Connect
← Return to Grover's Disease: What works to help find relief?
Discussion
Grover's Disease: What works to help find relief?
Skin Health | Last Active: Nov 4 2:57pm | Replies (2012)Comment receiving replies
New poster here. Grateful to Mayo for creating the platform and for the welcome, rational, thoughtful community members.
FWIW, my narrative is: 62y/o caucasian male in good general health, developed trunk lesions accompanied by mild itching 3 months ago. Chose to ignore it until distribution of lesions advanced from lower abdomen to chest and mid-back (thoracic) and itch intensity escalated. PCP suggested a steroid injection. I’m a physician who has prescribed those meds judiciously and this seemed a reasonable single treatment step. Significant reduction in itching but it only lasted a week. Went to see a dermatologist. Non-responsive to initial topical therapy so she biopsied a couple lesions, making the diagnosis of Grover’s.
She advised me I have, of the four subclasses, the “simple” variety. After a review of treatment options we tried some additional topical treatments with no real help but I figured I’d just tough it out and be patient. The number of lesions and itching intensity waxed and waned over the next few weeks. It peaked about 4 days ago- I was pretty uncomfortable and came across this discussion (I trained in ob/gyn, not derm). Mindful of the moderator’s advice that cilantro has not been fully vetted as a medicine, I made a cilantro smoothie. Wow. Full relief from itching within 24 hours! Only 3 days in but no breakthrough of itching. Lesions are, of course, still present but are less red. Excellent clinical response. Will plan to sustain this approach and check coags/metabolic profile in a couple weeks to be sure the 10 stems/day are not causing an undesirable effect.
Replies to "New poster here. Grateful to Mayo for creating the platform and for the welcome, rational, thoughtful..."
Could you explain what you mean by four subclasses, the "simple" variety? I assume you are referring to GD. In all my reading have never heard of GD as having classes. I do know we manifest it differently. Looking at the photos of GD on dermnetnz.org the New Zealand Derm site the visual rashes vary widely and also although most have the rashes located on the torso, front and back, some have it travel further out. Also our degrees of itching and pain vary. It could be I never heard about the classes because my biopsy was negative but believe that may have been because I was in the last month of a 1 year breakout when I went to a new derm who immediately figured out what I had. Previously other derms assumed it was an extension of my Allergic Contact Dermatitis, ACD although after Patch Testing the year before I had eliminated contact with allergens and had no rashes elsewhere on my body. Not worth biopsying now as I perfectly fit the profile of GD.
Connect
With your medical background it would be appreciated if you can give us your view about heavy metals being detoxed by cilantro and if you feel this detoxing could be the reason cilantro works for about half of those posting.
To begin with cilantro worked miraculously for me. So grateful for kimass1 providing this info. It suppressed the initial stages of my typical 6 month break out (after initial breakout of 1 year have had 6 months active and 6 months inactive as a cycle) and kept it at bay for 9 months with daily cilantro smoothies. So I had a least 14 months of clear skin and took advantage of these wonderful days resuming all my outdoor activities. Sad to report but a few weeks ago a new breakout started, it's going to be a bad one.
Always hopeful about a new treatment, will continue with cilantro but will try the witch hazel mentioned recently. Although steroids can help some forms of eczema, no steroid ever helped my GD. Clindamycin I have and will use as it is antibacterial. May start using Calcipotreine (man-made form of vitamin d) again, a psoriasis treatment which may or may not help me but doesn't make it worse. When itching is at it's worse in the evening as our histamines are at their highest I apply Flanax Liniment a capsacian and menthol blend that burns initially, then will help to suppress the intense itching long enough for me to fall asleep. I buy the 2 oz bottle on Amazon adn do not touch with unprotected fingers. I use disposable vinyl gloves and also a long handled spoon to get to the back torso so no need to ask my husband for help. Never touch with unprotected hands as if not totally washed off hands and you touch your eyes or privates it will burn like mad. Fortunately for me it has never affected my sides so I can lay on my sides avoiding any pressure on the papuales and then fall asleep. I am sure you have learned that tight clothing and pressure aggravate a breakout.
Go for the cilantro smoothies. I never had any negative side effects. About the only odd thing I ever noticed is that I lost my craving for salads with other meals. I still eat them but less often as now I prefer other vegetables of all sorts. I think the cilantro filled my bodies nutritional needs for other salad greens.