help for cures for sun allegy

[dancerina]

i was just diagnosed by my dermatologist as having sun allergy,, most likely caused by prednisone, which i was on for what i thought was poison ivy ,, although i never touched it, my son brought it in the house while he was workingas a landscaper.. but i had some itchy bumps on my left thigh,, and then i the next day i had 5 or 6 mnore ithcy bumps on my left thigh,, my pcp, gave me acorisone cream and benedryl and it started to get better, the next day i picked uyp one of my sons shirts, and it brushed my right elboe, it immediately burned as it touched my skin, i washed it off with technu,,but within a 10 minutes my right elbow became inflamed, and little bumps in a line ran up my arm, it hought this was more poison ivy, showed my primary , and he said just keep using the cream, then later on i felt a burning sensaation in my right ankle, and then it started to itch, i didn t touch anything,, or so i thought, but i was outside an juat came in form a swim in our pond, later on that night, my right calf, i saw a blood vessel turn bright red, and then with in 5 minutes my right thigh had 10 or so ithcy bumps appear, , that is when i started the prednisone,
after 4-5 days on prednisone, iwas at a dance camp, on 40 mgs of pred, went for aswim, ( short ) and then went in to the shade, with in an hour , my whole head started to tingle, and red blood vessels  at my hair line started to be bright red , and look like they were bleeding,, i went to my dr, and he gave me a shot, or solumedrol, and if died down, but i ws left with a red rash between my eyebrows, on the bridge of my nose,
after going off prednisone it blew up, and my forehead was swollen from eyebrow to eyebrow, still treating this as systemic poison ivy,, with cortisone cream,, but after 2 weeks it was still there, went to a dermatologist and said it was sun allergy,, probably brought on by prednidsone, but i am also on 30 mg of mirtazapine,
controlling thwi with benedryl
since then my symptoms have worsened, whil out on my boat july 6 , my right side of my face started burning,
after walking to my car from my health club, and driving around , my neck and chest and upper back got sun burned, and they look only pink, but feel much worse thatn they look,
my stomach, back and legs are all a little pink and they have always been covered up, but not with very heavy matierials,but only in the sun chort periods of time, like walking from a store to my car,
i have been on mirtazapine for 3 years , with no problems til now,
although last summer i had poison ivy then , and was on prednisone, and got off with no problems, but some burning on my right arm that was a mystery, could have been sun related
i have been off of prednisone for 3 weeks now, and my symptons have worsened,  my nurse/practioner, said the mirtazapine could have cross referenced the prednisone, and is keeping  me from getting back to normal,,
i am fair,  but not overly so, never had any problems be fore, but the occaisonal sunburtn,,
feel that this is a photo allergic reaction that was drug induced, lowering my mirtazapine dosage, with the knowledge of my nurse/practioner ,pharmacologist, actually back to my old dosage, 15 mg, ( i ponly  went up to 30, to help with the withdrawl of prednisone,( it makes me very anxious, jittery etc, ) so i am down to about 25 mg now,, ( not a sciende i cut them up
taking .08 mg of xanax, to help with the pred withdrawl, ( did this last summer, and was off xanax in the fall with no further anxiety,, my life is fine, great job, kidds husband, friends, church, and repaired relationship with my mom, so
thtat is the long sad story, and i hope you can help me with drug indications, suggestions for recovery etc,,

[LilBluebird22]

Have your vitamin D levels checked. Most of us are vitamin D3 deficient and it could cause a sudden sun allergy.  Research vitamin D3 and K2.

[dancerina]

thank you for your response,
i have been off of prednisone for 3 weeks, the first trigger happened while i was on prednisone, so i think that started the sun sensitivity,, i was on 40 mg at the time( for what my pc, and i thought was poison ivy)  and went for a swim in the sun, and then  bright red veins showed up on my forehead, my  whole head started to tingle, and after a shot of solumedrol, i ended up with a rash on my forehead,, that burned, never itched, only when it traveled near my eyes did it itch.
any way
are one of thei side effects of prednisone sun sensitivity?,
anyway , what are weasels, and pruiritisD?
  my rash  on my face is very faint,to the naked eye,, but when you push on the skin, or apply a cold compress it becomes visible,
i feel tingling and a slight burning sensation, or maybe some itchiness whem my skin is exposed to even endirect sunlight,
this is a new sympton, at first it was onlyh direct sunlight, but the symptons are getting a little worse,,  i bought the weird clothes, so ican go out, and they do help
i an on mirtazapin, for almost 3 years, and my normal dose is 15mg, but went up to 30 when going off prednosone, as it makes me anxious, but now that i am off for 3 weeks, under my nurse practioners supervision, i am slowly tapering back to the 15, or maybe going off all the way if it will make the photo allergic reaction go away, as i was down to 7.5 mg mirtazapine in april, then my mom broke her leg, and i had to spend a lot of time with her, which dug up some old memories, and i went back to 15, since then have repaired relationship with mom, and want to have my life back , so if the mirtazapine has to go, it will, and we will be fine,, or hopefully just lowering the dosage will return things to normal, althouth i have heard that mirtazapine, can cause rashes,, but mine only happen with sun exposure, so i dont think that is the cause, i will talk to my nurse practioner about mirtazapine and rashes, just to be sure,
do you know anything about drug induced photo sensitivity, and treatment,?

[Dr_Aparna]

Hi,
Solar urticaria is a rare form of physical urticaria (hives) in which the skin swells within minutes of exposure to natural sunlight or an artificial light source emitting ultraviolet radiation. The reaction may subside within a few minutes or it may persist for up to an hour or more.

A stinging, itchy rash develops within minutes after a short period (less than 30 minutes) of sun exposure. The rash may look like weals and be red and swollen.
If large areas of the body are affected, the loss of fluid into the skin may result in light-headedness, headache, nausea and vomiting.

You can start tapering off the steroid medications, treat any allergic outbreaks symptomatically with anti-histamines and Calamine lotion and cool compresses. Corticosteroids need not be taken as the first line of treatment.

You must take measures to avoid or minimise sun exposure by following sun protection strategies. Oral antihistamines may be helpful in reducing weals and minimising pruritus but they rarely prevent the reaction altogether.

For patients that react severely and are unable to manage their condition through preventative measures, phototherapy and/or photochemotherapy may be considered. These treatments desensitise the patient to UV radiation and are often performed prior to the summer months. Unfortunately desensitisation is often short-lived and repeat therapy is needed.

ref:http://dermnetnz.org/reactions/solar-urticaria.html