Erythema Nodosum!

So that was my diagnosis of the day. I have been suffering with red, tender blotches for the past few days with joint pain. At first we thought it was an allergic reaction to Imuran, but I was only getting the blotches on my arms and lower legs. They are extremely painful to touch and are raised up off of the skin.
Has anybody else experienced this?

I was diagnosed with Erythema Nodosum several years ago, after it was misdiagnosed. My first doctor thought it was a cyst on my ankle and did surgery. In my post-surgical fog I can remember him being very disgusted and telling my husband and I that it was not a cyst and refered me to someone else. The next doctor told me it was E.N. Most of what I can remember is that the incision got infected and I was laid up with it for weeks. I do remember the lump being very red, tender and sore, but the recovery from the infection was worse. It has never came back. I hope they treat yours right the first time. Good luck.

I had rather large patches on my shins. All the hair fell off and they were itchy as all heck but I rubbed some bath oil on my shins every night and once the surgery/immune suppression treatment kicked in, it subsided totally.

the hair is slow to grow back there but I suppose that is a guy thing. Hopefully it will stop once you get things under control.

thanks for the posts guys, at least I know I'm not alone

hey silver,
they still are not sure if it is an allergic reaction, but he told me that he wants to keep me on the Imuran to see if I am still getting the "hives". The reason he does not think that it is an allergic reaction is because of the pain I had with the blothces. I have 3 more days of Pred, and then I go back to my Gastro and have him "assess" them. I am still getting more but I am noticing, that like the symptoms said, that they would start turning into deep purple bruises (my legs look like someone took target practices with paintballs)
But I guess we won't know for a few more days what it really is.
keeping my fingers crossed
<3

Ah yes...the good old bruising....will look like you were beaten up!....been there, had that.....with me, once they started turning, it was a sign the bumps were going away......I remember the pain was awful - didn't want anything touching me!

Hi dear,

Sorry to hear you've got another diagnosis. In some way I think you are lucky for your doctor to acknowledge that it is EN and therefore related to Crohn's. Not an alien disease!

I never got the diagnosis EN, since my symptoms started before my first real flare and the doctors brushed it off as related to my atopic eczema. However, my rash looked exactly like some of the photos of EN that I've come across, and it acts differently to my eczema, so I'm pretty sure that EN was what I had on my arms. (Between the wrist and the inside of my elbows). Where is yours exactly? Mine looked like small red blotches of approx. 1 cm in diameter, and they itched! I got it when I was in/just starting my first major flare, which was a very severe one. Right now half a year later, the nodules are completely gone, and I'm incredibly happy about that!

Hope Imuran helps both for your skin and intestines!

Good luck!

xoxo

Oh Thank God ( in a strange funny way)

glad you're ok, phew! was a bit worried there in the other post!
xxxx

Sophia said:

Where is yours exactly? Mine looked like small red blotches of approx. 1 cm in diameter, and they itched! I got it when I was in/just starting my first major flare, which was a very severe one.

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Mine are on my upper arm, right above my elbow (about 5 cm tall and 3 cm wide), one large one on my shin (about the same size as the arm one) and a bunch of little ones (1cmx1cm) all over my legs and knees. They are so itchy and sore to touch, and now some of them are turning into large bruises. I hope my flare that I'm going through now isn't going to get worse.
So glad to hear you have gotten better though

Astra101 said:

glad you're ok, phew!
xxxx

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thanks so much Astra <3

hunniebunn88 said:

Mine are on my upper arm, right above my elbow (about 5 cm tall and 3 cm wide), one large one on my shin (about the same size as the arm one) and a bunch of little ones (1cmx1cm) all over my legs and knees. They are so itchy and sore to touch, and now some of them are turning into large bruises. I hope my flare that I'm going through now isn't going to get worse.
So glad to hear you have gotten better though

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That sounds painful! Mine weren't as bad as this. Sound more like the smaller ones you have. If you look at the photo to the right in this article (a picture of someone's back) this is what my rash looked like, only I had it on my arms...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crohn's

Hope you get better soon, too! Life isn't supposed to be painful and annoying... *bighug* You can PM me anytime if you want to talk!

xoxo

The large bruising is to be expected.....but it is a sign the ED is working its' way around to completing its' 'cycle'.....the pain hopefully will start going away as the bruises start to fade too.....

EN for me was contained to the shins from my ankle to just below the knee. Irregular shaped red patches with small bumps around the perimeter that grew outward. As they subsided or expanded they left large bluish sunken patches with no hair and no flesh underneath. It was almost like a think fragile layer of skin that, if scratched or bumped would bleed. That hair on my shins had fallen out of the patches when they were red as the patches were starting.