Rashes from doxycycline

My son (Age 2. 35 lbs and 36 inches tall. No medical conditions and takes no medications. Eats a balanced diet and obviously isn't engaging in a high risk lifestyle) was away with his other parent over the weekend, and on day 2 he was home I discovered what I believe is a deer tick in his scalp. We hadn't been out anywhere but stores and while I can't be certain, I'm ashamed to admit I may not have noticed the tick after he returned home and it could have been attached for multiple days. I bathed him and all our normal activities, but I just feel in my gut it was there at least a day or two. He has a ton of long hair and I feel awful for not checking him as we live in a region where Lyme causing bacteria is prevalent in ticks.
He has received a single dose of doxycycline. No rash at the site and experiencing no symptoms.
I'm getting a lot of mixed info from family and friends. I trust doctors. But I'm very confused. One friend in particular who has received a Lyme'a disease diagnoses told me one dose is not effective and he should receive 4-6 weeks of antibiotic treatment 😳
I'm basically frightened that due to my negligence my child may get Lyme's disease and I want to make sure I have all the proper info and am doing what's right to prevent that.
What do I watch for? Would the doxycycline provide any protection if in fact the tick had been attached ~72 hours?
Thank you in advance for any input

Hello mold subreddit. First time reddit poster here. Thank you in advance for any insight you can offer to my case. In what follows, I'm going to first describe the health journey that led to my mold discoveries and questions, so please bear with me through the health stuff. I have included excessive detail in the hopes that my case might help others navigate possible mold problems.
If you don't feel like reading all the below, the tl:dr version: After struggling with unknown health issues for 15 months, I eventually linked my symptoms to my new home and subsequently discovered very high volatile organic chemical levels. I linked the VOCs to mold. I also had a mold inspection done, and the results are at the bottom of this post. The levels of mold were high in my kitchen and bathroom. However, oddly, the mold levels in the outside control group were much higher than inside. Can anyone help me understand how high my indoor mold levels are? Does anyone know whether the outdoor levels are reasonably normal? Is my specific blend of mold types implicated in neurological symptoms for others? And if anyone has dealt with mold before, do my possible mold symptoms described below seem similar to ones that you've had?
I bought my townhome in late 2022. Within four months, I started having new neurological symptoms. These symptoms started with a postural tremor in my left index finger and thumb. The same hand eventually began to appear smaller and shriveled, especially around my thumb. I also started having extremely frequent muscle twitches and jerks. These twitches take three general forms:

1. The most common is an odd sensation of something wiggling under my skin. These primarily happen in my face, around my mouth, my butt/legs, and ribs.
2. A pulsing regular beat in a muscle that lasts for several seconds and in some cases longer. These usually happen near joints, especially just above my elbows and knees. These are almost always visible to the naked eye.
3. A sensation of rapid vibrating underneath the skin that lasts briefly. These vibrations are usually not visible but you can feel them if you press a hand over the area.

