I noticed the other day that I was breaking out around my mouth, specifically from one end of my upper lip to the other. I went and got some Cortaid and took some Benadryl. It kind of got better, not as rashy...just a little dry.
Well, today it has spread all over my face. I've looked online and can't seem to find any solid advice. I also called all the urgent care clinics in my area and there are none open near me (that I can find).
I've introduced plenty of potential culprits into my diet lately. The only new thing I've actually drank is Wal-mart brand organic coffee and rice milk. I recently had minor surgery and decided (maybe not to wisely) to completely change the way I've been eating. I stopped dairy, completely. I purchased some of the Ezekiel bread and cereal. I've been eating almonds and pumpkin seeds. I've added only good items and stopped quite a few other items. Since the rash began around my mouth, I've kind of been thinking that it was the organic coffee or the rice milk.
I'm just wondering what I can purchase over the counter, tonight, to prevent it from spreading, burning and itching. Should I continue the Cortaid? I'm hoping you have some good advice. This is making me really nervous.
I'm going to try to go to urgent care tomorrow. I just know how bad it's spread in the last 24 hours, and if there's a simple solution out there, I'd love to hear about it.
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Honestly, and I am paranoid about allergic reactions, if I was breaking out in a rash all over my face, and cortaid and benadryl didn't stop the problem (not just make it a little better for a little while) and I was uncertain of what was causing the reaction, I would go to the doctor right now. If that means the emergency room, then so be it. Like I said, I'm a little paranoid about reactions like that, but I feel it's better to be on the safe side.
I would find it odd that it is the organic coffee, assuming that regular coffee doesn't cause these effects in you, because organic coffee is just coffee that has not been sprayed with pesticides.
Posts: 1214 | Registered: Aug 2005
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I'm trying to be calm about it. Of course, it's ugly, but that bothers me less than the fact that it's spreading, it itches and burns.
The only reason I suspected the coffee or rice milk is because of the area where the rash started. When I held my coffee cup up to drink, I realized that it hit the exact area on my face that had broken out. I've just begun drinking both of them...and the only other beverage I've had is water. I did have some white wine the other night, but I had already broken out. My husband said he didn't want anything to do with the organic coffee. He said he might drop over dead if he didn't get his usual pesticides in the morning. He's having fun with this one, saying "uh-hun..see".
I really cringe at the thought of going to the ER if it's not a potentially critical situation. It's not bothering my breathing or my eye sight, it's just getting progressively worse. It's not like a blown up, swelling, allergic reaction. It's just a very ugly, creeping rash, contact dermatitis.
I have a lower surgery incision that is raw and bleeding. I already had the dr. check it this week, he said to avoid irritating it. He said to put a Band-Aid on it. That made it worse.
I'm irritating myself big time tonight.
I'm going to urgent care tomorrow, I just didn't know if I should keep applying the Cortaid. I just applied it around my mouth area yesterday. I haven’t used it on my cheeks yet today.
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You could call the hospital/dermatologist and at least SEE if they'd deign to tell you anything.
Last school year I had a massive allergic reaction to... something(not acutely affecting my lungs and such, though). we eventually went to the hospital because that possibility was there, and I did feel a tickling at my throat a couple times (and based just on that they decided to give me adrenaline instead of just continued less intense meds. So anyway, if it IS an allergic reaction and it's spreading all over you (which it sounds like it isn't) you should go to the hospital.
Posts: 655 | Registered: May 2005
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Unfortunately, contact dermatitis can be a reaction to something you have been eating for years and are just now reacting to. The rash can also be something OTHER than contact dermatitis, that looks like it.
The only way to really know, is to either go to a doctor (sounds like a good plan-- I don't think ER is necessary, just a doc as soon as possible, possibly a dermatologist) or to cut things out of your diet (and life-- it could be soemthing you're not even eating) one at a time...
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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No worries. Mango mouth for the win, or at least very likely contender.
Mangoes are part of the poison ivy family, and the skin of the fruit has oils that can spur a contact dermatitis around the mouth. Sometimes removing the skin totally before eating can help, but sometimes people are too sensitive even for that.
