. The blisters leave no scars, but you may have discoloration of the skin where they once were.

The rash and blisters from shingles almost always occurs on just one side of the body. Shingles may appear on the following areas of the body:

    * One side of the torso
    * Waistline
    * One side of the face
    * Buttocks
    * Arm
    * Leg

The pain associated with shingles has been described as intense and sometimes unrelenting. If you think you are experiencing symptoms of shingles, it is very important that you see your doctor right away. Antiviral prescription medications such as FAMVIR® (famciclovir) can help reduce your symptoms and help shingles blisters heal faster. However, the medication should be started within 72 hours (3 days) after the rash of shingles appears, so it is important to see your doctor right away.

Without treatment, the symptoms of shingles (eg, rash, blisters, and pain) usually go away in about 3 to 5 weeks. Although shingles can make you very uncomfortable while you have it, it usually is not dangerous to healthy people. However, some people may develop complications from shingles, such as continued severe pain after the blisters are gone. This condition is called postherpetic neuralgia (PHN), and can be extremely painful and very hard to cope with. The pain from PHN may last for months, and even years.

For many people age 50 or older, prescription oral FAMVIR (available in easy-to-swallow tablets) may significantly shorten the duration of PHN, reducing the number of days you have pain. The people who took FAMVIR started taking the medication within 72 hours (3 days) after the shingles rash appeared.

[Admirer]

Very hard to diagnose at this point. Seems like some sort of allergic reaction. Its not acne because the face is not involved. Its not a bug bite or sting because they involve the lower legs, head and neck or the exposed part of the body. Its not dyshidrotic eczema because its limited to the palm and hands. It could be scabies but I doubt it because the most likely place is the finger web, inner wrists inner elbow, armpits and back of knees. See if there is a depression at the center of the bump, could be molluscum contagiosum but I doubt it because the genitals, buttocks, inner thighs and stomach area are most commonly affected as the intimate contact with others is the source of infection. It could be shingles, have you had chicken pox before. If you had then yeah, it could be shingles. It could be folliculitis (inflammation of hair follicles), though the chances are less likely because the areas like scalp, bearded area in men, under arm , groins, buttock and thighs are usually affected. My best advice is to get yourself checked by a dermatologist. Hope it helped, thank you!

[nathansmommy88]

that would be the shingles... ( chicken pox virus, its quite painful.. look it up!)
Not much u can do but wait it out.