Daily Archives: September 11, 2020

A MAN was left with red and painful sores after he scratched the pigment from his skin after years of battling a mystery illness.

Neil Cobb was left in agony after small patches of eczema on his hands spread across his body like wildfire.

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The 64-year-olds skin is so itchy, he has scratched off the pigment.

For four years he has been plagued by red, open sores and he once collapsed unconscious and was left fighting for his life after an infection engulfed his body.

But Neils real torment is having no idea what is causing his pain. He is one of many people living with undiagnosed health conditions.

What makes these peoples illnesses much harder to cope with is the lack of answers and that uncertainty can cause mental as well as physical problems.

Now a new BBC series, The Diagnosis Detectives, hosted by Dr Michael Mosley, aims to help find answers with the help of 12 experts.

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Speaking on the programme Neil said: Im merely existing and suffering as I exist. If no one can help me, I dont think I will be around much longer.

Dr Michael Mosley, who presents the show, told The Sun the makers were inundated with people desperate for answers when creating the series.

He says: A lot of these people have had undiagnosed conditions for years. They have been around the houses and seen several different doctors.

You look at poor Neil and think, blimey, this has really affected his social life.

But happily, on the show Neil DOES get a diagnosis, and successful treatment, and Dr Mosley says this was life-changing for him.

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Neil, originally from Missouri, US, moved to England in the 1990s to work as a mechanic at a US Air Force base in Norfolk.

He first noticed symptoms in 2016 and military doctors put it down to an allergic reaction to a chemical in cleaning fluid.

Initially, he was given a steroid cream to treat small patches of irritation on his hands. But the rash then spread like wildfire up his arms and across his body, and he was unable to work.

He tells the show, before his diagnosis: I itch so intensely, I have scratched my pigment off. Indeed, so severe is his scratching that he is left with gaping sores and widespread infection.

Neil was recently found unconscious, his body consumed by sepsis a deadly immune response to an infection, where the body attacks its own tissues.

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He turned to the TV specialists in the hope of finding an answer.

Consultant dermatologist Dr Sharon Wong, who leads the investigation into Neils case, says: Skin is the gateway to the rest of your body and in extreme cases some patients can die from skin disease. So it isnt a superficial problem. It goes a lot deeper than that.

Dr Wong tells viewers Neil recently had a tumour removed from his kidney, so it is possible some cancerous cells were left behind and that could be contributing to his skin problem.

She says there could also be an underlying blood cancer such as T-cell lymphoma, which can appear on the skin in a way that mimics eczema.

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Otherwise, the rash could come down to the initial diagnosis of an allergic form ofeczema, which needs to be brought under control.

Dr Wong takes three skin biopsies and sends Neil for a CT scan to rule out anything related to cancer. In the meantime, she prescribes strong steroid cream and tablets, as well as a course of antibiotics.

When Neil returns to her London clinic weeks later, his condition has improved. His skin is much smoother and the flare-ups appear to finally be under control.

His test results show no evidence of kidney cancer and there was nothing to point to T-cell lymphoma.

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After four years, Dr Wong is able to give Neil the diagnosis he has craved he does have a severe case of eczema.

Dr Wong says: Over years, unfortunately, the hand eczema wasnt fully contained and Neil continued to get more and more eczema in other parts of the body.

"Your skin, head totoe, is one organ, so if youve got an inflammatory process like eczema happening on your leg and you dont contain it, just like a wildfire will do, it will continue to spread.

Given his diagnosis, and the treatment he needed, Neil has now managed to return to work.

See the article here:
Man scratches the pigment from his skin after years of battling mystery illness - The Sun

FOR most people, a trip to the GP goes something like this: Symptoms, examination and diagnosis.

But for some patients, that is not their reality.

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Instead, they live each day with an undiagnosed condition and the agony of not knowing can leave them questioning if life is really worth living.

A condition such as endometriosis can take on average seven years to diagnose, while superstar Lady Gaga has opened up about her battle with fibromyalgia which can also be hard to spot.

New BBC series The Diagnosis Detectives, hosted by Dr Michael Mosley, aims to help find answers with the help of 12 experts.

