can DH flare for no apparent reason?

[celiacmaine-iac]

I have been GF for approx. 2 months. Before GF I had severe DH just about everywhere on my body. At about 10 days GF the itching had subsided about 90%, and most of the lesions went away. There have been a few problem areas that have not completely healed.

The past few days, however, my left arm has flared quite badly. I can't think of any cross-contamination issues, and I've only been glutened once or twice by accident. The flare doesn't seem to be in conjunction with getting glutened. I haven't changed anything like soaps, or bath products. I used non-iodized salt now, and have been avoiding seafood for the same reason. My non GF husband has been very careful about cross contamination. The island in my kitchen is the official "sterile field" LOL , and no one is allowed to put even an unopened gluten containing product on it.

I know that it can take a long time for the deposits under the skin to go away, so my question is this. Should I expect flare-ups occasionally for no apparent reason? I'm reluctant to ask my doc to put me on Dapsone, because my liver function tests are slightly elevated. Are there any topical products that anyone has found helpful? The prescription cortisones do not help.

Steph

[mrsppmrxky]

Steph is is possible that during the Christmas break that you pulled up your shirt sleeve and layed it on a surface that had wheat? Both of my DDs gets burn marks on her skin if she touches a surface that has gluten on it. For them it can take up to 10 days for the marks to go away. One DD blisters and the other will just have burn marks.
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[celiacmaine-iac]

Good thought, Mrs P.

I had dinner Christmas Eve at my non-celiac daughter's house. She is aware of CC issues, because she has severe legume allergies. However, I gave her my bread machine a few weeks ago, and she's been cooking up a storm with it. While she didn't serve bread, I sat at the table in her kitchen, knitting and chatting, and did lean that arm on the table. She also put some iodized salt in the rice she cooked. I forgot to mention to her that it is on my forbidden food list because of the DH.

I attended a lecture at Whole Foods on CD a while ago. The nutritionist said that gluten stays airborne after baking for up to 48 hrs. So if she baked recently, I could have even breathed it in.

My hubby is not GF, but the only baking done in my house is GF.

I started to write DH for hubby, but realized, considering the topic, it could be confusing. Then I laughed, thinking that DH (the husband variety) does get under my skin at times!

Thanks, Steph

[Celia C]

Wow, breathing the air 48 hours after someone baked bread can affect some people?

I am posting here regarding what to put on your skin. Due to my recent eye problems, I 'discovered' a better solution thatn the clay-pasties I was putting on my arms and hands when they flared up bad: I mix clay with coconut oil and smooth that even right on my eyelids and around the eyes, when they are itching (I get this 'biting' sharp itch on my eyelids when an itching attack comes and it is pretty hard to not scratch!)

This works wonderfully at soothing the itch! Also, the drawing power of the clay seems to neutralize whatever is going on in the skin to stop the itch, while at the same time the coconut oil moistens the skin and counteracts the drying effect of the clay.

It's not THAT simple to get it together if you have to order anything on line, but once you have it, simple to use:

organic raw coconut oil
pharmaceutical grade calcium bentonite clay*

I mix the clay powder with water and let it sit overnight first (this is for all my general uses of the clay). It turns into a pudding-like consistency then.

I mix the pudding-clay half-n-half with coconut oil. You can mix it a little more to one way or the other, depending on what you are using it for, and if it is too drying, you can mix more coconut oil into it.

It does not seem to mix up well, but with a little stiring and letting it sit a while it does mix up pretty well.

Now I rub my hands with it like a lotion when I wake up with "The Itchies" and it works miracles. Of course, I don't feel like washing my hands or getting water on them again until I absolutely have to, but usually if I can leave it alone for a few hours afterwards, the hands don't start itching again anyway. (I carry a little bit with me too!)

Sorry this is kind of long-winded, but I feel it is important to share my discovery. I have not seen anyone else write about using this combination for dermatitis-type problems.

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*'pharmaceutical grade' means it is clean enough to use internally, if you have the belief this can help you (as I do) and it is even approved for internal use by the Food and Drug Administration. Not cheap, but I bought a huge bucket of it figuring I would never stop needing it, to get a discount, and to me it is indispensable.