Two weeks ago I started reading here as I realized I had a decent case of PI (never had it before, thought it was bug bites, had spead it all over and treated the first spots incorrectly). I went immediately to Dr. after realizing I was going to have at least 40 spots on arms and legs. Prednisone (60 mg 2 days, then descending)gave me energy but did not seem to help the PI, I also puffed up right away and had spots in my vision on the 4th day, stopped cold. (Observation: most of the bad mood effects reported here seem to be from men. I have had anxiety from thyroid treatment, but not this, in fact it elevated my mood. Wonder if women take the "mood" side effects better than men?)
The steroid topical ointment the Dr. gave me after that (Clobetasol Propionate) was also not good, with 10 minutes everything got red and hurt worse than ever. The circular said it was "highly active" and I figured my always sensitive skin together with the monster poison was just too damaged to handle it. I washed it right off.
While taking the prednisone, I had used calimine lotion, but while it dried the skin it didn't seem to be actually healing the spots, as contradictory as that seems, so I stopped that too.
The thing that seemed to finally get me on the road to healing was 1% hydrocortisone (OTC) cream (not lotion, not spray, tried those with less success). Also lots of water, and more than my usual anti-oxident supplements. I was also taking Claritin, which helped some I think.
The Predisone which seemed to help so many people here, while suppressing inflamation (supposedly) also suppresses the immune system. I think for me the 2nd effect cancelled any benefit from the first. Once my immune system had a chance to kick in things went much better. However, it is hard to know if maybe the 4 days on high dose of Prednisone might not have helped some in the beginning to keep it from getting worse, but it didn't seem like it at the time.
On spread: I was still getting spots 12 days after I went to the Dr. despite obsessive washing bedclothes, nightgowns, and towels after every use and all clothes of course. I became convinced I was spreading it from spot to spot (either through toweling off after showering, or when I swabbed down each arm and leg with a new cotton square with witch hazel before applying whatever topical ointment I was using at the time). Things seemed to improve on the "new spot" front only after I started using a different paper towel to dry each limb after showering, and stopped swabbing my limbs with those cotton squares, and instead swabbed EACH spot separately.
I will say though that I kept thinking of new places to clean
(the car seat because I had some on the back of one thigh, my kitchen towels, etc.) but still I think I was spreading it with those cotton squares soaked in witch hazel (which felt so good).
Do try the hydrocortisone cream especially if you have sensitive skin (the Dr. prescribed the 2.5% for me at my request, but that irritated it also, so I stuck with the ONE thing that was making the spots GO AWAY, the 1%). The 2.5% might work for you though.
Also, I do believe the hot showers and baths are a problem, I went to medium water after reading here that hot might not be good, and when I washed in the sink used cold. |
