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Wow!  This was more than I expected from all of you!  And your caring words
were overwhelming!  Thank you.  I think others could benefit from this
advice, so here it is:

"Your DH has flared up due to ingestion/exposure of gluten."

"One thing that I have found that really helps me (besides avoiding gluten of
course) is Vitamin B12 shots."

"check for Vit E which is made from WHEAT!!! check out shampoos,
toothepaste, make up. etc. Toms of Maine products are gf, as are
Sassoon, Pantene...check the archives"...also:  "canola is a no no
because it is grown on fallow wheat fields and is contaminated from the
ground up." ( I had been using nothing but canola!  And it contains 20%
vitamin E! ~Cindy)

"For itching, etc, take the homeopathic remedy Rhus Tox 30C...2 pills every
two hours until relief.  If accompanied by stomach, gastric etc.....take
Veratrum Alb 30 C....same way.  Both can be gotten from health food stores
for abut five dollars a vial.   Watch out for iffy foods....vinegar and
canola oil...not to mention foods they are in."

"get rid of lots of stuff too, including all old baking sheets and a lot of
pans (the baked-in gluten seemed to be a problem: I'd get reactions from food
cooked in one pan but not another)."

"For itching, Benydryl cream works really good (Calydryl). I don't know if it
is gf or not, but it is non-prescription and is great on mosquito bites too"

"After you become gluten free it seems the body is much more sensitive to
gluten..thus if a CD without DH ingests gluten they may have abdominal
pain,etc whereas before it may not have been noticed.  So if your symptoms of
CD are DH when you ingest just a little you may have a reaction.  So try to
discern where/how you got gluten to avoid these reactions. You should be able
to come off all meds (be sure your medicines are GF).

"be sure to get a prescp. for clobetasol propionate, I like the Cormax brand,
is in a vaseline base and stays on much better than all the others in a white
cream base"

"Have you been biopsy-confirmed with DH?  People with Sprue have a whole list
of skin eruptions they are more proned to.  I have DH, BUT I have also had
other skin reactions and I cannot tell the difference between the DH and my
most recent bout of Atopic Excema. Both are intensely itchy and can cover
large areas of the skin. I think DH is very uncommon on the face, not that it
can't happen but it usually does not."

"The treatment for DH, and it is very effective, is an oral drug called
Dapsone.  Unfortunately for me, I am allergic to it.  (it is a sulfa drug)
The best thing for me is the gluten free diet.  The diet can take awhile to
kick in for the skin but for me it was pretty quick.  The second episode I
had of DH was a while back, a hidden gluten in a medication.  It took several
months for it to arise."

"The Doctor might try to give you Dapsone, but all it will do is take the
itch away, allow you to eat gluten, and wreck your gut."

"Dapsone is not very expensive, but it has a bad side effect. It causes
chronic hemolytic anemia, apparently in every person who takes it long
term.  This usually amounts to an anemia with the hemoglobin reduced by
about 2 Grams from whatever you normally have. A healthy young person
tolerates that quite well, but if you have other reasons to be anemic or
are old, or have heart disease, etc, it can be a burden. "It can take
years for all the gluten to be absorbed after gluten is eliminated, &
until they do, outbreaks can flare-up."  There is no good substitute for
it. Another related drug is said to work about as well, but it also has
the same side effects, and is not readily available in the USA.  Some
will try to persuade you that it is not necessary to be on the diet, if
you just take the dapsone. I think they are mislead because the dapsone
is so effective in stopping the symptoms. Some of it may be wishful
thinking too.  Personally, I can't see taking a nasty drug like dapsone
for the rest of my life, when just following the G-F diet will make
dapsone unnecessary (eventually)."

"The dermatologist can give you Dapsone, which I believe you should use as a
last resort if the GF diet is not working.  You can also get various
cortico-steroid creams, e.g. Diprolene, but you should use these only
sparingly."

" the ONLY thing that helps me is Neosporin with pain killer (cream) and
Lotrimin or Clotrimazole cream (that one helps the most). I slowly massage a
little of each on the affected areas each night and the next day the itching
and swelling is down considerably. "

I take colchicine. It is listed on medicine reports as being given for gout.
I questioned him and he says it helps the skin problem I have. I have tried
twice not taking it and always gone back to it."

"While healing...I would slather my infected area's with Lubriderm all
sensitive day and night.  That seemed to help."

"Do not, whatever you do, let them give you steroid creams such as betnovate
or hydrocortisol. This will make it go a way, by suppressing the symptoms.
Stop using the cream and pow! it's all over your face.  I was diagnosed by a
herbalist with the power to use laboratory tests. I am being treated with a
product by Metagenics called Eczema Ease - it is a chinese herbal product and
works well."

~Cindy