My situation to date - plz advise if you can

[Guest guest]

Can someone please tell me what I should do? I'm not really looking for

medication suggestions or lifestyle alterations, I just don't know whats wrong

with me, and don't know how to proceed from here... Its just everything seems to

get worse each day, and I can't even begin to combat whatever is wrong since I

dont' know what the problem is. I'm about ready to just give up.

Right now my cheeks are flushed (cea), I have what looks like Eczema around

my mouth especially above upper lip (red/purple, dry, patches), what appears to

be perioral dermatitis or some sort of allergy around my mouth (looks just like

acne except it all appears at once, has no blackheads, few whiteheads) and a

similar problem on my forehead (except forehead has more, smaller bumps, more

often underneath the skin, even less whiteheads (probably 98% are just red

bumps, most of which aren't even slightly elevated above the skin.. what I mean

is if I rubbed my finger across my forehead I'd feel 7 or 8 bumps, but by

looking I can see closer to 40 or 50). I also have what appears to be a

different rash on my lower cheeks (this rash is also mixed with a few red bumps

that look like acne except they're all underneath the skin). When all of this

is particularly clear, I think I can make out yet another rash comprised of TONS

of tiny little purple dots none of which are bigger than a pinprick, hiding

underneath all of this. I also have really dark circles under my eyes that

continue to get worse as my skin does even when I get 10 hours of sleep a night.

On my body I keep getting other weird rashes, that have taken on at least three

distinctively different patterns. Even when everything is " normal " my skin

(especially on my hands) is extremely blotchy. Almost every single one of my

problems gets worse when I take a shower (I hear thats normal cuz the water

dilates blood vessels). Some of the weird rashes I get on my body (this doesnt

apply to any stuff on face) appear to only happen when I take my nighttime

shower.

Lupus, H Pylori, Thyroid problems have all been ruled out with blood tests and

are not likely possibilities

My Derm is never any help at all... He waves around terms like Seb Derm, Eczema,

sebacious somethingorother, but never tells me exactly what symptom is caused by

what or how to treat them, and some symptoms he can't explain at all. I'm in

the process of gettin' my insurance company to allow me a second opinion with

another derm (who will more than likely turn out to not be any more help than

the last guy, and will probably take forever to see, so I can't pin all my hopes

on that)

I have a well-meaning Primary care who I like alot, but this stuff is out of his

field, and he seems content to wait for this to all go away on its own (Even tho

it all keeps getting worse)

I finally saw an allergist as I have said on here before, but he told me I

didn't have allergies w/out even testing me.. Even tho Eczema can be caused by

allergies, and many of my problems appear to be food/environment related, and my

photoderm nurse, my doc, and many others have told me my problem is probably

allergies. He took one quick look at me and said my problem isnt allergies

because the bumps around my mouth weren't big enough.

I can't continue to look all this stuff up on my own, because I don't even know

where I am supposed to be looking.. There's so many different medical conditions

out there that I don't know about, I can't accurately diagnose myself.. I

continue to see different conditions with symptoms similar to my own, but I

think I suffer from that syndrome that med students get when they're researching

different conditions, where I think I have everything in the book. (I don't

read symptoms and think I have them, but if I see eleven conditions that match

some of my symptoms, for all I know I could have any one of the eleven) Many of

my docs seem content to let me just deal with this, but as shallow or wimpy as

it sounds, I CANT live with all of these problems.. I've tried, and its just not

something I'm capable of doing.

I have no new appointments coming up, except my appt with my derm in 2 or 3

months which wont amount to much.. My symptoms are getting worse, and new ones

are appearing, and I have NO idea how to stop them.

What should I do? Should I push the issue and make sure I see another

allergist? Should I continue to look into other possible conditions on my own?

(Pitysporum Ovale problem caused by longterm antibiotics? Candidiasis? Dust

Mite allergy? some type of Folliculitus? Eczema? The list of possibilities is

practically endless) Should I see a nutritionist in case my problem is just some

kind of B vitamin Deficiency?

Any advice at all would be REALLY appreciated.... I am totally losing it over

here

Adam