red spots

my husband took the meds in 2002 didnt respond he has not had in trouble other than being tired and now he has red spots on his hands and feet under the skin that itch really bad.  can anyone tell me what may have caused this problem with spots and itching?

[Myown]

I don't know what that might be, but I would make an appointment with his doctor that treated him for the hepatitus (hepatitis) and if that doctor hasn't seen something like this, maybe see a dermatologist.

I have tiny little red spots that look like little bleeds under the skin - the size of the head of a pin. They had disappeared and now I see a few more. So far none of the doctors seem to know what they are and they think its no big deal. When doctors don't have an answer, they usually say its 'no big deal,' I guess ego doesn't allow them to say they don't know what it is. It might not be anything, but still and all it is blood that is leaking or bursting from a capillary or something so its 'something" to ME. I'll show my hep doc the next time I see him now that the spots are back. Maybe its from stress - who knows. They changed the flight path for an airport near where I live and about every 3 minutes a plane goes over my house - very low. I'm ready to jump out of my skin and leave the spots behind.

[copyman]

sounds like what i have. i asked about the few pin head size red spots on chest and was told they are Cherry Angioma. very common with people over 40, even without HCV, and are benign.  they are not to be confused with spider nevi which have small spider like lines coming from the red dot. spider nevi is a good indication of severe liver damage.

[geterdone]

Has your husband been in the sun lately? I have the red pimple heads that copyman speaks of and have had those for about 8 years on my fore arms which I was told that it is from sweat glands being clogged or sweating more than the gland can release. Now, the red spider nevi I have had several of those (if it is the same) for years also. But, here is the particular thing I would like to express, since being on TX I have had the red blotches about the size of a pin head, (hundreds of them) on my legs, arms, chest and some times on neck and face. They do not itch they are just there. This all surfaced when exposed to the sun or I should say ultraviolet sun rays and is the reaction to the meds. I did not have the riba rash people here on the forum speak of until week 26 and it has surfaced on the upper chest area, what to do about any of them, I do not know at this point but I do have a steroid cream for the latest upper chest and arms. I will ask about the others with the doc this week and will let you know something. Here on the med help site main forums, there is a dermatology forum you might want to check out also.

jasper

[wantinfo3035]

these are spots that are as big as a coke bottle cap and they are all over his hands and feet. they itch and red. he also said that sometimes his feet hurt but not hands just itch.

[wantinfo3035]

i just went and checked his hands and feet no spider legs on them

[susan400]

I was getting so many problems from itching when I came off of my treatment before last (not on the trial).  I was post treatment with this, like a month afterwards.  It was really bothering me a lot.  I went to the dermatologist and she did a skin biopsy.  The path report came back with a really weird result something with the initials of T.M.E.P.    I don't really like digging up the old report but it took for Telangiectasia (M something...E something) and then the last word was Purpura.  The derm. Dr. said that it's not real common in adults but that there was not a real "cure" type of treatment for it.  She said that there had been some benefit to using Allegra + Zantac when you get a flare up.  There's some kind of properties in those 2 drugs that when combined it helped to settle down the flare-up.  Well, it followed her directions.  In about another 6-7 mon., I wasn't itching anymore and I stopped the meds.  Then, about a month after that, I was accepted into the Prove 3 and after being on it for a few weeks, I got major rash that was totally different and way worse then the Telangiectasia thing ever was.  The T.M.E.P. was barely noticable and just faint like pink like spots that itched a lot.  The VX was was a major red angry hivey rash that itched so bad (about 10 times worse) and using antihistamines barely touched it.   Anyway, my advice if it doesn't improve soon is to see a dermatologist and see if they would do a skin biopsy.  The skin biopsy doesn't hurt at all, they don't take enough skin to even tell.  It's basically more of a skin scraping, so that they can see it under the microscopic.  It doesn't hurt any more than a Pegasys injection.  

Susan

[Myown]

they are not to be confused with spider nevi which have small spider like lines coming from the red dot   spider nevi is a good indication of severe liver damage.
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I actually do have some tiny blue lines with red pin size dots on my chest of recent. I really batting a thousand lately. I'll show the doctor the next time I see him. I guess if I do have spider nevi, I no longer will be encouraging people to get the fibrosure test instead of a bx. LOL

[copyman]

sorry did not mean to stress you out with the spider thing. as you know with this disease nothing is 100%. of course there are people that get the spider nevi and do not have liver damage.  as you know i also had the fibrosure. actually had it 2 times, just got back the 2nd results that said F0 just like the first one did. i had a fibroSCAN in boston in aug that had me F1-2.  talk about stress!  scheduled for a bx this friday for the tie breaker. i will let you know how good the fibrosure & "scan" are when i get the bx results back in a few weeks. i really did not want to get this bx but after that fibroscan had me at F2 then i had to find out for sure with the bx. and of course find out my insurance will not pay for bx because it is being done in a "hospital setting" (2500 deductable for hospital). if it was being done in a "free standing building" outside of hospital they would pay for it. what a crock. so i guess it will cost me $2000 to find out.

