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Becs101
Tue, Nov-06-07, 06:28
Hi guys,

I have done the Fat Fast and then went to really low carb, less than 5g as I was not loosing at all before. The weight is 'dropping' off now, and I am very rarely hungry but have come out in a rash on my torso (small clump of itchy red spots) and spots (regular kind) on my face and neck.

I have used hydocotisone (sorry if spelt wrong) cream on my chest rash but hasn't worked....do you think this is because my hormone levels have changed and my body's going through a bit of a crisis?

Any advice would be great as quite worried....

Thanks
x :help:

Nancy LC
Tue, Nov-06-07, 10:58
It might be something you're eating. Sometimes people are allergic to things found in low carb products.

SNOWHT
Tue, Nov-06-07, 15:18
I had the exact same thing happen when I started using coconut oil.

mike_d
Tue, Nov-06-07, 20:41
Its probably hormonal, but if its painful and fizzes when you put peroxide on the rash it could be a staph infection-- if so see a doctor right away. I know this from personal experience.

Becs101
Wed, Nov-07-07, 07:19
Thanks guys.....slightly better today but still there...think I will go and see Doctor....although...previous to this when I started the Fat Fast my chest was aching 'all' the time....so maybe could be to do with hormonal changes......you never know and my body adjusting to the big weight loss....

x

Becs101
Fri, Nov-09-07, 06:57
Its got way worse now. Have brakout rash on my chest, back of my neck and on my back...! Been to see Doc this morning and said its sweat rash but infected so have got some steroid cream.......its driving me nuts!

Has anyone else had anything similar to this???

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

SNOWHT
Fri, Nov-09-07, 09:08
Yes when I put CO in my coffee I have a rash
& spots on face, neck & back. Also have chest pain with this. I still haven't figured out why
but I have narrowed it down to CO. Wonder if it's the same thing just caused by something else? What do the spots look like?

Becs101
Fri, Nov-09-07, 09:45
Sorry to ask this but whats CO? If I am using that...then I am going to stop!

The spots look like a nettle rash and are really itchy...they are driving me 'mad'. They are like red cots, slightly raised, like what you get from a nettle sting....

They seem to be spreading though as well.....so I am having to be very careful where I touch, and with washing my hands...they're in the hair line on the back of my neck, small clump of them on my back and on my chest...so in 'sweaty' areas...although its freezing in the UK at the moment so not much sweating going on!!

I am freaking out about this....I have done LC a lot but never had anything like this before......
x :help:

SNOWHT
Fri, Nov-09-07, 09:58
CO is coconut oil. Sounds like the same spots.

LottaP
Sun, Nov-18-07, 06:02
Its got way worse now. Have brakout rash on my chest, back of my neck and on my back...! Been to see Doc this morning and said its sweat rash but infected so have got some steroid cream.......its driving me nuts!

Hi,

I'm all new here and new to low carb, but I am not new to skin problems, and reading your posting, I couldn't resist jumping in, hope that's OK :) To put it short, I myself have several conditions that affects the skin, two has been with me since I was a very small child. Because of this, I have been active in an organzation for people with skin diseases for 15+ years, incl. being the national pres., so I have been lucky to be able to travel to dermatology congresses etc. and I have met many hundred if not thousands of people with skin conditions over the years. Through all this, I have learned a lot about skin conditions and treatment of them.

There are two things you say that really makes me wonder; 1. Your doc diagnosed the rash as being infected and 2. He prescribed a steroid cream.

The reason why this puzzles me, is that using steroids on an infected rash, may be a real problem. Such a secondary infection, normally is bacterial, so I guess that is what you are referring to (not e.g. a yeast infection). Steroids may make the infection *worse*, and it may also mask (a worsening of) infection. Normally you'd want/prefer to get the infection under control first or (mostly if the infection is quite light) at least use a cream that has antibiotics added. So: Do you know if the cream you got, is only a steroid cream, or if it has some other component added? Could you share the name of the cream? If you only got a steroid cream, and nothing at all to treat the infection, I would call the doctor's office to ask about how he/she wants you to treat the infection.

Besides that, in general... As I see it, it is totally impossible to know what this really is, or if it is the same as somebody else here had, from your description. There are so many different skin conditions and many of them sound as much the same. Your description could easily fit many (!) different conditions, as I see it. Also, it is very easy to blame whatever one's doing at the time when a rash appears (or disappears!), but most of the time we're then jumping to (incorrect) conclusions... Most often it is simply a coincidence - so that possibility should always also be considered.

Bottom line is that the only way to get a proper diagnosis and treatment plan, is by seeing your doctor so that he can take a close look at it. As you've done! :) Because, this is difficult and complex stuff and it is impossible to recognize such things over the internet, in writing. Not even a good picture would do it. It takes knowledge no lay person has. But, at the same time you should know that a general practitioner normally has a quite limited knowledge about skin conditions and treatment of them too (if he/she doesn't happen to be one who for some reason has taken a special interest in the field). There of course are some very common conditions they see all the time, and they build knowledge/experience about those. If one gets something that isn't very common though, if it is a challenging case of something or if you get a chronic skin condition, you most likely have a lot to gain from asking for a referral to a dermatologist. If I were you, if your rash doesn't clear quite quickly, I would ask for a referral to a dermatologist to be sure that the diagnosis is correct and that the best treatment route is chosen.

But first of all, you should check the issue re. the cream you got and the infection. Also, there are several ways to handle both a skin infection and the itching you're having. The itching feeling (and probably a feeling that the inside of the skin more or less is "boiling"), probably is made worse by having both the inflammation caused by the condition itself and the secondary infection (the infection may be caused by scratching to begin with, so try all you can to keep your fingers off that skin)... When the skin is like that on such a quite large area, it sure gets very uncomfortable. If the itching and skin discomfort gets is too bad, and you e.g. can't sleep at night, using Benadryl at night might be a good idea. I would take it e.g. 2 hours before bedtime, so that you can try to get gradually more "tired" and calm before going to bed. Do you have a bath tub? There are things you can add to a bath, e.g. "KP" (Here the name is "Kaliumpermanganat", which I'm sure translates to "Potassium Permanganate" in the US. Looked it up, you can read about it on Wikipedia) that will contribute to treating the infection and you at the same time can add oats or wheat bran concentrate which will be soothing and help for the itching. "KP" is used a lot in dermatology wards to treat secondary infection e.g. in atopic dermatitis (add to the water until it looks somewhat like 50/50 grape juice and water - no wonder kids love bathing in this ;) ). Let the bath water be luke warm, not too warm or not since heat will both increase itching and may make your sweat rash worse. Let me know if you want me to describe how you make wheat bran concentrate to add into the water. It's easy, you get the ingredients at the supermarket and it does help (and if you ask me, I hate the smell of oats, wheat bran does NOT stink and does the same job for the skin ;) )... :)

I'm sure that your doctor told you that if the infection gets worse/spreads, or if you do not succeed in getting it under control real soon, you might need a course of oral antibiotics...

Just thought I'd add a link to an article on Wikipedia that might provide you with useful information about Miliaria, which is what is normally called "sweat rash": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miliaria - at the bottom of the article, you'll also see links to other articles.

Sorry this got so long...

NorthPeace
Sun, Nov-18-07, 14:41
Becs, with true fasts, sometimes people get rashes that could be caused by toxins being released by the cells. If an ff is similar to true fasts in this regard then you could be freeing up something that your systems have not been able to eliminate yet via sweat, spit, urine or poop.

lisacna
Sun, Nov-18-07, 17:17
speculation here --yeast die off?