Here, we meet some of their patients.

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WHAT started as just small patches of eczema on his hands soon spread like wildfire around his body and has left Neil Cobb in agony.

The 64-year-olds skin is so itchy, he has scratched off the pigment.

17

For four years he has been plagued by red, open sores and he once collapsed unconscious and was left fighting for his life after an infection engulfed his body.

But Neils real torment is having no idea what is causing his pain. He is one of many people living with undiagnosed health conditions.

What makes these peoples illnesses much harder to cope with is the lack of answers and that uncertainty can cause mental as well as physical problems.

Neil tells tomorrow night's episode of new BBC series The Diagnosis Detectives: Im merely existing and suffering as I exist. If no one can help me, I dont think I will be around much longer.

17

Dr Michael Mosley, who presents the show, told The Sun the makers were inundated with people desperate for answers when creating the series.

He says: A lot of these people have had undiagnosed conditions for years. They have been around the houses and seen several different doctors.

You look at poor Neil and think, blimey, this has really affected his social life.

But happily, on the show Neil DOES get a diagnosis, and successful treatment, and Dr Mosley says this was life-changing for him.

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He added: This is more emotional than many of the series I have made. There were a lot of tears.

Dr Mosley and 12 other top specialists from various different fields put their heads together to try to crack some of the most puzzling unsolved medical cases.

Their aim is to give their patients the answers they so desperately need, and have often waited years for.

Dr Mosley says: Diagnosis is at the heart of everything we are taught at medical school. You start with a persons medical history, you find out if there is any pain, where it started, and then theres a physical examination.

The reality is, for most people their condition is fairly obvious. But how many people are out there living without a diagnosis? I dont know.

The grim reality is that it is likely the hundreds who applied for the show are just the tip of the iceberg.

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Neil, originally from Missouri, US, moved to England in the 1990s to work as a mechanic at a US Air Force base in Norfolk.

He first noticed symptoms in 2016 and military doctors put it down to an allergic reaction to a chemical in cleaning fluid.

Initially, he was given a steroid cream to treat small patches of irritation on his hands. But the rash then spread like wildfire up his arms and across his body, and he was unable to work.

He tells the show, before his diagnosis: I itch so intensely, I have scratched my pigment off. Indeed, so severe is his scratching that he is left with gaping sores and widespread infection.

17

Neil was recently found unconscious, his body consumed by sepsis a deadly immune response to an infection, where the body attacks its own tissues.

He turned to the TV specialists in the hope of finding an answer.

Consultant dermatologist Dr Sharon Wong, who leads the investigation into Neils case, says: Skin is the gateway to the rest of your body and in extreme cases some patients can die from skin disease. So it isnt a superficial problem. It goes a lot deeper than that.

Dr Wong tells viewers Neil recently had a tumour removed from his kidney, so it is possible some cancerous cells were left behind and that could be contributing to his skin problem.

17

She says there could also be an underlying blood cancer such as T-cell lymphoma, which can appear on the skin in a way that mimics eczema.

Otherwise, the rash could come down to the initial diagnosis of an allergic form of eczema, which needs to be brought under control.

Dr Wong takes three skin biopsies and sends Neil for a CT scan to rule out anything related to cancer. In the meantime, she prescribes strong steroid cream and tablets, as well as a course of antibiotics.

When Neil returns to her London clinic weeks later, his condition has improved. His skin is much smoother and the flare-ups appear to finally be under control.

17

His test results show no evidence of kidney cancer and there was nothing to point to T-cell lymphoma.

After four years, Dr Wong is able to give Neil the diagnosis he has craved he does have a severe case of eczema.

Dr Wong says: Over years, unfortunately, the hand eczema wasnt fully contained and Neil continued to get more and more eczema in other parts of the body.

"Your skin, head totoe, is one organ, so if youve got an inflammatory process like eczema happening on your leg and you dont contain it, just like a wildfire will do, it will continue to spread.

17

Given his diagnosis, and the treatment he needed, Neil has now managed to return to work.

Next up on the TV show, hoping for answers, is Katie who has been plagued by health problems since her teens.