The twitches and apparent change to my hand have lasted for 16 months. At this point, the tissue loss in my thumb is also apparent in my forearm and upper left arm. My leg on the same side arm appears different and feels as if it has lost some muscle. I also have frequent trembling with specific muscles when I flex them. For example, sometimes when I try to hold a smile my face muscles will shake or give out. My neck tissues are especially liable to shake and vibrate when flexed, such as when doing tasks like flossing where I need to hold my lips back. On a few separate occasions, I have felt slight paralysis on one side of my face for an evening or so that then mysteriously goes away.
Aside from these neurological symptoms, I also have had frequent hoarseness, sneezing, jaw pain, and headaches. My joints often feel like they are more bony and poppy, especially in my left knee and knuckles. In addition, I've had a lot of issues with one ear on the same side as the shriveled hand. The ear had an apparent infection or cloudiness 12 months ago that went away, it then had recurrent pulsatile tinnitus, and now it just occasionally hurts at random times. There have been many other symptoms.
I have seen two neurologists, an endocrinologist, an ear-nose-throat doctor, and an orthopedic doctor. I've had countless tests done including two electromyographies (EMGs) over my whole body several months apart, an MRI, and a lyme disease blood panel. Every test has been normal, although the orthopedic doctor suggested possible thoracic outlet syndrome. The neurologist said my nerves are quite robust. My borrelia blood panel came back negative, although as a side note I did have a tick bite in early 2022 that caused a rash. I was treated for Lyme with 10 days of doxycycline. The tick bite itself still occasionally flares up red and its timing might be correlated with my symptoms.
Back to the house-- I was on a two week vacation out of state and noticed my twitches go away. Then I saw my arm become more normal sized again and the veins start to come back. I didn't feel the same joint issues, had no hoarseness, lost the headaches. All the symptoms came back as soon as I returned home, but nevertheless after that vacation and subsequent extended trips, I was able to conclude with a reasonable level of confidence that these symptoms are linked to the house. I bought an air filter and an air quality monitor that shows volatile organic chemicals, PM, formaldehyde, and C02.
Using the air quality monitor, I discovered that volatile organic chemicals (VOCs) and formaldehyde were usually abnormally high and sometimes extremely high. VOCs are usually above safety thresholds at >0.5 mg/m3 and formaldehyde >0.1 mg/m3. Sometimes, the VOC levels will stay consistently above 1.8mg/m3. I witnessed them reach a peak level of 5mg/3 in one bedroom late at night when I was woken up by a feeling of shortness of breath. I tried but failed to correlate these high VOCs to electronics, chemical sources in the home, cooking sources, heaters, and cleaning supplies. The way the VOCs would spike all over the house for no apparent reason in the evening helped me rule out some of these other possibilities. I also actively removed other sources.
Eventually, I realized that the VOCs were likely caused by mold, so-called microbial VOCs. The formaldehyde could also be explained by mold. The levels of VOCs would spike on rainy days, when the humidity was high inside, and in the evening. I don't think any other chemical source near the house would display this pattern. It took me a while to reach this conclusion because the mold issue in my house isn't too obvious. The house has always had a slight musty smell, especially if the air is stagnant for a while. The bathroom also has recurring mold growth on a tiles, in the shower, and on the various shower liners. A couple cabinets in the kitchen have always smelled musty. I didn't think these obvious signs of mold growth were that big of a deal, but given the extremely high levels of VOCs I now believe the mold has always been the issue.
Once I realized it was likely mold, I started noticing all the signs. The house is about 100 years old. The prior two owners of this house each moved out within five months. The house is not ventilated except from windows. It sits in a damp area near where water puddles up in the yard. It's mostly solid brick, so the house frame has a way of trapping hot air and releasing a lot of moisture onto the floors each evening. There's also a cheap layer of vinyl flooring throughout that could easily cover up a massive mold problem underneath. Finally, the townhome sits on top of an old shared crawl space that was used as a furnace. It has had known water puddling issues for which reason a vapor guard was installed underneath my first floor.
So, I had a mold inspection done. The results are at the bottom of this post. The bathroom results might be diluted because I left the window open the night before. Nevertheless, both my kitchen and bathroom had mold detected at levels between 6480 - 12,300 spores/m3. Oddly, the outdoor levels of all of the molds were often much higher, 3-6 fold higher than the levels indoors. It was a humid day, but it still seems odd for me that an outdoor space could have higher levels than indoors.
On later reading about my specific mold spores and neurological symptoms, I noticed that the two most elevated groups of spores in my house, ascospores and basidiospores, are the same class as all of the funguses known to have colonized the nervous system of ALS patients according to this published article. Those specific types of fungus found in the nerves of ALS patients are Candida, Malassezia, Fusarium, Botrytis, Trichoderma, and Cryptococcus. It naturally led me to wonder if my chronic als-type neurological symptoms could be caused by some latent fungal infection in my body that gradually improves when I'm away from the home.
Wrapping up this thread, I have a bunch of questions.

• Does anyone have the same kinds of molds (see below) in their home and have the ability to speak to how problematic my levels are from their own experience?
• Why would the outdoor control be so high? I do compost and garden, but all of the compost is buried underground.
• Is my specific blend of mold types implicated in neurological symptoms?
• Do my symptoms seem similar to mold-related symptoms that you might have had? I'm trying to figure out if mold is a likely culprit or if I should keep seeking help for possible tickborne illness or other issues.
• Should my mold levels be a cause to stay away from this house as much as possible? Should I ever return?
• Do I need to throw away all my belongings like books clothes and sheets?
• Would a very high quality HEPA air purifier make any difference?
• Is there some kind of public health representative that could help me navigate this or a type of mold doctor who could help me investigate the causes of my symptoms and seek the right kinds of medication?
• Do you have any other advice for someone in my situation?

