Caring for blisters

[Becca_Anne]

I have just been given a tentative diagnosis of Bullous Pemphigoid waiting on the biopsy for confirmation but it's an autoimmune disorder causing huge blisters some 1 in in diameter- my own body is dissolving the layer between the dermis and epidermis causing large multiple blisters. My forearms look like I dipped them in boiling water

My arm

(not for the squeemish )!

 

I am on Prednisone 60 mg/day for 4 days, tapering off in 10 days and Tetrycycline for a month. My derm told me to use Domeboro Soaks to help dry up the blisters.

 

I guess I'm looking for home remedies and advice for blister care and ideas for autoimmune disorders to help calm my overactive immune system in addition to the meds I'm taking. I will be taking good bacteria for my gut to counteract the antibiotics.

[Lilly]

I am sorry your going through this Becca Anne. That looks so painful. I don't know what to tell you to do for the blisters. I have never heard of this before. I have two auto immune diseases, thyroid, and Psoriasis. I know that they have meds to make your immune system weaker that they are using for Psoriasis, Biologics. But they have some bad side effects. looking at that picture I can not imagine the pain your in. You are in my prayers. I hope you get better soon.

[Dee]

Oh Becca that looks so sore. I don't have any ideas to help you out but I want to give you a

[moonstar]

You are in my prayers too, looks so painful... what about honey or aloe vera from the plant?

[Lilly]

I found this online.

 

Self-care

 

If you have bullous pemphigoid, you can help take care of your condition in several ways. Here are a few ideas:

 

Watch your diet. If you have blisters in your mouth, avoid eating hard and crunchy foods, such as chips and raw fruits and vegetables.

Avoid injury. Your skin is fragile, both from bullous pemphigoid and the medication used to treat it, so take care to prevent trauma. If you accidentally break a blister on your skin, cover it with a dry, sterile dressing to protect it from infection as it heals.

Take necessary supplements. If you're taking oral corticosteroids for longer than a month, talk to your doctor about taking calcium and vitamin D supplements to help prevent osteoporosis.

Prepare for the sun. At least 30 minutes before you head outdoors — winter or summer — generously apply sunscreen with a sun protection factor (SPF) of 15 or greater

[Jeepers]

Oh Dear, it does look painful. I'm so sorry you are going through this. I didn't find anything other than what the others have posted. The main thing I found was to be sure to keep the area super clean to avoid infections.

Dang...

[Becca_Anne]

I found an online support group, so hopefully they can give me more help. My left arm is now getting more blisters. Your positive thoughts and prayers help so much!

[Abigail]

((((Becca Anne)))) I'm so sorry you're having to suffer through this. You must be miserable; I'll keep you in prayer that you will be able to find relief and that your doctor will be able to get a handle on this soon.

 

I did some research on this; from what I found, it looks like your doctor is following the correct course of treatment. Some sources did say that topical cortisone creams were used instead of the oral drugs, but personally I'd want this to be treated aggressively so that you can get some relief.

 

Hugs and prayers...

[Jasminegirl]

for relief from that pain and praying for healing of those blisters. So sorry you are going through this. I know my back kept me up many a nights for months with so much pain. I cried every night and my hubby couldn't stand me in so much pain, none of the pain medicine worked much and I slept in the recliner and sitting up on the couch many nights. I hope you get relief soon.

[ArmyOfFive4God]

Oh sweetie, that looks like something awful to endure. I can't offer any help or advice but I want to give you

[Becca_Anne]

Thanks for the hugs and support.

 

In addition to the care I'm getting from the dermatologist I have made myself an apt with my allergist to see if there is anything in addition to what we are doing I can add to reduce my general inflammation (like hidden food allergies) and also an acupuncturist that I hear is excellent.

 

I am also going to buy a whole house air purifier hospital grade to clean the air, rip out my bedroom and hall carpet and put in Pergo to cut cown on the mold/dust. The hall carpet is next to the kitchen which has hardwood and that is the area my dogs are in the most so the thought there is to reduce the amt of possible issues from the carpet being peed on while they were housebreaking and any mold that might be in the pad since I am hightly allergic to mold and also allergic to my dogs but I'll try everything else before re-homing them. Since Pemmphigoid isn't allergy related this is mostly to reduce any other stresses on my system.

Hopefully this will resolve soon! I think the higher dose of meds my Dr upped me to is helping. Last night I only got a few new blisters.

[Cowgirl]

There are things to avoid. If you are into herbal and natural supplements, you may want to avoid taking Spirulina algae:

 

http://pt.wkhealth.com/pt/re/ijdm/abstract...1195628!8091!-1

 

I don't know if it would help, but comfrey salve does wonders for so many skin ailments. Since yours is caused by an auto-immune condition, I'd try anything with extreme caution, using on, say, one sore until you see if it has any negative effects.

