- They appeared around August 23, several days after I got a 3-inch "stripe" of poison ivy just above my left ankle (around August 20), and shortly after a round of crazy antibiotics for my Pnuemonia
- I never had a fever from this, so unlikely to be any of the usual "spots" viral diseases
- They are symmetrical, generally appearing the same on the left and right sides of my body, even though they migrate up/down to outer and inner parts of my limbs. This suggests "an inside job" as the dermatologist puts it.
- They don't look like lymph disease lesions, and aren't in the groin (where lymph stuff likes to go)
- They don't look like Pityriasis Rosea (not red enough)
- They don't seem to be a reaction to Bactrim or any of my other medications (they should have emerged closer to the time I started taking them
- I've never had eczema or a rash like this (that I can recall)
- The rash migrates: back of knee to front of knee to front of shin to back of shin at about the rate of moving to "the new place" every 2 days. Same for elbow crease to elbow point to forearm inside to forearm outside.
- The rash on my spine just sits there (as Pityriasis Rosea might, but not as colorfu)
- Contact Dermatitis (Poison Whatever contact) can "go generalized"
- It is particularly likely to go generalized if it starts on the lower extremities (hard to get more extreme than the top of my ankle)
- For an immune-compromized guy like me, it is very possible that even though I might be a little bit short of fighter cells, they can get into an auto-immune feedback loop and just "keep fighting" if I happen to have a shortage of the immune "control" cells that might ordinarily calm things down
- This generalized reaction is called an Id Reaction.
Were I not immune compromised, the solution would be oral steroids to force a calm-down and break the cycle. But oral steroids can suppress the immune system, generally.
So the solution is a topical steroid, twice a day: covering every red dot with a white dot of cream (or rub on a concentrated area of dots). Topical steroids do not suppress the general immune system, but have been shown to stop the runaway fighter cells.