My mold inspection results

Hi, I really need some help from this community. Any feedback or recommendations would be so much appreciated. I am a 37yr old male, and I suspect I may have a LGV (lymphogranuloma venereum). Below I have a long-ish summarized timeline of my symptoms, dr visits, and labs.
TLDR:... I have several labs that show IGG for LGV, but not showing IGM/IGA, and the labs and doctors say it is a past infection. Have taken antibiotics but symptoms persist. I am in utter misery, and I visited an infectious disease doctor, and I felt like they blew me off and they agreed with the lab results that this is all a past infection. They believe all my symptoms are auto-immune related.
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2020-2021 – Started having sores in the corners of my mouth, and bumps in my mouth along with burning in mouth. Infrequent blisters on lip (never crusted up, just would go away). Rashes on body
2022 – December 2023 – In addition to all of the above continuing, had difficulty urinating, leaking urine, lethargy, body aches. Pain in kidney area. Almost every orifice of my body had burning sensation (eyes, ears, nose/sinus, mouth, rectum, sore throat). Small pustules are present in my nostrils. Sinuses appear to be inflamed. Burning sensation in pelvis area.
Saw doctor multiple times and was tested for various things but only thing showed was a severe Epstein-Barr infection in spring of 2023. Symptoms felt worse and worse, and I went again back to the doctor as I thought I may still be experiencing EBV. I requested to be retested for EBV, test for Lupus (ANA), and was tested for LGV.
Doctor prescribed me azithromycin for my sinuses/ears. Within 36-48 hours of taking azithromycin, I had near immediate relief of urological and sinus symptoms, and within a few days my eyes no longer burned.
Test came back that I was over EBV, showed some ANA stuff, and showed a past infection of LGV (C.TRACHOMATIS L1 AB (IGG) 1:64 H) in December of 2023.
I proceeded to setup an appointment with a rheumatologist to address the ANA stuff. Drew multiple labs and felt I had a sensitive immune system, prescribed steroids. By late Jan of 2024 I felt probably 90% better.
February 2024 – Felt nearly completely ok at this point. Had cystoscopy and nothing unusual was noted.
Early March 2024 – Had sex with wife, and all urological symtoms return within about 2 days, and within a week all prior symtoms return, and worse than ever. Frequent urination, difficulty urination, burning sensation in bladder, pain in lower back and kidney area. Rash on testicles that comes and goes. Burning inside of pelvic area. It seemed to me to be very obvious correlation of the timing of symptoms to sex. Wife shows no obvious symptoms.
March 2024 – Was prescribed azithromycin (500mg/day for 10 days) again, and doxycycline (100mg/2x day for 21 days), and when I started the azithromycin within a day it started helping my urological and sinus symptoms, but seemed to stop helping after a couple of days. I finished both rx’s and with no further relief of symptoms.
3/21/24 – Urine screen for UTI/STI's and blood work for LGV. All negative (did not show LGV past infection now)
4/16/24 – LGV test ran again, and now shows past infection again (C.TRACHOMATIS L1 AB (IGG) 1:128 H), but also shows C. Trachomatis D-K AB (IGG 1:64 H) as a past infection now.
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 My husband found a tick on my surgery scar on my neck about a month ago. I don't know how long it was there because we just woke up when he found it. I'm assuming it came from one of my dogs. About a week later I went to the doctor because my knee was hurting really bad. My doctor put me on a strong anti-inflammatory for tendonitis. I forgot to tell her about the tick. I start developing cold sweats for hours at a time almost every day. I also had bouts of extreme fatigue and feeling like I was going crazy. I made a new doctor's appointment and told her about the tick. I didn't have a rash so she was hopeful it wasn't Lyme but tested me still. My results showed positive IgG 18 and 41 bands. She said it was concerning enough to treat me with doxycycline. I'm still confused though because do I have it or not? How do I know for sure? 

