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Crohn's & Skin Infection

Hi everyone, I'm a new poster. I'm also a mom of 2 sons with Crohn's. Both were diagnosed by the time they hit 16/17 years old. We have been treating for about 3-4 years to date.

Crohn's was diagnosed with older DS when he developed a fistula. His first year was tough. He had fistula repair surgery. Then, remicade treatments spanning about 4 months. Since, he has been holding steady with Imuran. {knocking wood} Not quite remission but holding steady. :)

My question for everyone is about DS#2. He never had to use remicade but is taking Purinethol and Pentasa. In the spring, he generally has a flare up that requires a 2 month treatment of Endocort which ended early August 2006. Since then, he has been developing a skin infection on his arms. At first, I thought it was infected hair follicles which happened with DS#1 too. But, now, they are almost to the ponit of lesions and look pretty nasty. I'm calling the Doc today because I think this is going beyond the norm.

Anyone have any experience with skin infections on the arms? Any advice would be appreciated.

Thank you
 

mikeyarmo

Co-Founder
First welcome to the forum. my brother and I both have Crohn's Disease also, so unfortunately you are not the only mother with multiple sons with this disease. That does not make it any easier to handle, and you must be a strong person to be able to handle the situation.

Skin manifestations of Crohn's Disease are normal, especially with some of the medications. Corticosteroids for example can cause acne. Crohn's Disease can cause some more serious skin conditions though also, which is what your second son might be experiencing. Definately speak to your Gastroenterologist, specialist or doctor about this. While you likely will be referred to a dermatologist, it is best to have this done by someone who is aware that your son has Crohn's Disease.

If you see a dermatologist, ensure that they know your son has Crohn's Disease, as this may help them diagnose the problem (and treat it accordingly). I had an eye problem that as silly as it sounds, was due to my Crohn's Disease. I would have never thought it was important to let the eye doctor know I had Crohn's Disease, but after I did they were able to diagnose and treat me (it got better pretty fast :)).

Good luck and keep us updated.
 
Mikeyarmo, Thanks so much for your kind words.

I'm curious about the eye problem. DS#2 often has very red and bloodshot eyes. He has mild seasonal allergies but the eye thing persists all year round. Do you mind my asking for more information about your eye condition?

I did call the Doc and they have no open appointments. It is so hard to see a Doc sometimes. Anyway, I left a detailed message and expect to hear back from her today. She has lots of experience so I'm hoping she recognizes the problem and knows what to do.
 

mikeyarmo

Co-Founder
conjunctivitis, uveitis and iritis are some common eye mainfestations of Crohn's Disease, but I believe all of them include pain and light sensitivity as symptoms.

Mine (like your son) was a reddening of the eyes (might have been only one). No pain or light sensitivity was involved.

I think based on the medication I was on at the time and no pain involved, nothing was done to treat it. I was switching medication so that was the reason nothing was done. I was on entocort (like you son I believe) and was switching to prednisone (a stronger corticosteroid). It took 2-3 weeks, but I think it went away on its own.

You can get either eye drops or antibiotics I think that may help. If your son has had the bloodshot eyes for a long time though it just may be lack of sleep that is causing the problem.
 
I wish your sons the best of luck. I have never had external skin problems due to Crohn's. But since the GI track is part of the integumentary system(skin system) it is very likely that they would be related. Again, I wich the very best of luck.
 
