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← Return to Grover's Disease: What works to help find relief?
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Grover's Disease: What works to help find relief?
Skin Health | Last Active: Dec 6 3:31pm | Replies (2018)Comment receiving replies
It's awful that we have to suffer like this. I believe I was misdiagnosed with Miliaria (heat rash) rather than GD 20 years ago. This is when I lived in San Diego (originally from Boston area), which was a dry climate. I was getting a lot of seborrheic keratoses as well. I went to two separate dermatologist and neither did a biopsy, I was only given clobatasol . Clobatasol never worked so I suffered, but the heat rash was only on one side of my back. I moved to Southwest Florida 7 1/2 years ago, which is very hot and humid all year long. The dermatologist also diagnosed me with Miliaria and gave me more clobatasol. Every annual f/up she said it was Miliaria. I got COVID twice, the 2nd time was on Christmas of 2022 but stayed very sick all through January and February of 2023. Needless to say the Miliaria spread to my stomach and chest. I went to my dermatologist and saw the PA this time and she immediately said that looks like Grover's Disease. She did a couple biopsies and sure enough it was positive for GD. They tried to give me clobatasol again and I said no. The gave me Fluocinonide cream 0.05% which worked a little bit but came back once stopped. She then gave me Triamcinolone Cream which also works temporarily and came back once stopped. She prescribed Hydroxyzine but I had side effects. I tried Chlorella but my liver readings came back very high on my blood work. I don't like fresh cilantro smoothies so I take cilantro drops nightly which helps with my burning and stabbing (I don't itch). Someone mentioned on the Facebook group that they put deodorant on their chest and stomach where they have spots and sweat. I actually tried it for the last three days and it's helping. I was shocked. I believe the gentleman who runs the Facebook page says the deodorants that work have aluminum chlorohydrate in them. He explained early research for GD thought it was a sweat disease. Chlorohydrate Aluminum stops by blocking the sweat by binding with the proteins in the sweat to form a proactive membrane over the epidermis that blocks and seals off the sweat glands also shrinking them. I started to sweat where I have GD spots since COVID, I never did before. Hopefully the deodorant will continue to help along with the cilantro oil. I wish you the best!
Replies to "It's awful that we have to suffer like this. I believe I was misdiagnosed with Miliaria..."
I too have tried it all. All the prescriptions, all the cilantro smoothies but nothing helped. A chopped clove of garlic mixed with a table spoon of honey each morning has been the only thing to help with my grover's disease. I was eating the garlic and honey due to a gastrointestinal issue I was having but it also helped with my grover's. Amazingly. I can only assume that it has something to do with gut health and getting that balanced again which is what the garlic and honey does. Good luck.
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Just a couple of thoughts. It's not deodorant that works but anti-perspirant, which contains aluminum. Even though there is no clinical proof that topical aluminum products cause cancer, many people have stopped using it for this reason. For sure it interrupts the sweat function, and I would be reluctant to use it all over my body for this reason. Sweat is nature's way of cooling the body, and keeping cool is a central tenet of fighting Grover's. Just something to think about and perhaps research further. Secondly, be aware gabapentin can have some nasty side effects and can be addictive. Since you used it for a long time without problems, it may be safe for you. I thought it would be safe for me because I had taken gabapentin for over a year for post herpetic neuralgia following a very bad case of shingles, but when I took it for Grover's my calves and ankles swelled and, after less than a month's use, I had awful withdrawal symptoms for about a week when I quit, including rock bottom depression. Others report memory loss. There's a Facebook group which discusses gabapentin that you might want to take a look at.