32F, 5'2", 196lbs, non-smoking, non-drinker, no substance abuse, no known allergies. Prescriptions I take are gabapentin, buspirone, duloxetine, spironolactone, ropinirole, and propranolol. I take vitamins D3, iron, and folic acid.
Some time last year, I had a sudden, painful choking fit while taking some of my medications. I coughed up most of what I tried ingesting, but I assumed the rest likely went down the way it was supposed to. Now with my current ongoing issues, I can't help but wonder if maybe a pill DIDN'T go down the way it was supposed to?
About 8 months ago, I believe, I started having occasional issues with coughing up noticeably thick wads of sputum. OTC allergy medicine did nothing, but I shruggedv the problem off at the time. About a month after it started, I started coughing up considerably bloody wads, with the addition of lingering chest ache/discomfort around the time of these instances occurring. Coughing up bloody wads wasn't terribly frequent, but coughing up wads of sputum and the chest discomfort were daily.
The chest pain had me scared, but my usual doctor was booked for a few weeks. I took my chance with one of the local fast pace clinics, but after an okay X-ray, they figured it was bronchitis. I was prescribed Mucinex DM, Albuterol inhaler, methylprednisolone, and doxycycline hyclate. The pharmacy found it odd that I wasn't tested. The medications didn't seem to help, but at least the inhaler offered relief for the coughing fits and shortness of breath.
About a month or two later, I finally went to see my doctor, and after doing some testing and reassessing of the data from the fast pace clinic, my doctor concluded that the only next step was to do a CT scan to try to figure out the problem. She did eventually try prescribing me some azithromycin in a more recent visit in hopes of treating this as well as my mysteriously sudden chronic rash, but unfortunately, it didn't seem to help with either issue.
I'm no longer coughing up crud on a daily basis, I can breathe pretty normally, and I haven't seen any blood in a month. However, coughing up thick sputum is still happening, and the chest discomfort and coughing fits still happen fairly regularly. I haven't yet gone to get a CT scan due to finances, but I might try to next month after one of our car repair bills gets paid off.
So with all of that said, is it possible that I aspirated a pill? If so, could it possibly have caused this ongoing problem?
I apologize for the length of this post, but I appreciate your time and possible assistance.

Histamine Intolerance maybe? I’ve been a good girl and have eaten sauerkraut, avocado, walnuts, and a cup of kefir every day for weeks now. These are high-histamine foods, it turns out. 3 days ago a rash suddenly appears on my chest. The doctor gave me a cortisone cream and sent me away (what a JOKE). It started off with some red spots, and now they look blotchy although not raised or itchy. They’re just there.
I’ve also had headaches, nausea, congested sinuses (mistaken for sinusitis and given Doxycycline 10 days ago which probably made things worse) but no diarrhea. I have a weird burning sensation in my arms. Pins and needles in my feet. So… HIT?
Orrrrr is it a progesterone allergy of some sort? I’m in my PMS week, today is day 22.
Many symptoms overlap and I’m feeling really sad for myself. This is all happening on the back of two months of continuous new issues cropping up. Does it ever end???? I’m 45, my periods have just started to become irregular. I have a whole host of peri symptoms from last year. And now this chest rash. I NEVER get skin issues. I’m in the process of changing doctors so don’t yet have a new GP, nor do I have much hope in them anyway.
F THIS.
All I need is for someone to tell me that all this is normal/ common and that I’ll be ok and that the NEW onset of things happens to peri women all the time and it’s not just me and my anxiety is making it worse but that I’ll be ok. And that new symptoms are NOT something to freak out about.

I can’t believe this has happened, but I think I just removed a tick nymph from my forearm. I tried to save it, but it was so tiny I lost it. Two days ago I was out in my backyard planting a few things. I was wearing tick repellent, but I guess not enough? I’ve felt fatigued and off all day today and am up now at 1:00 pm with joint pain. I don’t know if this is from herx as I just increased my herbs. I’m going to get a thirty day supply of doxycycline on Monday. Has anyone else been bitten while undergoing treatment? I’m kinda freaked out.
ETA: There is a rash, but no bullseye. Also, this morning my skin on my opposite arm turned red and felt like it was on fire. However, this has happened many times before this bite.

