First of all, I want to thank you all so much for your prayers today. My appointment at Mayo went well, the doctor was knowledgeable and figured out what's been going on. Praise the Lord! Unfortunately there is a new disease to add to my ever growing list, but this one isn't lethal so that's good! I have something called Dermographism, which is also known as the Skin Writing Disease. Basically, when my skin is stroked, scratched, rubbed, slapped, bumped, etc... hives develop and the skin becomes raised and inflamed. It can also be triggered by stress, clothing, watches, heat, cold or anything that causes stress to me or my skin. Now I know why the carpet in our apartment (and a zillion other things) gives me hives and makes me itch like crazy! The disease is called the Skin Writing Disease because you can write on your skin and in a few minutes raised hives will appear. Some artists with this disease use their skin as their medium! Unfortunately for me, the Dermographism is really itchy so my doctor has prescribed Allegra long term for the rashes along with a steroid cream to help with the itching. I'm looking forward to getting on this tomorrow and stopping this incessant itching!! Somehow this is related to my asthma. Super strange, right?!
As far as the hair loss goes he thinks that is from loosing so much weight so quickly. When you're malnourished you tend to loose your hair as well. Go figure. The good news is the Prednisone I've been on for the last month has given me the munchies and I've gained about 7 pounds. Only 13 more to go to be healthy again!
Overall this was a pretty good appointment. I'm really grateful that I got answers. As I've been reading about Skin Writing Disease it explains exactly what's been going on. Praise the Lord for dermatologists...and they didn't even have to biopsy (aka cut out chunks of me) anything! One rheumatologist thought that my UCTD was becoming more active, the other thought that I was having an allergic reaction to my medication. They were both wrong! Well, it probably is related to UCTD in some way. No one is really sure what causes this, but it seems to be linked to autoimmune diseases so I guess it makes sense. It's great news that I'm not having a reaction to my medications, hopefully I'll be able to get back on them asap. I need to wait for the dermatologist to send his notes to my rheumatologist and then he will review them. Someone will give me a call and let me know what meds I can go back on. Pray that this would happen quickly as typing up notes can take a long time in Rochester. I can't believe how busy it was there today. All of the doctors must be back from Christmas break!
So, that's the news. I also have some atypical moles I need to keep an eye on to make sure they don't turn into skin cancer. That's all I need! I've had them my whole life, no problems yet, so I'm not too concerned. He wants me to see a dermatologist once a year to keep an eye on them. Oh joy, more doctors :-/
Again, thank you for your prayers, bunches and bunches! On our way home from Rochester dad and I continued through southern Minnesota, through Iowa and into Wisconsin to go to Cabela's in Prairie du Chien. Then we took the scenic route back across the river to Iowa, Minnesota and finally back home to Wisconsin. We saw lots of eagles, hawks and beautiful scenery! I can't believe I didn't have my camera with me so we're going to have to go for a drive again. I have so many good shots lined up! What a fun afternoon and a beautiful day for a drive :-)
