Rheumatoid Arthritis Support Group
Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic, inflammatory, multisystem, autoimmune disorder. It is a disabling and painful condition which can lead to substantial loss of mobility due to pain and joint destruction. The disease is also systemic in that it often also affects many extra-articular tissues throughout the body including the skin, blood vessels, heart, lungs, and...
Hi again - off on a wonderful vacation with the family and feeling better than I have in months. Only thing bothering me is 3 blisters (?) that have appeared on my hip / upper glute. I saw a doc at the small town we are close to and he was very honest in saying he really had no clue what they were. They popped up overnight, small clear fluid filled blisters - no pain / tingling and over the past 4 days they have gotten a bit bigger, very tender, and quite red. The doc wavered between shingles (which is doesn't look ANYTHING like according to the pics online) and some sore of herpes (which I've never had). He checked my bloodwork to make sure I'm not crashing from the MTX. So he sent me away with a script for Valacyclovir, which treats chick pox (which I had as a kid) as well as lots of herpes (which I really don't think I have - never even had a cold sore).
They look like 3 chicken pox blisters, but I don't think you can get them again if you've already had them, and it doesn't at all look like shingles. I also wondered if they were spider bites, though I'm pretty sure I'd remember getting bit....
But given I'm new to Plaquenil and MTX, and I'm assuming 6 weeks of MTX is depressing my immune system I'm trying to figure out if it's something related to the Rx or to RA that may not be apparent to a doc at a walk-in clinic in the middle of no-where.
Sorry for the off-topic post, but if it's drug/RA related I figured you were the group to consult!!
thanks
They look like 3 chicken pox blisters, but I don't think you can get them again if you've already had them, and it doesn't at all look like shingles. I also wondered if they were spider bites, though I'm pretty sure I'd remember getting bit....
But given I'm new to Plaquenil and MTX, and I'm assuming 6 weeks of MTX is depressing my immune system I'm trying to figure out if it's something related to the Rx or to RA that may not be apparent to a doc at a walk-in clinic in the middle of no-where.
Sorry for the off-topic post, but if it's drug/RA related I figured you were the group to consult!!
thanks
Sorry that your vacation was interrupted for this "stuff". I get shingles and they are not your run of the mill variety. Thankfully they come in very small cluster(s) and are not as typically painful and debilitating. Take a look at the second slide on the website:
http://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/shingles/slideshow-shingles-pictures
It may look a bit more like what you are talking about. Did you have chicken pox (usually as a child)? As you are not at risk for shingles if you did not have the chicken pox virus in your system laying latent until an outbreak. Do check in with your RA doc right away, mine does not want me to be on MTX when I have a shingles outbreak due to the weakened immune system.
When I was on vacation to see a new grandbaby, I got stressed out (issues with the ex) and ended up with an outbreak of shingles! It put me off of MTX for 4 weeks. So starting again... it is hard to overcome the break in meds. Be ever so careful!
Stress is the leading cause of my outbreaks of shingles. I continue to take the valtrex as a preventative, per my primary care physician. I will check in with the RA doc on my regular appointment to get his approval on it also. I hope this info may be helpful to you. I also hope it is not shingles.
I know you cannot get the shingles vaccine once you have shingles, but I wonder what the RA docs would think of getting the vaccine if you have not had them... I think taking the shingles vaccine might be helpful to our fellow RA sufferers, but do not know if it is adviseable. Anyone know?
-daizy8
I have nummular eczema, which sometimes manifests as blisters. Look at pictures, and see if yours are similar. Send me a message if you need some sites for photos or info. I can tell you that it's something you don't want, but it's not deadly.
doug
If it is shingles, you will know - because they itch like nothing you have ever imagined. I only had a few small blisters last year, and it took a month to get a diagnosis. I was put on Valtrex twice for a week,and it did nothing, although it is "supposed" to work. My pdoc finally put me on a month of Famvir, because of the immune system suppression because of the RA drugs. That was because I was up all night trying to rip my arm off with my teeth, because the itching was so bad. Which was driving me insane.
So last week when 2 little blisters appeared in the same place, but on the opposite arm, I took 1000 mg of Valtrex in the night and morning and saw my family doc. This time, because I am not on a DMARD, and I got it within 10 hours, it seems to have worked. Obviously the year of maintenance Valtrex didn't help prevent it from coming back.
So if it doesn't itch like mad, probably not Shingles. And like Doug said, shingles is herpes zoster, which is the chicken pox virus which lies dormant in the spine for decades, till stress or something sends it out as shingles along the nerves. I guess a vacation could count as stress - that is when I got mine the first time. Traveling around and enjoying myself.
Hope you get this solved. If it is shingles, the sooner you get it the Famvir the better. Valtrex is for herpes simplex - cold sores and other stuff. Unless you aren't on any RA meds, it is better to get the right drug to treat it.
I called my rheumy and as long as I didn't have a fever she had no problems with MTX. Seems to have worked out ok given I finished them last week, but I did feel like a science experiment for a while there.