My partner found a dog tick on me last Tuesday evening. It was attached to my armpit, and I must have picked it up early in the morning as my job had taken me through some fields to change some signs along the side of the highway earlier that day.
By my estimates, the tick may have been attached as long as 12 hours, maybe less. I would have likely picked up the little guy between 7 and 10am, and the tick was removed a little after 10pm that same day.
The tick wasn’t engorged, so I wasn’t worried at first. Everything online says it’s quite rare, so I went over the symptoms to lookout for and went about business as usual.
Fast forward to Friday. My day at work starts off pretty normal, but towards the end of the day I started feeling very fatigued. My job is a little physically demanding, but it was strange for me to be feeling this way (shortness of breath mild headache, and legs feeling jiggly like jello). I wrote it off as maybe I pushed myself too hard, and went home.
About 5pm that night, I started feeling uneasy. By 6pm, I was full on nauseous and in pain. I asked my partner to take me to an urgent care, and she agreed. Booked an appointment a couple towns over, and took the most unpleasant car ride I’ve had in recent memory.
I get seen by a nurse practitioner, who overall is very dismissive. I explain to her the situation about the tick, how long it was attached. That Lyme disease was not what I was worried about, and from the looks of it RMSF wasn’t anything she has ever dealt with or known about. She proceeded to test me for Covid, and a couple other viral infections. She didn’t believe it would be a tick borne illness as she said Lyme disease is only transmitted after a tick is attached for 36 hours. I advised her again that I’m not concerned about Lyme disease as dog ticks don’t carry that disease.
She then asked me “what disease are you concerned about again?” And proceeded to leave and take 10 minutes to read up on it.
She came back and advised that she doesn’t think RMSF is likely as it’s rare, I don’t have a fever, I don’t have a rash, yada yada.
She still proceeded to give me a 7 day supply of doxycycline, and felt the need to tell me that whatever was ailing me was probably viral.
So what now?
I’m thinking I should see my PCP and still get bloodwork done. From what I understand, the bloodwork will show up negative for a lot of people initially, and me starting doxycycline today won’t help with getting an accurate test result.
Is 7 days of doxycycline enough for early treatment of RMSF? Everything I see online recommends 10-30 days, and I’ve even seen as high as 4-6 weeks but I think that’s done when diagnosis is done later.
Anyway, thanks to anyone who made it this far. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Hi- I’m writing this because i feel like i frequently see people come on here asking for advice on what to do and lots of people seem to suggest very interesting/niche/unproven/untested, etc treatments.
I understand that there are multiple reasons not to want to go on antibiotics or even get medicated creams. I know there are people who can’t afford it, don’t have insurance, or have to wait months to see a derm. I get it.
But if you can, START with the antibiotics and with any other medicated creams a doctor can give you. I’ve seen so many people here struggle for months and months, sometimes making it worse- when the best place to start is antibiotics.
I too have horrible reactions to many antibiotics in high doses. I’ve had hives, yeast infections, rashes, etc from them and it’s nearly impossible to see a derm where i live.
So naturally, I stayed doing OTC things like zinc creams, azelaic acid, Elidel, supplements, you name it. Some things made it better over time but it would never fully go away. I finally gave up and decided to go to my family doctor (but you can also try a walk-in), they prescribed me 40mg Doxycycline for 2 months and 1% metrogel 2x daily. I’ve been taking both as prescribed religiously and BOOM, just like that it’s been 3 weeks and my PD is nearly gone.
I wish I would have just done this from the beginning, I would have saved myself so much time, pain, and money. On top of that, I never had any idea that you could get low dose antibiotics that only act as an anti-inflammatory, these have probably been the most helpful for me and I never would have thought I’d ever take antibiotics again.
Please believe me when I say, yes, do the OTC things in the meantime, but prioritize seeing a doctor and getting medication as much as you can. There is a reason they exist. Please trust me on this, save yourself the time of having to figure out which OTC things will and won’t work. Start with the proper thing and if that doesn’t work then by all means go ham with OTC.

