Trouble with hydrocortisone creme--anyone else?

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janewhite1

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Over the past year, my allergies have gone from a fairly minor problem to a significant one. I've always had sensitive rashy skin, but now I've had my classic month-long bubbling itchy rashes twice in a year. I've also started having bad side effects from oral antihistamines.

I've long suspected that the steroid skin treatments don't help. Recently, I had a very minor rash from an adhesive, so I did a controlled trial. On one side, I put Cortisone 5, on the other, nothing.

No treatment side was gone in a day. Cortisone side took a week to fade completely.

Okay, so. No cortisone creme for my rashes, Benadryl and hydroxyzine badly hurt my stomach, and Prednisone, Zyrtec, and Claritin don't help.

What exactly does that leave? Other than cold compresses, which is pretty much all I'm using these days.

My next plan is to ask the doctor for a boatload of antihistamine samples or short prescriptions, so I can try a LOT of antihistamines without spending too much. Any guesses on what might work? Hydroxyzine works the best so far, it just makes my stomach burn.

(Yes, hydroxyzine works and Zyrtec doesn't. No, that doesn't make sense to me, either, given that they're practically the same chemical.)
 
Sorry I can't help you here. I'm finding more and more allergies each year, but I can still do hydrocortisone cream. I have had some bad allergic skin rashes in the past and used a prescription cream that wasn't a version of hydrocortisone, but it was a couple years ago and I can't remeraber what it was. Sorry... :(

I hope you find something that helps. Adhesive rashes are extremely frustrating because sometimes you just can't get away from needing one in some form.
 
Yeah, didn't really think anyone would have any ideas.

I think maybe it's not the hydrocortisone, it's just topical meRAB in general, or else some inactive ingredient that's in a lot of things. For example, I can't use regular moisturizers, even the supposedly hypoallergenic ones. I moisturize with plain vaseline.

Which brings us back to, "I must have oral antihistamines." Now, I just need to convince the doctor of this. He's never seen me rash out, so he's probably going to think I'm exaggerating when I try to explain it.

Eh, let him think it. Just so I get my scripts.
 
I've been suffering from some mysterious little white itchy bumps for a few weeks now and the only thing that makes the itching stop is washing my skin with cool water and using a shampoo with tea tree oil in it as body wash. I went to Salley Beauty Supply and got the generic Paul Mitchell Tea Tree Oil shampoo for $7. It really works. It's still annoying though when I'm sitting on the couch trying to watch TV and I have to get up and go take a cold shower to stop the itching! But it works. I put cortisone lotion on afterwarRAB and it calms it down for the night.

Hope that helps!

Oh yea and leave the lather on the rash for a minute or two until you feel the cool tingling sensation, don't just rinse it off right away.
 
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