Grover's Disease: What works to help find relief?

Posted by 43219876x @43219876x, Sep 23, 2016

I have been diagnosed with Grover's disease under my breasts. I had a biopsy for diagnosis. Tried topical ointment with no really good results. Any ideas?

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@jamesbmakos

Freedom from nitrates helped me minimize itching.

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My anti-inflammation diet doesn't allow nitrates- so good bye processed meat. I gave up bacon, but now have found a great tasting bacon at Sam's that is nitrate free. Evidently many processors are now making it nitrate free so assume other types of processed meat are being made nitrate free.

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@babbs

It turns out that there is a certain segment of the population who genetically cannot stand the smell or taste of cilantro. I'm. not making that up: https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2012/09/14/161057954/love-to-hate-cilantro-its-in-your-genes-and-maybe-in-your-head If so, don't despair. It looks like chlorella alone seems to be an excellent heavy metal detox. I wish cilantro was working for me, but it hasn't done a thing. I should be getting chlorella later this week. Fingers crossed. I also gave up my bra. For some reason, I am currently itching way more than usual, although my rash has subsided considerably. Feels like I'm being punished for some very serious misdeeds.

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Heat, sweat and friction which bras aggravate are a trigger. When broken out even pressure without friction seems to aggravate it. I have a double whammy as I have an allergy to elastic, Mercaptobenzothiazole, which is an element in rubber and used in blended material and of course elastic is in most bras. I wear Cottonique 100% cotton bras, or the bra liner which does have a band of elastic on the bottom which I remove and replace with a drawstring. Victoria Secret their bras are not!

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@mariannj

I ran out of chlorella and am still doing fine with the cilantro. I also reduced the cilantro dose and frequency as I have not had an outbreak for many months. I can still feel a stinging sensation if the area gets heated, such as when I am hugging my feather pillow at night to protect my shoulder. I simply remove the heat source and drink a cilantro smoothie the next few mornings. Keeping my fingers crossed.

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I believe my skin areas on my torso that rashed up will always be sensitive. I can't imagine getting a a massage at a spa anymore, it simply wouldn't feel good. Our cellular structure has changed. Even the sun rays don't feel good like they used to. Yet blessed since I am in remission that I have no issues leaning back in a chair or laying on my back in bed. Such a relief.
I wonder if I could have given the cilantro smoothies up sooner like Frogger did. When do you think you will experiment and give them up? I was too afraid to stop, but when in remission I got what I thought was a GD recurrence (turns out is was a reaction to Singles Vaccine ) I figured why bother with cilantro and stopped and so far months later no GD recurrence.

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@gardeningjunkie

My anti-inflammation diet doesn't allow nitrates- so good bye processed meat. I gave up bacon, but now have found a great tasting bacon at Sam's that is nitrate free. Evidently many processors are now making it nitrate free so assume other types of processed meat are being made nitrate free.

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Can you send me info about the anti-inflammatory diet you are following?

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@gardeningjunkie

Heat, sweat and friction which bras aggravate are a trigger. When broken out even pressure without friction seems to aggravate it. I have a double whammy as I have an allergy to elastic, Mercaptobenzothiazole, which is an element in rubber and used in blended material and of course elastic is in most bras. I wear Cottonique 100% cotton bras, or the bra liner which does have a band of elastic on the bottom which I remove and replace with a drawstring. Victoria Secret their bras are not!

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gardeningjunkie, I just ordered one from the cottonique site. Fingers crossed.

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I had to order different styles to find one that worked for me, but since I am small breasted support wasn't demanded. Friends on this site with larger cup sizes order the bra liner, which goes inside the support bra. For me with my allergies to the rubber element I mentioned which will off gas though the regular bra that wouldn't work for me.

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@maybelline_0217

Can you send me info about the anti-inflammatory diet you are following?

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I swear by a simple anti-inflammation diet written by a pioneer in the field. William Crook MD, The Yeast Connection Handbook. This was written in the 90's I believe, best if you can find a newer printing with the updated addendum which tweaks it a bi adding a few herbals which I have. I found my book used at a library book sale for 25 cents, read it and was blown away with his explanation of what yeast does in our body to raise inflammation which not only causes skin issues but other diseases. I finally understood and got motivated to tackle it. Last month when I looked it is still available on line at Amazon and other sites used ones as little as $4.00. Fast read. I no longer need my annual corticosteroid shot.

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I was diagnosed with Grovers Disease in October 2019, a relatively mild but still very annoying case. My dermatologist prescribed triamcinoline acetonide cream, 0.1% which has provided some relief. However, and perhaps entirely coincidentally, I also experience the onset of sciatica in October 2019 as well [a re-occurring problem for me]. Yesterday, April 3, 2020, I had a lumbar spinal injection for the sciatica, and since then, the itching has significantly reduced. I can find no research suggesting any correlation, but I have found this striking, and welcome. It may just be coincidental but perhaps not. I have not yet noticed a reduction in the Grovers 'spots.'

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Thanks for that post. I have suspicions that Grover's, while not Herpes, is Herpes-like in that it might live in the spine, like Herpes 2 and Herpes Zoster, or Shingles. (Herpes 1 lives in the trigeminal ganglion near the brain stem.)

The similarities are that it can occur once in a person's lifetime, or be recurrent and it has triggers like sun, heat, friction. In me, the Grover's rash is symmetrical, it affects the right side of my body identically to the left. In its march down and then up my body by "level," it did not affect the part of my skin affected by shingles. This behavior suggests to me a spinal connection.

I think the effectiveness of your spinal injection in relieving some of your symptoms is an important clue as to what this disease really is. The dermatological community does not seem all that interested in solving this mystery, but all of our collaborations might prove useful someday.

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@jankak

I was diagnosed with Grovers Disease in October 2019, a relatively mild but still very annoying case. My dermatologist prescribed triamcinoline acetonide cream, 0.1% which has provided some relief. However, and perhaps entirely coincidentally, I also experience the onset of sciatica in October 2019 as well [a re-occurring problem for me]. Yesterday, April 3, 2020, I had a lumbar spinal injection for the sciatica, and since then, the itching has significantly reduced. I can find no research suggesting any correlation, but I have found this striking, and welcome. It may just be coincidental but perhaps not. I have not yet noticed a reduction in the Grovers 'spots.'

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Hi @jankak, welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. Interesting correlation. How are you feeling today?

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