I had symptoms that aligned with Gonorrhea so went into urgent care and they gave me a shot in my butt of Ceftriaxone. The doctor then prescribed me with a 7 day treatment of Doxycycline.
Can I wait till Sunday or Monday to take this treatment? She warned me about a side affect of developing a rash from sun exposure. Sunday I have a work event that requires me to be in the sun all day long and I have to wear very lil clothes.
Does anyone know or have any recommendations? I obviously would prefer to take the medication immediately and just be done with it but I’m very scared of developing that rash and it ultimately affecting my work, my image being tied into it unfortunately. Ty in advance for any insight!

I had protected sex on April 19th, but I didn't use a condom during oral sex with the female, and I caught this rash on my penis that burns when I pee. I went to urgent care about three days later, and they didn't really look at it; they just prescribed me doxycycline and metronidazole, but I fear they didn't give me enough due diligence. They said I had dysuria and put me on those antibiotics for 7 days, and I'm on day 5, and I feel as if nothing has changed, and I'm scared. The symptoms I'm feeling right now are high body temperature, diarrhea, and a burning sensation from my penis.
https://ibb.co/N6py172

hi, on 04/14 i removed a deer tick from my scalp (i don’t know how long it was attached before removal) i live on the south side of the metro atlanta area; im also a avid hiker and more than likely picked up the tick in the woods on one of my hikes that week. i do not have a bulls eye rash. however, by thursday my resting heart rate starting elevating - today my resting heart rate is 112 and only wavering a few points. by saturday, i had an all day headache that involved light sensitivity. by saturday night, i had a fever of just under 103. since saturday, ive had constant fevers in the 100-103 range. fatigue. muscle and joint discomfort (nothing severe just mildly ugh feeling when i move around). the lymph node directly behind my ear lobe (on the same side as the tick bite and the closest node to the bite) is swollen and very tender. in fact that entire side of my neck from behind my ear down a good bit is very tender and uncomfortable to move. it’s not stiff like meningitis would present, i can move at full rotation, it just uncomfortable and painful constantly.
today i went to a doctors appointment where i explained to them my symptoms, and that i had a tick removed from my scalp before the onset of symptoms. the pcp told me there are no tests that can be ordered to test for lyme disease and i don’t have a rash, so it is unlikely i have lyme in her opinion. she did prescribe me doxycycline for 10 days, 2 100 mg tablets a day.
i was in to have a cbc panel ran anyway, so i do know my white blood count will be tested in the next few days in case that matters.
i’m mainly looking for advice, maybe possible resources for doctors who are actually educated on tick related diseases in my area? i also understand there is a possibility it isn’t lyme but it could be another tick related disease or something else entirely. however im certain its related to the bite and want to make sure im exploring the avenue of a disease that is oftentimes ignored in the medical field.

I'm still a bit stressed while writing this, because I've never been through something like this. Just a couple hours ago I hooked up with a guy I met through grindr.
We were making out and I topped him while we were in missionary (unprotected). I turned him around to change positions and I saw that his back and ass had many small rashes, and then I started noticing more of his body and saw he had rashes all down his legs and hive-like marks around his body.
I finished as quickly as I can and we sat down together, before I could say anything he said that the rashes in his body are psoriasis and that I shouldn't worry. He's also a bodybuilder and clearly has taken steroids so it might also be rashes from that?
I talked to one of my friends after and he told me that it might be syphilis or an STI. I don't know what to think or what to do. I've been told that if I take doxycycline I should be fine, but for how long? And what if the guy was telling the truth and I have nothing, is it still safe to take? I live in an extremely homophobic/conservative country so I can't do much..