X

xrayzerase

Guest
hi--sorry to hear what your sons are going through..i am learning day by day..crohn's is no fun..
anyway-i just had a skin infection (under my arms--prbably aggravated from shaving)-anyway-it turned out to be cellulitis. i am on entocort -and i know that even though this steroid mostly works on the ileum-as well as part of large colon area...it still lowers the immune response. altho-it may not be due to the entocort at all....but to my screwy immune system in general..who knows..
but..what your son has may be entirely different. (mine didn't get to lesions..and so..again..it may be something different..but..(?)
anyway: my GI told me to go to a dermatologist-which made sense-and to ofcourse tell this dr i have crohn's and the meds i am on. i didnt go to a derm. but to a regular dr--but telling my info led to the dr knowing how to treat it all better.
i went on keflex (1500 mg a day) and it worked.
again: what your son has may or may not be cellulitis-
but if it is--it is something that can not wait to get treatment for.
not to sound "scary"-or like an alarmist--but-especially if the rash spreads "quickly" and swells and is very red and sort of hot-and also-if one has a temp (i had a low-grade fever)-it could very quickly get into the lymph system and into the blood -and the infection could then need hospital care (like IV antibiotics etc)
i hope you and your son and whichever dr you went to on this dx'ed and took care of the problem -
hope this helps..
andrea
ps: i hope you update once you know what it is and what treatment (if any) is/was needed...
best of luck
 
Last edited:
Andrea - thanks for the info. I wish I had an update but the Doc didn't call me back yesterday. Very frustrating. I know there are probably sicker folks that they are handling but I need help too. I'm going to call back tomorrow if I don't get a response by this afternoon. I will most definately update this thread on what they suggested for treatment.
 
Make sure the infection is checked for cancer (Sarcoma) induced by the corticosteriods or other immunosupperants as they increase you chance of getting cancer by anywhere from 2-6x depending on how many different immunosuppersants
your kids are on..... And their genetics... Look and see if their is a history of cancer in your family (both sides of the tree look at males and females).... Virtually every male on both sides of my family died by cancer or heart disease... Granted thats the same with most all males in america....

I'm not dieing of cancer... I take tons of antixodents plus I'm on a product that keeps alpha lipoic acid in your body all day... (It normally only stays in the body about 10 min).... So I'm not getting cancer.... Even though the meds I'm on basicly say I will die of cancer in 40 years... Granted thats the same with just about all crohn's meds...

Ranting is fun....

Btw worrying about your sons does nothing to help them.... Studying and researching and getting them to study and research does help them.... Arm yourself with knowledge and work with the disease and the body not against it...

You will thank yourself and your sons will thank you and themselves too if you do so....

Rant done....
 
R

Ruthg

Guest
Hi, sorry to hear about your troubles. I too have crohn's disease but I haven't suffered with any skin sores. I do however suffer with a hive like rash (but no open sores) and I also suffer with bloodshot eyes and recurring comjunctivitis with light sensitivity, but have never done anything about it, just thought it was one of those things with crohns. Hope you get the help and support you need.
 
GNC Crohn's Man said:
Make sure the infection is checked for cancer (Sarcoma) induced by the corticosteriods or other immunosupperants as they increase you chance of getting cancer by anywhere from 2-6x depending on how many different immunosuppersants
your kids are on..... And their genetics... Look and see if their is a history of cancer in your family (both sides of the tree look at males and females).... Virtually every male on both sides of my family died by cancer or heart disease... Granted thats the same with most all males in america....

I'm not dieing of cancer... I take tons of antixodents plus I'm on a product that keeps alpha lipoic acid in your body all day... (It normally only stays in the body about 10 min).... So I'm not getting cancer.... Even though the meds I'm on basicly say I will die of cancer in 40 years... Granted thats the same with just about all crohn's meds...

Ranting is fun....

Btw worrying about your sons does nothing to help them.... Studying and researching and getting them to study and research does help them.... Arm yourself with knowledge and work with the disease and the body not against it...

You will thank yourself and your sons will thank you and themselves too if you do so....

Rant done....

We have a Gastro appt scheduled for this wed. afternoon. I will make sure she checks him over well. I checked him myself this weekend. I had read him the riot act about not taking his meds as prescribed. So, he promised he would and things are getting better.

My older DS has skin problems on his arms too. He finds that using a wash rag with antibacterial soap (like Dial) helps a lot. He only has a handfull of infected hair follicles at any point in time. I recommended DS#2 try this method of exfoliating daily as well.

