Pityriasis Rosea…Is there any hope?

I'm a 19 year old college student, male. I was diagnosed by my doctor and was told it would clear up in 6-8 weeks on its own. However, I'm in college and lets be honest, there's some activities that I quite enjoy. Because of this lovely PR, my activeness in my activities has gone down. As much as I enjoy the solitude, I need it gone! Thankfully mine doesn't itch or hurt, but it ain't pretty to the eyes. I have some big plans in a week and a half and this NEEDS to be gone.

 

After reading through everything on here, I went out and bought some Aloe Vera gel from Safeway and rubbed it all over the infected area. After an hour, it looked slightly less red; so I applied more. Tomorrow after work, I'm going to lie on my deck and try the tanning method. Hopefully you lot were right as it seems Aloe Vera and tanning seemed to work for a lot of you. I'm off to bed, but I'm hoping I'll wake up to a pleasant surprise. 

 

 

i'm a 23 year old female only found out that i had this after 3 weeks of seeing 3 pharmacists and 2 doctors after him telling me there is no cure for it and just to try and stop the itch and wait it out... i found that not stressing about it has made it a hell of alot bettter as i was getting so upset and stressed it was making it worse! hot showers seem to bring it out the most or if i get to hot in bed/work/exercise. my advice would be to wear loose clothing try and stay cool dont stress about it even though its hard not too! ive been using aqueous cream to wash with as using my everyday showergel just made it worse! i tried using head and shoulders dandruff shampoo tonight and after one wash of leaving it on the skin for about 15 mins it seems to be drying up and clearing which is a plus! not sure how long this will take to go as i wont use sunbeds but i will keep on using head and shoulders and hopefully it should sod off soon!

Well, over a month ago, the orignal mother spot, or herald rash as it's referred to showed up on my lower right abdomen.  It didn't itch that much and I remember looking at it and wondering what the hell it was.  Then about two weeks later my chest started itching like crazy. I'm in the Air Force and went on a trip to Huntsville Alabama and stayed at a Candlewood Suites (extended stay) hotel.  I was there for two weeks, and they only provide room service once a week.  I thought it was a little odd.  So, when the itching began I thought it might be because of dust mites or bed bugs or whatever.  I figured I was in the dirty south and this is the type of sh*t I should expect.  I tried taking showers, but that seemed to upset the itching more.  I finally talked to my fiance' about it because she's an ER nurse.  She thought it might have been scabies from what I described.  Then she told me it may be Pityriasis Rosa.  I looked it up and that's exactly what I have! This disease sucks so much.  I tried running on the treadmill to see if sweating and clearing my pours out would work.  I've gone running mulitple times to get my sweat flowing.  Last run was 60 mins, ran over 7.5 miles.  Upon doing more research I found out that sweat usually only inflames this condition. So, for now I've stopped running.  Nevertheless it feels good to just get some endorfins flowing through your body.  So, 5 weeks into this condition, my family and my fiance finally encouraged to schedule a doctor's appointment.  I don't really need to go in because I'm 100% sure I correctly self diagnosed myself.  But whatever, it will make the people who care about me feel better.  The doctor is probably just going to say, "Yep, you have PR, let it run it's course, good luck!"  Whatever, I can't wait til this disease is over. I may try sun tanning because I've never done that in my life and it is February right now.  I hope I have a normal case of this c**p and it ends in two months.  6 months would blow!   I'm think I 'm like 5-6 weeks in.  It could be worse , it is just a temporary condition and you will never get it again. And it only itches. Terminal and degenerative diseases are much worse.  That is what I keep telling myself.  I have this rash on my entire body form the neck down. I found that the itching spreads over time.  Once you get a serious itch in one part of your body and itch it really bad, it usually doesn't itch there again for a while. Now granted I have itched parts of my body to the point of light bleeding.  But my skin has already fully healed in the intensly itches areas.   The worse area was my ballsack.  (er... scotum for all you medical people) It was like a normal ballsack itch but it kept itching!!!  I found that Hydrocortisone cream works fairly well.  I wouldn't doubt if I got this disease from all the viral vaccinations the military pumps it's members with.  I think I've seen this disease on other people at my base in the gym locker room.  This is probably some man made viral disease the government created.  Uncle Sam is such a corrupt bastard...  Thanks for listening to my story. 