Hello Im M21. I last had intercourse on 3/13 with a woman I met online(this was at 3am). Unprotected like an idiot. She also gave oral but I didn't. Right after I left her place driving back home I felt an itch where my pubes are. Later on that same day I started feeling tingling and itchiness in my urethra, I thought it would clear up after some sleep because it was on and off. The next day at work is when I started to think I caught something because I had crazy testicle pain, nausea, and bladder pain along with the tingling and itch. Also some needle like pain on my penis(felt like it was inside) that would come and go. It wasnt until 3/15 that I went to the ER at 1am. Told the doctor my symptoms and the diagnosis was urethritis. He gave doxycycline to take for 10 days 2 times a day and also did a urine test for chlamydia and gonorrhea. Im not sure how early you can test for chlamydia but both came out neg. Also my urinalysis results were normal until I saw my urobilinogen was abnormal and pH was in the 8.5 range which was considered high. Then on 3/17 I woke up and it felt like something popped in my urethra? Or maybe my tip was sticking together and came apart because it was sticking a lot more but I looked in my urethra and saw a red area almost like rash. I went back to the ER and this time the doctor tested me for HIV/Syphilis by blood which was non reactive. He gave me moxifloxacin to take with the doxycycline and said if that doesn't work I would need to see an urologist. I asked him could herpes be the reason and he told me its possible but he doesn't think so because herpes cause blisters and would hurt a lot. Half way into the medication I started to see a little bit of improvement and after I finished it I felt a lot better. No tingling. Hardly any itch. Less testicle pain. Bladder pain was lessen. But it wasnt completely gone. So on 4/11 I had an appointment as a follow up with my primary doctor and I told him about it all, he come to the conclusion that it might be something fungal and that it might be jock itch. I also asked him about herpes and he also said I would know if it herpes because it hurts ALOT. Im now applying miconazole in the meantime but can't tell a difference other than the mild irritation I get from the cream. Im not trying to say they are both wrong, I want to believe them but it still worries me. Im going to PP on the 30th to get tested just to be sure.
Also like to note I have no pain when I pee and I have no burning sensation. The itch is really mild and happens on and off, no tingling, testicle pain also off and on but last happened on the 15th, bladder pain comes and goes and also been awhile. The red area in my urethra gets bumpy only when Im erect otherwise its just flat, I have no clue if that has to do with anything with herpes. Other than that I feel decent but it's still there sort of. Pic 1https://ibb.co/kmJVHc2 Pic 2 https://ibb.co/1zHgSv0 Pic 3 https://ibb.co/0BLnWFL Pic 4 https://ibb.co/mt1d9D2 Pic 5 https://ibb.co/4YMCmFJ
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Hi, so for the past 4 years I have been on a journey to figure out what pustularash infection I have had to deal with on my face. I have never reached out onto reddit about anything and this is my first post ever, seeing what kind of advice or wisdom I can soak in from others. At first, my first dermatologist diagnosed me with rosacea. That later led onto a 2nd dermatologist informing me that I had a form of seborrheic psoriasis. Until last year, I had no idea that this was all mainly diet-related. I grew up in a household where we maybe had a healthy meal cooked for us once every two years lol. That has changed. Understanding that inflammation on the skin is most of the time equated with gut health, life has became simple. I have a lot more clarity on what is obvious to eat and not to eat. The skin between my eyes gets flakey when, in moderation, eating something high in sugar salt. The cheek skin on each side of my nose gets pustular and itchy when having cheese or alcohol. Anything greasy shows up on my lower jaw. Anything with citric acid brings flakey skin behind my ears it seems and also brings a pustular rash on my sideburns even with the hole of my ear. I never find myself ever sitting in the sun for anytime longer than 5 minutes with my face to the sun. I feel like Nick Swardson from Benchwarmers. Laying my face down on any material besides my satin sheets because God forbid I sleep on my girlfriend's cotton pillows or sheets and I wake up with the itchiest rash. I have yet to meet someone in my life with a condition of this kind. Two days ago I was put onto Doxycycline HYC for the next thirty days. I now have perioral dermatitis. I have done my share of drugs, blow and green for the most part, disassociating myself from reality enough but this medicine ? insane what it did to me today. I haven't felt this off of my rocker in years. Yes, I have dug myself into my own grave with the mental part but we aren't here for that haha! My daily diet consist of couscous, black beans, almonds, cashews, salmon, avocados, bananas, oatmeal. Rarely, unless I am with my lady, am I eating out of diet. Maybe some nights once or twice every 2-3 weeks I will put food into my body that shouldn't be in anyone's stomach. Food that contradicts these allergies and conditions I deal with day to day. I want to eat things like tomato's and cheese and bread and go outside and have a beer or eat a snack here and there and not feel self-conscious the next day. I want to wake up and have breakfast and not have the appearance of my face be up in the air for the day. It is tiring. This has became a rant but I guess in the end all I would want from this is advice or any tips with someone that relates. I usually never ask for help or reach out for help. This is me being vulnerable.