Nothing looked more sinister than infected hair follicles run amok so I'm not concerned about cancer. I do a lot of research but there sure is a lot of scary possibilities out there.

DS#1 came down with Mono this past fall. As he is taking Azathioprine, I checked into this combined with Mono. Of course, a bajillion pages of medical abstracts talking about complications of Mono in Crohn's patients taking Azathioprine resulting in death. He recovered quickly and had a mild case with no complications not even a crohn's flare up:thumleft:

It never fails that anything I research related to Crohn's has death somewhere in the articles. It's ridiculous. I keep reminding myself that the common cold can result in death in healthy folks so not to take it to heart when I read these things.
 
Ruthg said:
Hi, sorry to hear about your troubles. I too have crohn's disease but I haven't suffered with any skin sores. I do however suffer with a hive like rash (but no open sores) and I also suffer with bloodshot eyes and recurring comjunctivitis with light sensitivity, but have never done anything about it, just thought it was one of those things with crohns. Hope you get the help and support you need.

My DS#2 gets the red eyes too. I mentioned to him that this might be Crohn's related but he said it might also be allergies. He's right. It could be but I plan to mention it to the Doc anyway.
 
R

Ruthg

Guest
Its worth mentioning that most crohn's sufferers also suffer from allergies, I know I do and have to take antihistamines. I used to have really really bad hayfever as a teenager (before I was diagnosed) bearing in mind the pollen count in the UK was less 15 years ago than it is now. I also had conjunctivitis often and pet and dust allergies, and antihistamines didnt work. When I was diagnosed with crohn's and I was put on medication my allergies reduced in severity. In fact after several years of crohns meds, I no longer suffer from hayfever yet the pollen count has increased. Hope all works out for your son's.

Ruth
 
Ruth,

What you said really struck a chord with me. My son was born 1 month premature and developed mild asthma. Growing up he had asthma events in the spring and fall of every year. He was in the hospital for a week with a bad case of walking pneumonia at 13 from a simple cold that triggered an athma event. He was diagnosed with Crohn's at 15 1/2. He hasn't had even a minor wheeze since. Interesting. I really hope I live long enough to find out how all things relate together. It is fascinating viewing it from purely a scientific point of view.

BTW, the pollen problem isn't much better in the northeastern US either.
 
X

xrayzerase

Guest
>
blkane said:
We have a Gastro appt scheduled for this wed. afternoon.

.GOOD luck!

>DS#1 came down with Mono this past fall. As he is taking Azathioprine, I checked into this combined with Mono. Of course, a bajillion pages of medical abstracts talking about complications of Mono in Crohn's patients taking Azathioprine resulting in death. He recovered quickly and had a mild case with no complications not even a crohn's flare up:thumleft:

It never fails that anything I research related to Crohn's has death somewhere in the articles. It's ridiculous. I keep reminding myself that the common cold can result in death in healthy folks so not to take it to heart when I read these things.
.i agree..you have to keep reminding yourself that often when researching anything (especially health issues) the most dramatic is usually what is found.
i know-personally-i am a bit scared of the probabilty of having to go on stronger meds like remicade and/or 6 mp (or aza)-(i won't know til after after i get the pillcam test and results what steps arenext...but-as scary as it all is--and as often as the gloomy side is always what stands out-all i can think of is that if something can be "fought"-it is not a death sentence!
anyway--it sounds like this skin trouble could be several things..impossible to guess..so-glad to hear about the upcoming appt
again:
good luck and please post update with results
:)
andrea
 
whew... last post for the night... can't sleep cause of the steroids. Ok... skin problems, just to add insult to injury. I think entocort causes skin problems... I know for a fact that prednisone does... I'm so broken out right now, I look like a gym rat who is on the juice. if you combine steroids, immunomodulators, anemia, low iron, and crohns or colitis you will be begging for skin problems.... check this out:

curent medications... entocort(stopped) prednisone 80mgs, 6 mp 100 mgs, remicade 2 times in 2 weeks, solumedrol, antibiotics = fungal infections of the skin and lesions!!! and now for the horrid embarrassing part. The lesions are manifesting on my testicles, so even if my stomach stops hurting, I still can't walk. And because the doctor put the infection on my chart, every nurse on every shift at the hospital for the last eleven days had the pleasure of inspecting my groin as part of her rounds. So not only did I want to scream from the pain in my abdomen, I was repeatedly humiliated twice a day... lots of fun