The mum-of-threes joints crack and pop, leaving her in constant agony and just walking across a room can cause her heart rate to spike to 140 beats per minute, way above the healthy range of 60 to 100.

More recently, she started experiencing excruciating stomach pain and being sick, which caused her to lose a lot of weight very quickly.

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Mum-of-three Katie, 35, from Lancashire, says: I lost 4st 7lb in 18 months. My appetite went down and down. I had tests done and it turned out that my stomach wasnt emptying properly.

The part-time nursing assistant had a temporary feeding tube fitted to bypass her stomach and deliver nutrients straight into her intestine.

But she continued to lose weight and still doesnt have any answers. She says: If I were to go to my GP with everything that I feel in my body, Id be there for a weeks appointment, not a ten-minute slot.

I was a dress size 12 to 14, I felt good and confident, but now Im heading towards half the person I was.

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Im still fairly young, I have a family, I want to know what the future holds.

Examining her case, the Diagnosis Detectives tell Katie that all her different symptoms could be linked.

Dr Stephanie Barrett, a consultant rheumatologist, suggests she could have Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS), which affects the connective tissues and causes very flexible joints.

Dr Barrett says it could have caused a weakening of the tissues in the stomach, and caused her blood vessels to stretch, causing Katies fast heartbeat.

But this is not the only option they explore. Dr Barbara McGowan suggests Katies symptoms could also be a sign of a tumour in her adrenal glands.

She also notes that Katie had a neck op to remove one of the four parathyroid glands which regulate calcium levels when she was 17.

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The endocrinologist specialising in hormone-related diseases explains that the combination could point to a rare genetic disorder known as multiple endocrine neoplasia (MEN).

It can be life-limiting and is genetic, so could potentially put Katies children at risk.

But after blood tests rule out MEN, Dr Barrett tells Katie she has a rare form of EDS known as hypermobile EDS.

Dr Barrett adds: The painful symptoms youve been getting are to do with the tendons and muscles, which have had micro injuries over the years. So it all fits together.

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Although happy to finally get a diagnosis, Katie says she is concerned that two of her children also have hypermobility.

The medics explain that her type of EDS does not have a gene test yet, but confirm it is hereditary.

Speaking after her appointment, Katie says: Ive seen umpteen different specialists and never really got anywhere and now I finally have an answer.

It will be a massive change for me to now be able to move forward, with just that very clear definition of what is going on.

'Failure to diagnose'

NOT all health conditions present equally, with some typically harder to diagnose.

Failure to diagnose, as it is known medically, can prove upsetting and frustrating for patients, Dr Mosley tells The Sun.

Sometimes it is just a matter of time. The way symptoms manifest can mean the condition becomes more apparent over time. What it shows is how complicated the human body really is.

If these conditions were straightforward, GPs would be able to find the answer easily, all the time.

The range of possibilities can be vast, so we doctors have to narrow them down and go down some blind allies before we can get an answer.

Almost any illness can be mis-diagnosed, but below are some common conditions that are more routinely missed.

AROUND one in every ten women in the UK is plagued by endometriosis, which takes on average seven years to diagnose.

It causes agonising periods, when the tissue that lines the womb grows outside the uterus, on the ovaries or Fallopian tubes, the charity Endometriosis UK explains.

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It is often confused with other conditions which cause pain in the same area, such as ovarian cysts or irritable bowel syndrome.

Scans, blood tests and internal examinations are not a conclusive way to diagnose endometriosis.

The only way to be certain is with laparoscopy, which is when a thin tube with a light and a camera is inserted into the pelvis to check the tissue.

THE likes of Lady Gaga and broadcaster Kirsty Young have spoken out about their battles with fibromyalgia.

It is a long-term condition that causes pain all over the body and again, due to the lack of a specific test, it can prove difficult to diagnose.

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Symptoms can be similar to other conditions and, to get a diagnosis, certain criteria usually have to be met:

Doctors will try to rule out conditions such as chronic fatigue syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis before diagnosing fibromyalgia.