Hi, 

 

Im a light skin black girl...or at least WAS before this PR started!

Its pretty much everywhere from my neck, back, breast, torso and inner thighs and now creeping past my knees.

The itch is INSANE and also sometime i get excruciating pain like i am being set on fire...so bad i had to soak a towel in ice cold water and put on me to cool me down an extinguish the fire like burning sensation.

Its officially 3 weeks today and all my skin is extremley dry and flaking and look like they are merging. I went tanning yesterday and NO ITCH for hours it was bliss and i also noticed the flaking has been minimal since then.

However my question is...

 

Now that all my red/pink marks have turned brown and dry is is now on its way out? and is it worth continuing the tanning bed solution? I cant seem to find anywhere what the final stage looks like before its starts to heal.

 

Would be really grateful if someone can help/advise/point me in the right direction?

 

Thank you xxx

 

I am 39, and I have had PR for over a year now. I had just one patch on my right leg. Then it was a patch here and a patch there, mostly on my inner thighs, upper arm, spots on my belly. I have gotten my first few on my neck.  I break out terrible if I have a cold or virus. I have not tried the sun, I may have to see what it does since the weather is getting better. I noticed it came on when I gained a lot of weight at one time. I thought I had a type of skin cancer. I take a multi-vitamin to keep my immune system up. I also put baby oil on after a shower. I do not use hot hot water anymore, The doctor said it is worst the dryer your skin is. Mine do not itch until they start to get flaky.

Did you use cream on the spots? Because I am confused about they say the spots need to dry up and when you tan, they seem to start drying. But if you use cream, you will moisten them. Help!!!!!!!! Lisa P.

Im confused about using cream vs. not using cream.  Don't you want them to dry up?   Cause if you use cream, they will be moisturized and look redder. 

 

Lisa P

 

I know that this was posted awhile ago but i just want to add to it. I am a 20 year old white female and I was just diagnosed with PR a few days ago. I first noticed the "herald patch" and did some research. I thought I had ringworm so I went to the doctor and by this time there were a few red dots on my back that itched like CRAZY! The doctor told me I have PR and there is nothing they can do. As I am walking out the door she says to me "good luck!" So by now I am thinking to myself, great I just have to deal with this. However, after looking online I read that this can take anywhere from 6 weeks to 6 months to heal! There's no way I am waiting that long, I am already impatient as it is. 

I work in the health care field as a person care worker. I work with dementia patients that forget that I just told them why I have red dots all over, so i am constantly being reminded of this. I am also a part time college student. I don't usually even care about my looks, I don't even own any makeup. Evenso, I feel so ugly and self conscious, I feel like there is no hope. I have never tanned in my  life and always said that I never would. However, I went for my first time (three minutes in a stand-up tanning bed) and it felt so good, I wish I could stay in there forever. However, I didn't see any improvement in my PR. I lotioned before and after and took a cold shower ( I dont have a bathtub) when I got home, using herbal essence shampoo for my hair and then lotioned after that too. I went tanning again today and did all of that too, but this time i went for five minutes. So far I haven't really seen any improvement. I have another appointment scheduled to go tanning tomorrow. I really hope this helps. I have homework and housework piling up because I cant bare to do anything because the itching is so bad and I am running out of hope. Is there anyone who still reads this that can offer me any advice on the tanning or any other treatment? I use hydrating herbal essence shampoo for my hair, every few days I have been using dove unscented sensitive skin body wash, and I use Jergens Ultra Healing lotion and lotion up about 3-5 times a day (I try to lotion up instead of itching), I have been taking allergy medication 1x daily, and have tanning twice in the last week, going again tomorrow. Oh, and I live in Wisconsin, that would be the state that it is still snowing in so getting natural sun is not an option. SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME!

