Severe rash or persistent skin fungus?

[loner9981]

I'm really not sure how this started but I have a couple of theories. Before I get into the theories I'll give you the background on my condition. I've had ongoing athelete's foot fugus for as long as I can remember. I've used Tanactin foot spray and gold bond powder to get rid of it but eventually it always comes back. A few months ago I had gotten what I think was a really bad case of jock itch. I used Tanactin spray on it, lotramin, gold bond powder, and after almost two agonizing weeks it seemed to go away. The redness and itchiness for the most part was gone but the athelete's foot still remained. In another two weeks the jock itch came back with a vengence and it was itching more than it did before. No matter what I put on it was still itching and didn't seem to get better. I had given up and just started to scratch whenever it itched. I washed my hands as much as I could but perhaps not often enough. A little while after two black spots appeared on my forehead one over each eyebrow. They itched like crazy so I scratched them without knowning what it actually was. My wife thought it was eczema as it seemed to get worse so we got a bunch of over the counter eczema products. None if it worked and it seemed to get worse. After some convincing from my wife I went to the emergency room and a nurse practitioner told me that it looked like a fungus and not eczema. She told me what to pick up from the drug store.

I'm using Miconazole Nitrate 2% antifungal cream that the doctor recommended on my face, neck, sides, back of my neck, and everywhere else it spread to twice a day. I'm also using Fluconazole 150mg one tablet every week. I will be taking the third tablet this thursday coming. After two weeks of this treatment it hardly seems to be getting better. The two major dark spots on my forehead have dried out and are not raised anymore but the rash is all over my face and neck. It still itches.

After I saw it wasn't working I did some searching online and found some natural remedies which I decided to try. So along with the medication I started to use Tea Tree Oil, Apple Cider Vinegar, Acid Water, Garlic, and have been taking a multivitamin twice a day to boost my immune system. I'm washing my hands often and my face twice a day using Dial antibacterial liquid soap. Afterwards I use the Apple Cider Vinegar to try to help kill off the fungus.

I've cut my nails to reduce the chances of spreading the fungus if I can't help from scratching. Nothing seems to work and it's going on about 2 months now. My face seems to be dried out but the dark spots, rash, and itching is still there so I assume that the fungus is also still there. My face looks horrible and I am embarrassed to go out in public. The itching has now spread to my ears, eye lids, and eye brows. The dark spots on my sides are the worst of it all but it's covered most of the time and only seems to itch late at night.

What can I do to cure this? Nothing seems to be working and I am running out of patience with this. I currently don't have health insurance so I'll have to pay for everything out of pocket. The four tablets of Fluconazole cost me $84 from the pharmacy. Please help!

[healingheart691]

I've had on and off skin problems on my neck for over three years. It has lead to scarring. Once my doc and I had tried everything conventional, I began a strict elimination diet. Keep a food diary. We really are what we eat and our skin talks to us when we don't listen to the rest of our symptoms.
I at age 38 have developed a gluten sensitivity. It presented itself in what was thought to be a fungal infection so I not treating the root of the problem. Your body knows how to heal itself and is giving red flags that something you are consuming it can no longer tolerate.
It will take time and you must record everything you injest. I know how hopeless it can feel but push on:)

[teko]

I used to have things going on all the time when my children were little. Everything from poison ivy, hives, athletes foot, you name it. One time when I had them in the doctors office for poison ivy an old woman approached me and said to me.  I can tell ya how to cure that! Of course I was interested and have every faith that the elders know just as much as any doctor and in old days they used things to self treat all the time. She said to me to run some bath water and put a little bit of clorox in the water each night. Not so much that it is harmful to the eyes or anything like that, but just a little bit like maybe a quarter cup. I did and never again had any of the things with the kids again. Also if you have been on any kind of antibiotics recently you could have developed a yeast overgrowth which comes out on the skin.  There is a liquid they can give you to take internally for that.  And soaking feet in water with tea will kill nail fungus and athlets foot. The tannic acid kills it. Just thought I would share.