THIS is an auto-immune disease where the body attacks its own nerve cells and disrupts the communication between the brain and rest of the body.

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HAPPILY EVER AFTERDisneys wedding dress collection is now available in the UK

STEP UPPeople are turning cupboard-under-stairs into chic playroom & gaming dens for cheap

See original here:
From fibromyalgia to eczema do you have an undiagnosed illness like Lady Gaga? - The Sun

Representative image

The time of year a baby is born may be a risk factor for food allergies, say researchers, adding that babies born in fall (post-monsoon or autumn season, lasting from October to November) are at higher risk of allergic diseases. Food allergies are on the rise, with more than five million children, about two kids in every school classroom, now suffering from allergy to at least one food, according to the study published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice.

For the study, the research team worked to discover what is responsible for this increase and have determined that many allergic conditions likely start with dry, cracked skin, which leads to a chain reaction of allergic diseases known as the atopic march. It begins in infancy with eczema and leads to food allergies, asthma and hay fever later in childhood. "We looked at every child treated in our clinic, and those born in the fall were much more likely to experience all of the conditions associated with the atopic march," said study author Jessica Hui from National Jewish Health in the US.

Children with eczema often have high levels of a harmful bacteria called staph aureus on their skin, which weakens the skin's ability to keep out allergens and pathogens. "When food particles are able to penetrate the skin rather than being digested, the body sees them as foreign and creates antibodies against them, which causes the child to become allergic," Hui said. Researchers are now conducting a clinical trial to look at a wide variety of factors that may contribute to this weakened skin barrier in babies.

They're enrolling pregnant women and following their babies into early childhood to consider everything from environmental factors to genetics to medications taken and products used in the home. They hope that this will not only help explain why babies born in the fall are at greater risk, but will also help develop solutions to stop the atopic march in its tracks.

"We think if we can intervene at a very young age, even right after the baby's out of the womb, then potentially that's a way for us to try to stop the development of this atopic march," Hui said. Other potential solutions to prevent the atopic march is sealing the skin barriers of babies with eczema using wet wraps and lotions and introducing allergenic food early in life for kids at risk, the authors noted.

Link:
Study finds that the time of year a child is born can determine the risk of allergic diseases - EdexLive

When it comes to running in heat, you either love it or hate it. And though were nearing the beginning of the fall season, the temps arent necessarily dropping to reflect the season. If you cant get enough of those runs on hot, humid days that end soaked in sweat, you also may know the nuisance that is heat rash on the skin. These painful, itchy bumps can ruin any run.

But what causes heat rash, and how can you treat and prevent it? We asked five dermatologists to fill us in on everything runners to know about heat rash. From prevention to treatment, heres what they said.

Heat rash is a very common rash also known as prickly heat or miliaria, says Alok Vij, M.D., dermatologist at Cleveland Clinic. This benign, common skin problem affects people of all agesand can be especially common in recreational athletes, particularly during hot, humid weather.

Heat rash is caused by sweat glands or ducts getting blocked and trapping sweat below the skin.

Blockage of the sweat ducts happens most often in runners or athletes due to heavy sweating in areas with occlusion of the sweat glandby the skins normal oil and bacteria, but also by some clothes, pore-blocking moisturizers, or powders like talc or cornstarch, says Vij.

Heat rash commonly develops in areas of the body with skin-on-skin contact, like the neck, under the breasts in women, and the groin. And it can appear on skin in a few different ways.

Miliaria crystalinaIf the blockage is in the superficial portion of the sweat duct, the rash appears with superficial, clear fluid-filled blisters without a lot of associated redness, Vij says. This type of miliaria is most common in newborn babies who are bundled too tightly or in adults with a fever.

Miliaria rubra This is the type most common in active people. It is caused by blockage of the deeper portion of the sweat duct, and has the classic appearance of a splotchy red rash mixed in with small, clear fluid-filled blisters that can occasionally fill with pus (miliaria pustulosa), Vij says. And this is the one that can be itchy and uncomfortable. It is often referred to as prickly heat because of the skin irritation that it causes, says Rajani Katta, M.D., board certified dermatologist and author of Glow: The Dermatologists Guide to a Whole Foods Younger Skin Diet.