Hey hun have patience I know it sounds hard at the moment but it will get better. I have black skin so maybe results differ? But I used the sunbed on a Monday, Wednesday and Thursday after that I relaxed (didn't go tanning) all through till Sunday.
That weekend I started noticing the difference...all day the rash was getting less intense red and was fading before my eyes I was so excited.
I have used the sunbed a total of 5 times over 2 weeks and my PR is now gone...check out my WordPress it has my journal and pictures of my whole ordeal. I hope it works for you :)

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hi carly198401, how long did you use the tanning bed for, and what did you mositerise with? Im a black girl too, and my rash has delevloped all over me into dark scars. I look a mess... I really want it gone as i feel very very insecure :( xxx

For 2 weeks. Going 3 times during one week and healing on the weekend drinking lots of water and moisturising with pure cocunut oil and palmers cocunut butter (alternating) and then the second week I went 3 times again and by the second week Ithad disappeared. I have only have faded scars but not noticeable unless you are really close up to me and I mean TOO close lol. Don't give up hun xxx

lol Too funny Carly.

Well ive tried two sunbed sessions, one saturday for 6minutes and monday for 10minutes. I still have a rash all over however its not so inflammed. Due to me now being a shade darker, the scars are a little less prominent however are still noticable. Brown girl with Dark brown scars...

Ive booked a three day vacation next thursday to ibiza to see whether natural sun will help.. as its complete snow in the uk at the moment. So hopefully fingers crossed that will help as well. As i really need vitamin D. Im going to also try one more session on the sunbed on Saturday for 6 minutes.

The itchiness is not as bad no more.. and believe me it was insane to the point i was cutting my skin with my nails due to scratching soo much. I use strong antihistimines and a medicated shower gel for the itching. But after using them i can say the itchyness is a hell of a lot better.

I alternate between the medicated shampo and dermol cream (used as a showergel). Dermol cream as a shower gel is good to soften the skin and keep it soft..as dryness really creates more itching. (it helps)

I moisterise with aquas cream and coconut oils/butter(natural) which is fading the scars slowly bur surely lol...

I also have started taking Vitamin c tablets each day, and am going to invest in some vitamin E for skin repair.

I admit It is getting better, i just worry that its going to flare up again. :(

Thanks though Carly..as your advise has defo helped me.. Ill keep you updated- Muahh  xxx

 

Ps ive had mines for 2 x weeks now and had it severly, with fever, pain in muscles itching and headache.. In addition the really bad rash from neck to thighs which have scarred my skin terribly.

There is help for this!

 

I'm a 26 year old female who was diagnosed with PR a week ago. I'd had the rash 2 weeks prior and had tried everything. My doctor had initially started me on a pretizone oral steroid with allegra over the counter- which did help the itching- but then my dermatologist prescribed Triamcinolone Acetonide Cream. It's a little smelly and cold but using it twice a day for just 4 days has taken the scaliness and redness out of the rash. It's still prevalent on my stomach and legs but it has cleared almost completely from my neck and chest. I'm also not peeling or itching, though I'm still taking the pretizone and the allegra. 

This cream seems to help immensely. I'm also moisturizing with vaseline intensive care for sensitive skin as often as I feel like i'm starting to tingle or itch again. I've been spending time outside as well- I was told 30-60 minutes of natural sun exposure will help. SO far so good! Relief is in sight! Just see a dermatologist. 

Hi, I am 15 years old, and my the dermatologist diagnosed me with PR. I've had this for about 1 month and two weeks. He gave me ointment to help speed up the recovery of PR. It didnt really work, and the ointment is also finished. I've been freaking out because it gotten worst & spreaded more. I also have dark skin so I don't know if tanning will work for me. It's also spring time & I feel so uncomfortable with body. PLEASE give me some advice. Like what remedies I should use to help get rid of this. Thank you !

Hi, I"m on the second week with the rash diagnosed as PR-it just seems to be escalating-I even had some on the inside of my cheeks(my facial ones, to be more specific. I had a nasty break-up a few months ago, and in consequence went at improving myself with both barrels-I quit drinking ,processed sugar and then smoking, determined to be this amazing,glowing healthy attractive person that I would unveil in the spring. I exercise a lot as well. Then I get hit with this-at first I thought it was a reaction to the nicotine patch. What I want to know is, is it 6-8 duration of accumulating legions? Some are already healing, but hello, there are three new ones in its place. The tanning-there is still no sun here-I don;t care for whatever other germs and virus incubate in those tanning places-and doesn't tanning create much greater risk of scarring? My skin scars very easily.