Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group For those who want to keep updated...

hey james

did you say you were calm at docs about the rash? when you call tomorrow, maybe act pretty concerned about the rash. dont know if it would would work but... anyone else have ideas? good luck, hope you get in there quick!

Keeping my fingers crossed that they'll fit you in. Maybe if the clinic is close enough you could just front up at the office and wave your hands under their noses. Hopefully that would get their attention sufficiently...?

Hi James, just saw the photos of the rash. My goodness it must be uncomfortable, not to mention on the palm of your hand and tips of fingers. I'm glad you were able to get in to a dermatologist sooner than September and hope it's relatively easy to clear up. I wonder what helped most, the steroids or the Benadryl.

It sseems so unfair that you are having all these complications and I wish we could make them go away for you.

Warm hugs,

Hi James,

I didn't see where you made the connection between your blisters and Embrel. I've had exactly these type of blisters on my hands a few times. Once they were all over my hand and fingers. I had to use steroid cream and cover my hands with white gloves to hold the cream in place. After about a week, it cleared up. But it's came back a couple of times again, but never that bad. Oh, yeah, this happened years before I'd even heard of Enbrel. Ask your Dermatologist if this is definately a reaction to Enbrel, or just typical AS attacking your skin. That's what my Dr. decided it was. But who knows.

Dean.

James

A friend of mine suffers from pustular psoarisis and it looks very similar. I think it can be caused by all sorts from medicines to stress or even smoking!

Hope you get an answer soon.

Upsydaisy

If I recall correctly, the connection was that it appeared at the same time as the other acute allergic reaction symptoms triggered after the Enbrel shot, and he's had a history of bad reactions to meds so it does make sense. Who knows, maybe you're allergic to something obscure that you're occasionally exposed to, and get an allergic reaction too? Either way, at least you've got a solution in the steroid cream, and hopefully James' doc comes up with something useful too...

Hi UpsyDaisy,
I have actually put some thought into the possibility of it being another form of psoriasis, but I can't figure out why Enbrel would completely clear up my psoriasis-like condition, where I had the raised and scaly red blotches, and then allow for another psoriasis-like condition to take over, with blisters and dark red marks. I just woke up and I see that I have what looks to be over 100 of these blistery looking things on my hands tonight. They are in fact puss filled though. I popped quite a few of them already and they were clearly puss filled.
Take care,
James

Hi SJLC,
That pretty much sums it up. At first I noticed a few odd blisters developing, then a few weeks later I had difficulty breathing at night because my throat felt like it was swelling shut and at the same time many more of the blisters started forming. The Emergency room and my rheumy both said that it was some type of reaction from Enbrel (probably due to the timing), and was best to stop the Enbrel immediately. My rheumy wants to know what exactly is going on by seeing a dermatologist. Who knows, it might even be a drug interaction type of problem too. I read that vitamin D can cause blistering too. I have been taking about 400IU daily all through this event. She has long been aware that I already have a psoriasis-like condition but it has never been properly diagnosed, so she said I can finally get to the bottom of that too.

Take care,
James

Hi Dean,
If I didn't start the Enbrel, I think I would presume the blisters to be a new type of psoriasis-like breakout and probably not think much of it, because I would still have my other psoriasis-like problem. However, the Enbrel completely cleared up my original psoriasis-like condition of the scaly raised red blotchy type though. After starting the Enbrel though, I also started having throat swelling related breathing problems around the same time I started getting the blisters.

I was put on Medrol steroids and Benadryl and it worked extremely well against the blisters and the throat swelling, but now the blisters are back, and it looks to me that they mean business tonight. I think I have about 100 of them now, between the little bumps and blisters anyways. My thumb has has a bunch of dark red spots where the blisters were.

This is a confusing problem lol.

Anyhow, I think a steroid cream would probably work out better for me, because I am also trying to fight bone loss.

Take care,
James

Hi Everyone,
I seem to have a blister outbreak going on at the moment so I have updated my photo collection again for the dermatologist to see. I tossed in a couple of bonus pictures for you. One is of me standing in the bathroom, which you can kind of tell by the angle it was taken up towards the ceiling. The other is of me sitting on the bathroom sink showing off my chubby face and some funky part in my hair that I have going on. That is my wife's reflection in the mirror.

blister pictures - as of July 28th - with pictures of me

blister pictures - pre july28th - with pictures of birdies

Have a good day,
Take care,
James