Your physician should be able to help, but brief applications of ice (no more than a few minutes), Benedryl, and over-the-counter hydrocortisone cream [Lanacort, Cortaid, etc. -- as you said you are -- per the instructions on the carton] can help meanwhile. Good luck!
---
Added: More details at the Honolulu Advisor, which may well be one of the sites you already found.
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PS: Of course, any trouble breathing, swollen tongue, or other signs of respiratory compromise should prompt a trip to the ER. I haven't seen that happen with this, but it's always a possibility, even if remote.
Also, ibuprofen can help keep down the inflammation (over and above pain relief).
Posts: 14017 | Registered: May 2000
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I was really dreading going through each of the items that I've added to my diet recently, trying to find the bad guy. When you asked about mango's I knew almost immediately it was the mango. I first cut the skin of the mango off with a knife, then sliced it. I was disappointed in how little of the fruit actually came off the big seed. I then just popped the tip of the seed into my mouth and just chewed around it to get the parts of the fruit that I couldn't cut off. I didn’t wash the mango or my hands after I peeled it. Bad habit! So, by being a mango piggy, I opened my self up to this.
My son had a smaller rash on his face, that I'd stopped with calamine lotion a few weeks ago. It had looked like poison ivy, but we've not been near "nature" since last summer (isn't that sad). I know if you're as allergic as he is to the oils that you can pick it up easily...right? Now that I think back, he had just had a mango as well. The calamine lotion really worked for him, so I tried it. It took his rash a while to go, it slowly dried up. I put some on last night, it's still there, but it dried up quite a bit.
I love easy fixes. I'll lay off the mango for a while, which is sad, because I love them. I can now sip my organic coffee and rice milk in confidence. Posts: 3771 | Registered: Sep 2002
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errgh. allergic to mango? That would be terrible. The only fruits I typically eat straight are ripe mangoes and avocados.
Posts: 15421 | Registered: Aug 2005
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I just got back from the doctor's. He called the mess on my face hives. I tried to contain it with the calamine lotion this weekend, but "it" had other plans. It's covered my ear, and it's crawling up my scalp and down my neck.
He gave me a shot, said it would work faster than the pills and prescribed Hydroxyzine for the itching.
Now, I'm waiting patiently (or not) for this mess to go away.
He wanted to know the exact date that I ate the mango. I couldn't really tell him. He wasn't sold on the mango theory completely, but I still am!
Oh, he also gave me Altabax ointment for the oddness going on down yonder on my surgical incision.
Don't you all feel better, now that you know how I'm resolving this issue.
My husband can't understand why I'd even post such an event online. I tried to explain the whole "Hatrack" thing, but he's not buying it. Posts: 3771 | Registered: Sep 2002
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Glad to hear that you've gotten to the doctor's, and that things are looking like they're under control, Tammy. Keep us posted!
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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I don't think this is well-known, despite the presence of it in journal articles. The staff at my residency department were unaware of this connection when I made the diagnosis for a child, and since there is no mango skin-prick test, we had to do a patch test to confirm it. This is done by rubbing a cut portion of mango peel on a small area of skin, then having the patient refrain from washing it.
[I wouldn't encourage someone who might have hives to do this on his/her own, only under medical supervision.]
Of course, it might be something else, but my suspicious are high. [However, I do not have the pleasure of examining you myself, so I defer to the person at hand.] What you describe is a classic oral distribution and natural history. Like a poison oak or poison ivy rash, the symptoms usually appear some 24-72 hours after the exposure. I'm not sure why he thought pinpointing an exact date would help rule this in or out, given the variability of presentation. (?)
Regardless, hope whatever it is goes away soon!
quote:* Exposure to poison ivy, oak, or sumac causes an itching rash that usually appears within 24-72 hours.
* The rash usually starts as small red bumps, and later develops blisters of variable size. The rash may crust or ooze.
...
* Different skin areas can break out at different times, making it seem as if the rash is spreading. ...
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CT, That suprises me. I've always peeled my mangos with my teeth. I usually eat the yellow (Manila or Champagine depending on the ad writer)ones. But, I've never had, or seen that kind of a reaction.
