Sunday 14 April 2013

Eczema Herpeticum & Being Given Wrong Medical Advice

Wow, again sorry for being so quiet. I can't believe it's the middle of April and I still haven't put that month of photos up. I will - it's just finding the time and motivation to sort all the photos out and actually make the post as I know it will be a long winded process. I might try and do it later on today when I'm home from work.

An update on me; last Sunday my eczema herpeticum came with vengeance, despite taking a dosage of 800mg of Aciclovir. The reason it was still raging is because my dermatologist had wrongly advised me to apply steroid cream to my inflamed face when I had recently had some cold sores on my chin. In all fairness both of us did think that had cleared up but obviously it hadn't.



You can see that there is a pimpled surface without the typical crusting characteristics associated with a cold sore. I'm putting this down to the fact that I was taking the Aciclovir but it wasn't a strong enough dosage to do its job.

On the Monday morning I left the hospital a message to say I would be turning up because I have herpeticum again and was seen to immediately. The staff at Lincoln County Hospital are fantastic at squeezing me in in my hours of need. I am so incredibly grateful that they do willingly accept to treat me. A lot of other places would just turn me away without an appointment and tell me to go to A&E or the walk-in centre so it is good to know they are there for me.

My dosage of Aciclovir was upped to 5 400mg tablets a day for 5 days, and appears to have done the trick. However on Thursday evening my urticaria decided to rear its ugly head when I did some cooking, and since has turned into eczema. This morning I have applied steroid cream to the affected areas of my body; my face, neck, chest, arms and backs of knees; in the hope that the herpeticum was truly gone and isn't going to spread like wildfire. 

Only time will tell I suppose.

4 comments :

  1. Hi Jenny, Hope you are well.
    Going through TSW since Nov 2011 and yes the first year was a living hell!. Flares reduced greatly after 12 months. They then became seasonal and lasting only 2-3 weeks. In Feb this year I experienced a massive flare up on the face. and eyes became infected. Had to go to Doc's who put me on oral steroids for 1 week. Biggest mistake ever!. I feel like i am back at the starting point of withdrawals.. Just hoping it doesn't take a year to feel better.

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  2. Hi Jenny,
    With eczema herpeticum, does it only take one time for your eczema to get infected with thr herpes virus to recurrently flare up on its own or does eczema herpticum only come up if when you get a cold sore you get the virus in the eczema on seperate occasions. If that makes sense?

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  3. Hi Jenny, I'm very late to the discussion and it's probably all academic now (!), but just thought I'd add my two cents' worth that putting steroid cream on facial eczema is the biggest trigger for my herpeticum flaring up! Even the tiniest amount on a spot of eczema and the next day the herpeticum is coming up and I have to take Aciclovir immediately before it gets bad. DO NOT put steroid cream on your face ever, no matter how bad your eczema. Herpeticum is worse, and not worth it! I hate eczema!

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  4. How did you get the eyes treated? Was the virus stopped in time before it spread to your brain?

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