Re: Scarring

[Guest guest]

Hi Jodi,

The beautiful purple/black spots usually recede in a couple of months. The very large lumps (5-6 inches in diameter) usually fade away in about six months.

I have never experienced any itching with my flare-ups so I am unsure about that, maybe someone else in the group has had the same issue and can respond to you.

Good Luck!

Subject: ScarringTo: erythema_nodosum_Group Date: Thursday, November 3, 2011, 4:41 PM

How long does it take for the dark purple/red scars to fade once the nodules are gone? I had my first flare up this summer...it began near the end of July. The last new nodule emerged around mid-September but I still have these horrible marks on my shins that I am beginning to think will never go away. Is anyone aware of anything I can do to help them fade or do they eventually go on their own?

I am happy to have found this group as I had never heard of this before I had these nodules come up. I did a lot of research and have narrowed it down to EN but have not had any success getting a formal diagnosis yet. Doctors have told me it looked like bug bites (Not...especially since at that point I had had the same nodules for a month with occasional new ones popping up), eczema (didn't respond to cortisone lotion), heat rash, poison ivy, etc. For now, I seem to be ending this flare up and hope it is a long, long time before another one, if ever!

And I would agree that there is likely a hormonal piece to this as I am peri-menopausal. After my second child was born, I didn't have EN but I did have very, very itchy lower legs which eventually stopped on its own after many months. I have since had flare ups of that but for shorter periods of time that I can link to hormone flux. I wonder if the itchy lower legs is related in some way to the full fledge EN nodules but just a different variant.

Thanks,

Jodi

[Guest guest]

Hi Jodi, I have had En for 12 yrs but am on a break right now. it takes around 3 to 6 months for mine to go away. they actually do but it takes me forever. it could be different for other people but that seems to be my history with them. rest your legs as much as possible. I was having a reaction to proton pump inhibitors( prilosec, prevacid, etc) and penicillin. hoping that will end this forever. also be careful not to bump your legs because my break outs also come from where ive gotten a prior bruise.... good luck

From: Jodi Jaffray

Sent: Thursday, November 03, 2011 3:41 PM

To: erythema_nodosum_Group

Subject: Scarring

How long does it take for the dark purple/red scars to fade once the nodules are gone? I had my first flare up this summer...it began near the end of July. The last new nodule emerged around mid-September but I still have these horrible marks on my shins that I am beginning to think will never go away. Is anyone aware of anything I can do to help them fade or do they eventually go on their own?

I am happy to have found this group as I had never heard of this before I had these nodules come up. I did a lot of research and have narrowed it down to EN but have not had any success getting a formal diagnosis yet. Doctors have told me it looked like bug bites (Not...especially since at that point I had had the same nodules for a month with occasional new ones popping up), eczema (didn't respond to cortisone lotion), heat rash, poison ivy, etc. For now, I seem to be ending this flare up and hope it is a long, long time before another one, if ever!

And I would agree that there is likely a hormonal piece to this as I am peri-menopausal. After my second child was born, I didn't have EN but I did have very, very itchy lower legs which eventually stopped on its own after many months. I have since had flare ups of that but for shorter periods of time that I can link to hormone flux. I wonder if the itchy lower legs is related in some way to the full fledge EN nodules but just a different variant.

Thanks,

Jodi

[Guest guest]

Hiya,

I have found that when my lumps are going they get itchy, is my signal that they

are on the way out. They get even more painful, start to itch an then gradually

the lump fades to a bruise like mark that lasts a couple of months before

turning into a big patch of dry skin before going completely.

Sue xxx

Sent from my BlackBerry smartphone from Virgin Media

[Guest guest]

Jodi, A doctor can confirm the EN diagnosis by doing a biopsy. My nodules itch at times, especially the "new" ones. -AlanaTo: erythema_nodosum_Group Sent: Thursday, November 3, 2011 3:41 PMSubject: Scarring

How long does it take for the dark purple/red scars to fade once the nodules are gone? I had my first flare up this summer...it began near the end of July. The last new nodule emerged around mid-September but I still have these horrible marks on my shins that I am beginning to think will never go away. Is anyone aware of anything I can do to help them fade or do they eventually go on their own?

I am happy to have found this group as I had never heard of this before I had these nodules come up. I did a lot of research and have narrowed it down to EN but have not had any success getting a formal diagnosis yet. Doctors have told me it looked like bug bites (Not...especially since at that point I had had the same nodules for a month with occasional new ones popping up), eczema (didn't respond to cortisone lotion), heat rash, poison ivy, etc. For now, I seem to be ending this flare up and hope it is a long, long time before another one, if ever!

And I would agree that there is likely a hormonal piece to this as I am peri-menopausal. After my second child was born, I didn't have EN but I did have very, very itchy lower legs which eventually stopped on its own after many months. I have since had flare ups of that but for shorter periods of time that I can link to hormone flux. I wonder if the itchy lower legs is related in some way to the full fledge EN nodules but just a different variant.