Miliaria profundaThis can be seen after repeated bouts of miliaria rubra and appears on the skin as red bumps on the skin or deeper below the skin. These bumps are usually asymptomatic, Vij says.

Unfortunately, those sweaty runs in hot weather can cause friction and clogged sweat glands, which create the perfect environment for heat rash.

Friction from skin rubbing over long periods can induce irritation and can predispose the skin to being irritated from sweat. Runners arms and legs are rubbing with every step taken, so its easy to see how runners are predisposed, says John Zampella, M.D., assistant professor of dermatology at NYU Langone Health.

And wearing tight, non-breathable clothing, such as compression tights, can also increase your risk.

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The best way to treat heat rash is to move to a cool, dry location. Make sure to remove any soiled clothing and consider taking a cool shower, says Joshua Zeichner, M.D., a board-certified dermatologist. Use a lathering cleanser that respects the skin barrier to remove dried sweat and dirt from the skin without causing irritation when the skin is in a sensitive state.

He suggests using a cleanser with colloidal oatmeal, such as Aveeno daily moisturizing body wash.

Colloidal oatmeal in the formula helps soothe and calm skin that is already inflamed from the rash, Zeichner says.

To soothe itchy, irritated skin, you may also want to use a cool compress or a skin roller, such as the StackedSkincare Ice Roller, and an anti-itch cream. Ava Shamban, M.D., board certified dermatologist in Beverly Hills and founder of SKINFIVE Clinics in Los Angeles, recommends Sarna or CeraVe.

Thankfully, your heat rash should resolve on its own with time, as long as its not serious.

If its not going away after a few days, we do recommend seeing your dermatologist, Katta says.

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There are a few things you can do to stop heat rash from happening. Taking precautions before, during, and after your runs will help.

Before running: Hydrate well, and if you can, run in the morning or evening, avoiding the warmest part of the day, says Vij.

And make sure to apply sunscreen, but choose wisely.

Oil-free, lightweight mist or spray formulas that are non-occlusive are best, says Shamban. Always look for broad based for UVA/UVB protection with at least SPF 30 that is non-comedogenic (non-pore blocking.)

She suggests Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Sunscreen Spray SPF 30 for body and Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Face Mist SPF 55 for face.

As we mentioned before, make sure you stay away from tight clothes. Looser clothing, such as running shorts as opposed to tight leggings, allows for the circulation of air and allows for sweat evaporation, says Katta.

During the run: Seek shaded areas to stay out of the hot sun, says Vij. And if you are prone to heat rash and sweating profusely, take a break or slow your pace to reduce your bodys need to sweat. You can also try an aerosol water spray to cool down during or after the run.

Your heat rash might also be a warning sign for other heat-related conditions.

The most important thing that I tell my patients about heat rash is that it is an early alert system from your skin, says Katta. A heat rash may indicate that you are at higher risk for heat exhaustion or heat stroke if you don't remove yourself from the heat.

After running: Get out of your sweaty clothes as quickly as possible and continue to hydrate, says Vij. Take a cool shower to lower your bodys temperature.

Vij suggests using a gentle soap, but be sure to avoid scrubbing your skin. Pat your skin dry with a towel. Use a gentle, non-comedogenic moisturizer. (Look for products accepted by the National Eczema Association.)

And pay attention to how you launder your clothes.

Dont use fabric softener in the laundry with your athletic clothesthese softeners can build up in the specialized sweat-wicking fabric, preventing them from pulling moisture away from your skin as well as trapping dead skin and bacteria in the fibers, says Vij.

If your heat rash does not improve in a few days, it might be another dermatologic issue.

Dont forget that not everything that worsens with heat is true heat rash. Many other conditions like hives, eczema, and jock itch can be worse in sweaty areas, says Zampella. Treating each of these requires some nuance. If your heat rash isnt getting better, it might not be heat rash and you should see your dermatologist.

Want more tips for crushing those hot, sweaty runs? Join Runners World+ today!

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What Runners Need to Know About Heat Rash - runnersworld.com