I'm sorry your sons have the disease, it must be very hard for you... but yes the skin and eye problems are very common... check out any dermatology page on the net, they will say the same thing corticosteroids and immune supressors are very bad for your skin
 
They have you on solumedral and prednisone at the same time? Or did they stop the solumedral when you could take pills orally and put you on the 80 mg of prednisone?
 
Btw star belly how old are you? Also try using Cetaphil moisturizing lotion on the skin .... You can buy it at wal-mart or wherever target etc.... It is non irrtatiting fragernce free and it doesn't leave a residue.... Best skin moistrizer out their in my opinion....

After being poked, proded, tested, repeat endlessly for 9 years or 9 1/2 years I've gotten immune to the humliating effects of crohn's.... I just except what is as is and seek to improve it while working with my body.....

Learning to work with your body and not against it is the first step to helping make yourself feel better... That and educate yourself about the paticulars of your disease since every case is different and effects various different parts of the intestines....

Learn what you can do to make yourself feel better.... But do everything gradually.... The body doesn't like sudden traumatic change as you are expercing since you are on a massive amount of corticosteriods right now and that in and of itself is severally traumatic on the body.... Don't even think about decreasing your dosage on your own though or else you will either A) kill yourself or B) put yourself back in the hospital with adrenal gland failure from coming off the predinsone too fast... Trust me you don't want to go through adrenal gland failure it feels like a crohn's attack except 5x worse somehow plus they will have to restart your prednisone dosage afterwards....

You want to get off the prednisone as fast as possible without causing a flare and without putting your body into shock from massive changes in its hormones... Also watch out once you hit 15 mg of prednisone as that is where the reall snake trap is since they are going to have to restart your adrenal gland by phasing you down very very very slowly to make sure it is working properly and can handle the strain of normal cortisone production....

So keep in touch with your doctor... Tell them EVERYTHING.... And if you don't understand something then ask.... If that doctor doesn't answer your questions then fire him and get a new one....

Hmmmmmm I think I'm done ranting for now.... Looks like a missed my time I could sleep.... Ohhh well time to start back up my adrenal glands with 25 mg of prednisone and get ready for another day of work and study...
 
I'm 32. Thanks for the advice. Solumedrol then prednisone, not both at the same time. But I have been on and off pred since 2000 mostly off thankfully, but this year I haven't been able to get lower than 40 mgs without being symptomatic. I just dropped to 60 mgs, and in 4 more days to 40, so we'll see what happens. But just as an update, the Remicade seems to be working. The pain is gone for the most part, my skin is clearing, and I am going back to work tomorrow. Still on 6mp and not sure if that does anything for me or not (except lower my cbc numbers) I hate hate hate prednisone, but I have to admit that I get a ton of chores done when I'm on it... ya know, like vacuuming for no reason at 3am... or maybe I will enter one of those contests where you win the car by keeping your hands on it... I mean, it's not like I'm going to sleep anytime soon. LOL oh I forgot, I would have to go to the bathroom every 15 minutes... nevermind
 
Hi everyone, I promised an update on my son.

By the time we got to the Gastro doc, the lesions were healing on their own. The Doc said it didn't sound like a staph problem that happens sometimes. The Doc was actually thinking it may not be Crohn's at all but instead psoriasis but it is really hard to tell at this point. We were given a prescription for Psorcon to try if the lesions come back. If it doesn't work, she will send us to a dermatologist.

So, the upside is that is may not be Crohn's at all this time (yeah). The downside is we may have to add another line item in his medical history. Now, I need to figure out what psoriasis is all about.
 
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