Posts: 1167 | Registered: Oct 2005
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Not everyone will react to this, just as not everyone will react to poison ivy, or certain detergents, or anything else that causes contact dermatitis in some people. I wouldn't be surprised if most people didn't have a problem.
Some people get a rash from using Tide detergent, others react to Era, some (most) react to neither. The inconsistency is a contact dermatitis thing.
I don't think the problematic oils are exactly the same in mango as in poison ivy, just close enough that some people will cross-react. But it's been awhile since I did any deep reading on it.
Posts: 14017 | Registered: May 2000
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BTW, the second article mentioned above explores this in good detail. I can't link the full text, but the abstract hits the high points.
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My sister lives in the Dominican Republic. There are mango trees everywhere. She's asked several of her friends if they've ever experienced this type of break out. She said that several are allergic to the tree when it's in bloom, but they've never seen anyone have an outbreak due to contact with the fruit. She's still asking around.
The reason I'm so sure that the mango caused the reaction is because of the exact area of the rash. It started around my lips. When I ate the mango, chewed on the seed, I got the juice on my lips. I haven’t gnawed on anything like that since. I don't usually gnaw on my food, I just really wanted more out of that mango than it was prepared to give. I generally don't have much contact with my lips when I'm eating...just drinking, and like I mentioned before, I haven’t had much out of the ordinary to drink. It was last week that I ate the mango. I broke out Wednesday, because I remember canceling a dental cleaning on Thursday. I couldn't imagine them holding my mouth open for any amount of time while they were cleaning my teeth.
The doctor said that for it to be positively linked to the mango, I would have had to break out within 24 to 48 hours after eating it. I told him I ate it last week, but couldn't be certain which day. I'd purchased three the last time I went shopping, Aubree' had one, I had one and the other was still in the fruit bowl. So, I was sure it was last week. It makes sense to me that if I ate it on Monday, Tuesday OR Wednesday that I could have experienced this reaction.
There were communication issues between the doctor and I. He was very professional, but very blunt and on task. I was being tooo conversational. I'm usually very good at understanding any accent, I struggled with his. After he left, I asked the nurse to just explain again what it was that he had prescribed. She said that he's a bit blunt, but very efficient. She said that her mother was extremely allergic to mangos.
My rash today looked different than it had initially. When I broke out around my mouth, it was very tiny blisters, not really even red. The next day they started to spread and get red. After putting the Cortaid on them, they kind of dried out a bit, but continued to spread. My lips seemed to get better, but were really dry and started cracking. I then started using the calamine lotion on my cheeks. My face looked like an arid, cracking desert. This morning, I carefully washed my face and there were big patches of red all over my cheeks. My ears, scalp and throat were just swollen and bubbled up.
So, I may have aggravated it with the calamine lotion??
I really do agree with the mango theory! It makes the most sense, based on what I’d eaten and when I broke out.
Perhaps he didn’t like the suggested diagnosis? Or maybe he was just unfamiliar with the facts on mango allergies?
Do you think that mango's will always cause this reaction? If I wash them, peel them, wash my hands and not nibble on the seed, will they be less of an allergen?
Noemon, you're just plain nice. Don't encourage me. I'll be posting anything and everything. Posts: 3771 | Registered: Sep 2002
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My sister gets a long-lasting reaction like that to mango-- the skin. If the fruit is cut for her and then carefully washed, she can eat it! Bizarre, I know, but that's what happens to her.
No one else in the family reacts to it at all, I don't even react to poison oak (I've been exposed many times and despite my hyper-sensitivity to all kind of things ranging from detergent to soap to rubbing alcohol to latex, I am completely immune. So is my brother, so is my dad. Go figure.)
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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Aha, found one Dominican that breaks out in hives from mangos. Yay! It doesn't make sense to me that there would be that many mango trees and so few allergic reactions. Maybe that's just not an allergy that they're prone to as a culture?
I'd like to say my rash has gone. It has not, it's just not spreading so badly. I'm a very impatient patient.
Posts: 3771 | Registered: Sep 2002
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(((CT))) Thanks for being around. I'm not the only person you've helped around this place. We appreciate you.
Posts: 3771 | Registered: Sep 2002
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Mango mouth for the win, or at least very likely contender. 