24M 6ft tall 80kg No drugs, no smoking
Hi all. I was diagnosed with syphilis 3 weeks ago. I was experiencing secondary stage with really bad rash all over torso and arms. I suspect a sexual encounter 4 months prior and unfortunelty that same encounter gave me chlamidya. I recieved a peniclin shot, 1 in each buttcheek. I got a fever the same day and lasted 8 hours (known reaction from treament). Afterwards I felt much better. My dry cough, trouble breathing, rash and joint pain got better. Now its been 3 weeks, i still have rash leftovers, after i shower especially in my arms the rash is still visible (but not nearly as bad as before). However, my lymph nodes in the back of the neck are still quite swollen. Does this mean the treatment may have failed? Any advice on how long do these lymph nodes in the neck take to go down? How about the rash? (Btw i also did 1 week of doxycycline for the chlamydia 2 weeks after the pencilin). Just a bit worried the treatment might have failed
Thank you for any feedback

posting on behalf of my best friend because we’re getting desperate. he is a 24-year-old black male, 6’3, 229 lbs. history of eczema which he uses over the counter lotion for. he drinks occasionally with no other drug use. currently taking doxycycline (100mg twice daily) and has received 2 separate rocephin injections for the problem I’m about to describe.
in late February, he exchanged blowjobs with another male and developed testicular pain about a week later. he also noticed a singular painless lesion around his genital area that healed up and went away on its own within a few days. he went to his primary doctor who tested him for chlamydia, gonorrhea, HIV/AIDS, & syphilis, all of which came back negative. he was given a single dose of azithromycin (1000mg) and a shot of rocephin, which initially helped with the symptoms.
fast forward to mid-march. the lesion is gone but testicular pain remains, with newly developing discomfort with urination and itching around the rectal area. he’s now experiencing discomfort when passing bowel movements and what he describes to be like a rash around his ass that he initially attributes to his eczema. he returns to his primary who, for some godforsaken reason, prescribes a week’s worth of ciprofloxacin & orders no further testing. friend takes it and does not fee better after it’s done. we are beginning to suspect syphilis at this point due to the way his symptoms are reacting to treatment. edit fwiw, no fever or chills here or at any other point in the timeline. he does have a single swollen lymph node in his neck that has been that way for maybe a week or two as of writing this.
it is now early april. we’ve taken him to be tested a second time at a different provider because he seems to be feeling worse by the week. the doctor gives him a second rocephin shot and a round of doxycycline to be taken for a week, which he reports is helping, but does not fully get rid of his symptoms. so far all of his tests - including an RPR for syphilis - are once again negative.
I am extremely worried for his health due to how long this has persisted, the fact that his area has had a syphilis problem for quite some time now (which neither of us knew about prior to this), and the fact that he does not have access to good healthcare in the shitty little town he lives in. Seriously, the population is less than 10,000 so his options are already limited, and the last time he tried getting in with a urologist for this, she told him to Google other places in the area because they couldn’t help him without even listening to why he was calling in the first place. WTAF?!?!
So, doctors of Reddit… what’s our next move? I live very far away from him (I got him tested again when he came up to visit for my birthday last week) but am trying to help out however I can. Any and all advice on what he could be dealing with and how he needs to handle it given the circumstances is appreciated. Much love 🫶

so, after trying a new sunscreen and a heavy-duty prescription fluoride toothpaste my skin had a massive breakout a few days ago and I developed PD on my upper lip. it burns slightly, and I'm now terrified I'm going to have this ugly and painful rash on my face for the rest of my life.
Anyways, I just back from the dermatologist and she prescribed me doxycycline, but the big issue is that I have hyperacusis and pretty severe tinnitus from noise damage, and doxycycline can be pretty ototoxic/damaging to the ears. I'm currently housebound due to my hyperacusis, and it's an extremely difficult condition to manage, so I really can not risk any kind of antibiotic or medication that will make it worse.
I also really do not want my PD to get worse and I've read that the key is to treat it ASAP with antibiotics. I'm just really not sure what the move for me is. Is it possible to get rid of PD without antibiotics??