skin allergy!

[eclipseone]

I am a 30 year old white male and I was wondering if you can help me.

I have a very bad skin rash; here are the details:

This rash covers about 40% of my body.  Very thick on back, flanks(both sides), beltline, sides all over my thighs with a very hard spot on one leg.  My scalp is affected as well, though not severely.  Behind my ears is severe and my chest itches but is not severe with rash breakout.  The worst itching comes in my shoulders and thighs and behind my ears. It has not affected my face.  The rash is a cluster of red bumps and most concentrations of them are about 3-5 inches in diameter.  The rash itches all over very intensely when I drink alcohol.   After half a beer it starts and it is unbearable.  This rash is very unsightly and I feel like a freak.  I am single and I am never going to find a woman with this ailment.  This started 2 months ago and has gotten progressively worse.  

QUESTIONS: What is causing this?

I drink about 4-5 beers every night and smoke a little marijuana every night as well.  While these are bad habits in general, could they be the cause of this rash?  I have been doing this for about 5 years.  I have been smoking cigarettes for 10.

I take the following:  Lipitor(20mg once a day), Lasix(20mg bid),  Vasotec(10 mg once a day), and K-Dur(20 Meq one a day).
I stopped the Lipitor 3 days ago.  Could these be the cause.  I have been taking these drugs for about a year and a half.  I have Nephrotic Syndrome and have blood tests every month or two.

I have a dog-a beagle-have had him for 7 years.  Is it possible to develop an allergy to him?

I started working in a different camera store in October.  I have worked in them for 10 years.  Can photo chemistry such as developer or bleach cause this reaction all of a sudden?
I do not come in direct contact with them, but I breathe them in all day.

I have stopped using deoderant soaps and use Gain laundry deteregent with no dyes or perfumes.  Wear no cologne.  

It started also shortly after a sexual encounter with a woman who had what looked like a bad rash on her face.  Could this be it?
I also noticed that it started after I started using a humidifier in my bedroom.

I put Triamcinolon AND Protopic on twice a day.  No help.  I have been prescribed Zyrtec, Doxepin, and Atarax. The Atarax helps me sleep and the Zyrtec helps with the itching but I have not tried the Doxepin yet.  

I have had some history with eczema and very dry skin in the winter.  
I have my clothes dry cleaned, but wear an undershirt.  I wash my regular clothes  at home using the Gain.  I clean my sheets once a week.  

I do eat shellfish every once in a while.  But only once every couple of months.


I also have a swollen scalp.  Allergy or Nephrotic Syndrome?   It is very swollen.  

CAN SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP ME BEFORE I GO CRAZY?!?!?!?

I am a social type guy, a party type guy- I cannot have this; it is really depressing me.

  

[Red]

Dr Rockoff, most of my life I suffered with red itchy skin and scalp, red "dry skin", "weeping" redness behind my ears and hairline, itchy and watery eyes, and what seemed to be non-stop sinus infections. As my problems increased over the years, I became depressed and housebound.  I avoided going outdoors, embarassed by the way my skin looked and made me behave.
  
By the time I was 28 years old allergy medication, cool showers, and a gallon of bottled drinking water a day a way of life. My skin conditions were all but unbearable at times

By the age of 35 I developed a raspy and blood-tainted cough.  I thought I was going to die.

Two years ago I had two severe episodes four days apart where I developed large red welts all over my body, from the palms of my hands to the soles of my feet.  I rushed to the doctor and was given Prednisone (sp?).  

I spent 4 days in my pajamas recovering. When I was ready to go back to work I had another severe episode of red welts.

Then a breakthrough occured.  I made the connection right after a shower,  I had applied deoderant to my underarms and the welts began within 30 minutes.  

It took several days without deoderant to confirm the intolerance.  It took two weeks to comprehend my life's battle with allergies was over. My symptoms disappeared rapidly and completely, leaving me astonished.  

To this day my husband (who still uses deoderant) is kind enough to shower twice a day to remove the chemicals from his deoderant.

I have not used a deoderant in over two years and I am completely healthy at the age of 39.  I no longer take any medication at all.

I realize my story is not the one most allergy-sufferers will tell.  I wish I had read a post, like this one, in a forum like this one. I might have been helped earlier.

Thank you for the support and advice you offer.  Good luck to you and everyone here.

Cheryl B.

[Alan Rockoff, MD]

If you are using triamcinolone and Protopic, then you have already seen a doctor about this, and the doctor has diagnosed you as having atopic dermatitis, or eczema.  That is what your condition sounds like, and that is what these medications are generally prescribed for.  The fact that you say you've had eczema in the past supports this as well.

If what you have is eczema, then what you're asking for is a cause.

There is no cause.

You will have to come to terms with this, because eczema is a hereditary sensitivity, not an allergy to something specific, like a drug or detergent.  There is no one thing, or number of things, which you can avoid and eliminate the problem.  In all probability, you are simply going to have to come to terms with this.

This does NOT mean, however, that you can't be helped.  You may be a candidate for a short course of oral prednisone (cortisone), to bring the condition under control, followed by aggressive topical (external) treatment.  Alsmot everyone with eczema can be controlled quite well.  Also, eczema often goes into remission and gerts milder, just as it can get much worse, as it has recently with you.

Call back the doctor who prescribed what you're using.  Ask him or her what the diagnosis is, and whether there is any chance that drug or other allergy is at root.  But be prepared for a "no" answer, along with specific suggestions for getting you better anyway.

Stick with it and don't give up.  No need to put your personal and social life on hold, no matter how uncomfortable and unpleasant things look at the moment.

Best.

Dr. Rockoff