[geterdone]

Thanks! I'm glad to hear about the little pin head bleeds under the skin, (well not but just the same)thought I was the only one here with this problem.
jasper

[charm27]

I have it too one on leg and face. Sort of like a red dot filled with a spec of blood.
Pin Heads yep.

[Myown]

copyman,
no need for an apology. You didn't stress me out. I don't think or at least I hope I don't have bad liver damage even with these things that seem to be spider nevi or at least by the description. I think I trust the fibrosure, but who knows. I'm very interested in finding out what your bx turns out to be. I sure hope you are 0 for health reasons but on the other hand 0 means the fibroscan isn't all that its supposed to be. And fibroscan is what we will all be depending on down the road. But anyhow I hope all works out for you and that you don't have liver damage. Thats too bad that you have to pay $2000.

geterdone and charm
I think I had found others in the archives that had the red bleeds when I first saw some on my stomach before tx. These are totally flat and under the skin - not those cherry angioma or what ever they are called.

[copyman]

thanks Myown, glad i did not stress you out. as for the fibroSCAN not sure if it is that accurate for the middle scores, i believe it is similar to the fibroSURE and good on the low and high ends but not as accurate for the middle scores.

PS, please excuse me but i forgot some of your stats, fibrosure score? treating yet? any symptoms before tx, etc. wishing you well

[Forseegood]

we've had threads on these before, with skin stuff it's kind of tricky, cause moles, spots, etc could indicate one thing on one person, and another thing on somebody else..we're all not standing in the same room comparing them...

.I have mild damage, and for as long as I can remember, at least 20 years (I've had this for over 30 years) I have had these little tiny (some are a little bigger, but not much) strawberry colored dots...they are sprayed over my chest area, I don't know 15 or them? and a few on my tummy...they are very tiny...I too have heard that they don't mean much...but then one woman came on here once and said that once she cleared the hepatitis, they all went away (if she had the same ones that I've got)

I've had them so long I don't worry about them much...then my friend Ina (who is a nurse) said they are from aging too, but 20 years ago I wasn't that old, ha ha! I'd be interested to see if they did clear once I clear the hepatitis (I'm pretty positive about that, have to be!) but then someone put a pic of of a few of the red dot conditions, and mine are pretty round, unless you look at them with a magnifying glass...oh, the mystery of the Dark Pink Dots!!!!

[Forseegood]

oh, and mine don't itch...they just lay there.. I don't keep enough track on them to see if they come and go, etc.....they are actually kind of pretty - aesthetically speaking, ha ha!

[Myown]

I finished tx and unfortunately relapsed. My 4 week post was UND and I was supposed to get another one at 12 weeks post, but I broke out in a real bad sweat one night in bed and my lips, hands and feet were numb and tingling and all that and I knew I relapsed so I told my PCP and  he was nice enough to give me a PCR and sure enough I had relapsed.

I am a geno 2b (but not the "shoe in type" as all thought... even the "skinny white girl" thing didn't apply to me even though I am a skinny white girl)
my fibrosure test results were Stage   0.8( 0.00   - 0.21)
                                           Grade  A1-minimal 0.33 (0.29 -   0.36)  

I started tx somewhere around 8 million and was RVR. Did 24 weeks of tx- weight based. Felt as hyper as always - no fatigue. The only real sx I had was anemia and feeling ticked off alot. The anemia went down to 9.6 but  it went down slowly so I didn't feel it at all except a little breathy on a slight incline. Maybe I should have had procrit. The doctor had said he would give it if I got down to 10.0, but the nurse has her own ideas about everything and I didn't know my hemo was that low because I wasn't getting my labs faxed because the receptionist gets stressed out when she has to use the fax. Believe it or not that is what I was told. For some reason I allowed the NP to convince me that she would keep an eye on everything and if something was wrong she would call me. Guess what? something did go wrong - I relapsed - and I was the one who found out AND I told them.

I won't mention where I  tx, but you might remember and I am not pleased the way some things were handled. Not just talking about relapse - lots of other things and I will discuss them all with the doctor when I see him.

I hope all goes well when you decide to tx. The last few days I am getting used to the virus being there. It does bother me but not like it did before I tx. I have to train my mind so that it doesn't keep going back to thinking about it being there. Jim knew he had non A non B for years and didn't even give it a thought. I have to try to get to that spot. Some days I can and other days I can't. I always feel these weird little 'rushes" under my skin and inside my head- little creepy stuff. Thats what reminds me that I have this virus.

But anyhow let me know how things go. I think(?) I read you are not tx for a few years.

[wantinfo3035]

does anyone swell and what is it caused from