Thanks,

Jodi

[Guest guest]

Hey Jodi!  My legs to itch sometimes right before I get a new nodule.  I agree that you probably should get a biopsy done, just so that you have a firm diagnosis.  Try going to a dermatologist rather than a regular doctor, my general practitioner argued with me for about 30 minutes over the fact the he was sure it was a bug bite, or spider bite... then he said i may have a worm under my skin.  I knew that wasn't right, nothing had bit me, and no bug bite that I know of takes 5 weeks to clear up!  LOL!  some doctors think they know Everything since they finished med school I guess! LOL! 

anyhow, I have the dark spots on my legs as well. Does anyone else have 'dents' in their legs after the nodules go away?  I do, and it looks like someone took an ice cream scooper to my legs!  

Take care,bethany

 

How long does it take for the dark purple/red scars to fade once the nodules are gone?  I had my first flare up this summer...it began near the end of July.  The last new nodule emerged around mid-September but I still have these horrible marks on my shins that I am beginning to think will never go away.  Is anyone aware of anything I can do to help them fade or do they eventually go on their own? 

 

I am happy to have found this group as I had never heard of this before I had these nodules come up. I did a lot of research and have narrowed it down to EN but have not had any success getting a formal diagnosis yet.  Doctors have told me it looked like bug bites (Not...especially since at that point I had had the same nodules for a month with occasional new ones popping up), eczema (didn't respond to cortisone lotion), heat rash, poison ivy, etc. For now, I seem to be ending this flare up and hope it is a long, long time before another one, if ever!

 

And I would agree that there is likely a hormonal piece to this as I am peri-menopausal.  After my second child was born, I didn't have EN but I did have very, very itchy lower legs which eventually stopped on its own after many months.  I have since had flare ups of that but for shorter periods of time that I can link to hormone flux.   I wonder if the itchy lower legs is related in some way to the full fledge EN nodules but just a different variant.

 

Thanks, 

 

Jodi

-- But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  Gal. 5:22-23

[Guest guest]

Your email was very interesting to me Jody because I wondered the same thing. I DID have an autoimmune problem after my last pregnancy(I was 40) (this was all prior to my EN), guttate psoriasis. I remember it as being worst on my lower legs though so I had kind of correlated this the same way you did. I realize now that both the guttate psoriasis and the EN are autoimmune reactions. My mom and her grandmother both had autoimmune disorders but neither one ever had either the guttate psoriasis nor the EN to the best of my knowledge. My mom had (and still has, at 76) severe plaque psoriasis, starting in her early 20's. Her grandmother had RA. My mom also has a lot of arthritis deformity, etc. and pain with that that ended around menopause for her and really has not flared any since, so she's just left with the residual results.My EN also presented like bug bites so I could very much relate to that. it was very very itchy. It was very concentrated on the lower legs although I had some nodules on both my elbows and wrists as well (on and near those areas). I had arthritis type symptoms unilaterally in all of the major joints, but my feet were especially bad and at one point my hands were so bad that I feared losing full function. I did not have a lot of pain though.I could not pinpoint any sort of hormonal piece to mine (I tried), but I do think you are probably exactly on target to some degree with that.Although I was eating hardly any grains or breads at the time, I went gluten free (this was just over a year ago) and I have never looked back. If I get even a bite or two of a gluten containing food now, I start to get arthritis back, which clears quickly as long as I don't eat any more gluten. For this reason, I do completely avoid it and do not have even tastes or bites.I do feel that the gluten free diet is responsible for keeping my autoimmune reactions at bay. I have not had any recurrence of the EN.Chantelleps-it did take a long time for my dark marks on my legs to go away, just like you describe. (and I too wondered if they ever would) but they eventually did. My outbreak occurred in a similar time frame to yours, August and September of 2010 (yours was 2011).

How long does it take for the dark purple/red scars to fade once the nodules are gone? I had my first flare up this summer...it began near the end of July. The last new nodule emerged around mid-September but I still have these horrible marks on my shins that I am beginning to think will never go away. Is anyone aware of anything I can do to help them fade or do they eventually go on their own?

I am happy to have found this group as I had never heard of this before I had these nodules come up. I did a lot of research and have narrowed it down to EN but have not had any success getting a formal diagnosis yet. Doctors have told me it looked like bug bites (Not...especially since at that point I had had the same nodules for a month with occasional new ones popping up), eczema (didn't respond to cortisone lotion), heat rash, poison ivy, etc. For now, I seem to be ending this flare up and hope it is a long, long time before another one, if ever!

And I would agree that there is likely a hormonal piece to this as I am peri-menopausal. After my second child was born, I didn't have EN but I did have very, very itchy lower legs which eventually stopped on its own after many months. I have since had flare ups of that but for shorter periods of time that I can link to hormone flux. I wonder if the itchy lower legs is related in some way to the full fledge EN nodules but just a different variant.

Thanks,

Jodi