Granuloma Annulare: Any ideas for treatment?

@cds206 Welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect, a place to give and get support.

May I ask you to introduce yourself and what brings you to connect?

Hello - Unfortunately, GA was given as a diagnosis for my biopsy with an eruption on my foot that is under the skin and looks to be a raised, reddish pink cord that is itchy on occasion and I’m awaiting the results. In the meantime I went on to a forum on Inspire that I belong to as I have a rare and heritable connective tissues issue (Hypermoble Ehlers Danlos; hEDS) that often shares comorbidity with Mast Cell Activation (MCAS) and POTS and share this as all 3 May and usually due have an abnormal relationship to the mast cells in our bodies for varied reasons I won’t go into and infact POTS could trigger MCAS and vice versa and falls under the umbrella term of Dysautonomia. I want to share this as most people in my community take up to 50 yrs to get a diagnosis and may help just one of you. With that out of the way…I did an online search Ehlers Danlos+GA and then jumped on the forum to find a post of a gal who shared her diagnosis above along with GA and that hers went away by taking the MCAS drugs! These include Cromalyn for the gut and antihistamines. When she stopped taking these, it reappeared and then when started up the drugs saw it improve again. I w read there is a drug/light therapy approach but the long term safety is unknown and I take the approach less is more - as I already have enough to contend don’t want to borrow trouble with any unknowns and later on another issue e.g. organ damage from a treatment. Therefore, without a formal diagnosis with the above MCAS, you may wish to try this under the guidance of your Dr. If you have sensitives to foods, preservatives, chemicals, etc. you may just have the more common histamine intolerance or the more severe version of that is MCAS. My PCP, like many Drs, is not well trained on EDS, MCAS, and POTS and from the Ehlers Danlos Society forum and Dr’s I learned following my EDS diagnosis I was also living with all the above and had to instruct my Dr to prescribe me the Cromalyn which he commented he’d never prescribed before, along with two types of antihistamines - u take one I the AM and another in the PM. I know I’m going to make this a regiment over the next few months and will report back my results. Of course we’re all different and there are several types of GA this may or may not prove to be helpful but will cause me no harm. Cromalyn, to my knowledge, is a safe clear liquid that I add to my beverage about 30 mins prior to a meal. It lay terms, it helps to coat the GI and calm the mast cells that react to histamines in foods. More and more we’re learning how our gut health impacts our overall well being and hope this works for me and maybe one of you as well as it did for a member in my EDS community. Best wishes to all, oh and please do NOT have any shame around your skin! If I have to deal with this one day, I assure you I won’t give away my power as I deal with enough with my medical journey and will think of a pat response; like a badge if you will, that will take away any emotionally charged explanation I shouldn’t have to go through nor should you. Something like, I’m one in a million as I’ve a rare genetic make up that you don’t need to worry about I’m just fine! If anyone should come to me with real empathy and concern I would thank them for their interest and if I thought acceptable would only then share my journey. I’ll let you know if the MCAS protocol helps me - I believe I may have had this for a year as it itched in on the side of my foot a while back and goes under so I hadn’t notice but is more prominent now and hope to resolve it but prepared for more now thanks to all you’ve shared. Kindest regards, hEDStrong

I have developed this also. I am interested in my own experiment at this point. My torso and legs are covered up in this disease. I am trying something (possibly silly) but trying.... It is skin related, so I am shaving an area on one leg to see if I can tell if anything changes. I, in my mind, wonder if the rash can be exposed to fresh air and new skin by removing the old dead skin by shaving with a plain old razor. I shave my one leg that has a heavy concentration of the rash every few days, just like I would shave my legs any other time. I would like to get other folks to try this. I have been doing this for several weeks now. It may be in my head but it looks like the redness has diminished. I am on a mission as this stuff is spreading down my arms and my legs. I figure it cant hurt. After all the lady that created post-it glue was just trying something simple.

My disease started to appear on the back of my thighs with welts looking like mosquito bites and itched madly. I used Benedril spray to calm it. After years I had another attack and saw the irregular rings and it spread very quickly on both legs. Now it is creeping everywhere that has no light exposure. Has anyone with Granuloma noticed that the most concentration is in areas that have pressure points? All of my lesions are on the back of my legs (thighs) and where when squatting such back of knees, front of upper thigh, torso, and areas where my skin is never exposed to light.

Is this a connection? I recall when I was very very thin, while sitting at work, the back of my thighs would feel like they were on fire. Only way I could make it quit was to stand and exercise my legs. Now this has returned and I do sit a lot and I am not remotely thin. Could that be nerve damage? Does anyone have an opinion on this?

I started with this on the back of my thighs. I can only suggest that if you have those severe attacks of itching to use Benedril spray.

After 3 years, 4 dermatologists, and a few inaccurate diagnoses - I finally received biopsy results yesterday showing a dx of interstitial granuloma annulaure. I go next week to meet with my derm and discuss this in further detail and hopefully find a path of relief. It's been a long and painful road that has also been filled with other new diagnoses due to the GA.

I hope you will keep us updated. I have thyroid and autoimmune issues. My GA is going everywhere. Legs, arms, torso, and is getting more dense in coverage.

Has anyone been diagnosed with it?

Hi @abc32, I moved your discussion and combined it with an existing discussion titled: Granuloma Annulare: Any ideas for treatment? https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/granuloma-annulare/.

You can meet members @germangal, @ladyswi1025, and @hedstrong shared their diagnosis and some of their experiences as well.

@abc32, if you are comfortable sharing, were you recently diagnosed?

I was diagnosed years ago...thru biopsies....given prednisone and was fine. It has now returned and am waiting to see a dermatologist. I have the disseminated (aka generalized) condition.