 

Since you are on tetracycline, I did a quick Google search and found that niacin is sometimes used in conjunction with tetracycline.

 

http://www.appliedhealth.com/nutri/page5961.php

[Becca_Anne]

Thanks Cowgirl! I'll have to see about the comfrey salve. I just signed up to go the Annual Int'l Pemphigus/Pemphigoid Goundation Dr/Patient Mtg where they go over everything I'll need to know, and I'll get to hear about the latest research and meet others with my disorder. It is Apr 4-6 so I was lucky I got my diagnosis so soon so I could still get cheap tickets.

 

I am on a B complex vitamin so I'm getting Niacin there, but I'll ask my Derm on monday when I'm checking in.

[Mother]

Becca, be very careful using Pergo or any of the other manufactured floorings. We bought some thinking it would help my allergies but only had it out of the carton for about an hour before I had a terrible headache, dizziness, and nausea. When we packed it up and put it outside the symptoms went away. Seems that most of that type of flooring contains varying amounts of formaldehyde and that is a drastic allergen.

 

We brought ours back to the store where they told us that they'd had several people tell them the same thing had happened to them. From my research, those floors can outgas for years especially if they get warm or have sunshine on them. We are now stuck with a sub floor that we will most likely have to use ceramic tile or hard wood on.

 

There are several sites dealing with allergies and building materials. Please check them out carefully before you put anything new into your home.

 

((( )))

[Snowmom]

 

Wow, Becca, I'm so sorry about all of this. I've never heard of Bullous Pemphigoid before, or seen anything like this.

 

I'll be that you will be able to find something to get rid of those blisters.

 

[Becca_Anne]

Thanks for the tip. I'll mention it to my dad who is organizing it for me. I am going to have a hospital quality air filter in my bedroom as well as a whole house air filtering system installed that removed particles down to .01 micron, killing viruses and neutralizing things like gasses. And I've never thought I was chemically sensitive. Obviously now though I need to take that possiblility into account. I don't think we can afford to do hardwood though.

[MomM]

(((Becca))) Oh Becca, I just saw your picture. I am so sorry that you have this. Definitely will be praying for you: healing and also discernement re treatment, so you will have peace in what treatment to use and which ones to avoid. I see where your fingernails are fairly short - that is good. Keep them short so you don't accidentaly scratch a blister and break it open.

Take care.

[Shari]

By any chance, are you using any products with tea tree oil in them? My sister just went through an serious bout similar to this. It was finally determined that her new shampoo with tea tree oil was the culprit. Just rinsing her hair in the shower and having the suds splash up on her legs caused her awful blisters and agony. Not many are allergic to this, but if you are one of the few, apparently, tea tree oil can be very devastating!

[serendipity]

(((((hugs))))))

 

Becca Anne!

 

Hoping that you will heal soon sweetie.

 

Sending hugs and prayers your way.

[Becca_Anne]

No tea tree oil. It's not an allergy unfortunately. The biopsy results my derm did show the signs of skin layer separation found in Bullous Pemphigoid, we're still waiting on the official results to conclusively confirm it. Pretty much my body is dissolving the glue that holds my skin together mistaking it for a foreign invader.

 

I am reducing allergens to help my body be less inflamed in general and help with my other health issues.

 

Thank you all so much for your prayers and hugs! I am keeping a positive attitude and your support really helps so much!

[HSmom]

Oh Becca!! I'm so sorry you're dealing with this! How do you sleep?! Oh my. A very GENTLE for you.

[Jeepers]

If you can't do a wood floor right now maybe linoleum or tile would work.

[Mother]

Good idea Jeepers but both linoleum and tile can also outgas for a considerable length of time depending on it's chemical make up. We do have tile in our kitchen and vinyl sheeting in our bathroom but both bothered me for a long time after we put it in.

 

I did find out that Linoleum, made the original way, is safe for those with allergies. I'm just glad that Becca doesn't have severe allergies to deal with along with all this.

 

Becca, you are right to check with an allergiest though. If you do have allergies of any kind they will only overload the immune response even more. Please keep us up to date on what you are doing to make your house/bedroom more allergy proof. We are trying to do the same here little by little.

 

(((( ))))

[cookiejar]

I just want my very gentle hugs in too chica. I'm so sorry your having this. Hopefully it will run it's course soon and fade away. Are the soaks the kind with sulpher?

 

[Becca_Anne]

Thanks I will keep you all posted on my progress and you can follow my journey through this here at

My blog

 

After talking it over with my dad we are still going to put in the Pergo. We'll let it air out for a week before I move back in and with the hospital grade air purifier and whole house purification I think it will be o.k. It's just not in the budget to do anything else right now (After spending $ to buy my tickets to the conference and the air purification systems) and tile is just not a comfortable option for me.