A Writer's Life Interrupted--Unusual Symptoms of Crohn's disease #crohns #ibd #uc

 I often get bizarre skin issues that my primary doc attributes to Remicade and my gastro doc does not. I had this huge break out of eczema on the back of my legs after an infusion for which my primary doc gave me a shot of steroids ending the itchiness on my body. Today, all was well until I started out to discover what strange conditions Crohn's is known to cause on a few, rare, individuals.

My first stop was at clubbed fingers. This I haven't had. It is a condition that causes the fingers to narrow at the top joint and widen at the nail creating an effect that looks a lot like a club.  This new information brought up my ongoing battle with my nails, nail bed, and infection and here I was looking at all these pictures of clubbed fingers when...

My nails were pictured on screen. You can look back on my blog where you will find I have recently experienced not one, but two infections on two different cuticles. I don't remember what it was called, but I do remember the doc asking me if I bit my nails. I said NO. She put me on an antibiotic and the infection went away, but my nails looked no better. In fact, now that I was watching for infection, my hands, my nails, looked horrible. You'd think as a writer I would notice such things, but I don't. I watch the screen not my hands. 

I created a nightly regimen of slathering my nails in Vaseline and putting socks over them to let it penetrate. After that, I lathered on more hand creams none of which improved my situation. I then figured I was low on some vitamin and bought out the drugstore hoping to find out which one before going to the doctor. I hate going to the doctor now. I swear they look at me as if I were the bubble girl and I am in there every other week lately.

Until today, I was waiting for improvement. Until today, I hadn't seen the effects of eczema in the nails. Right in front of me were my nails all ridged and peeling and when I say peeling, it isn't like a random peel. It's on seven fingers. And they are peeling not once on a nail, but two, three, and four times making the nail look like a bit an ocean wave. The cuticles are raised and red and they are peeling as well. The pictures on my computer screen depressed the hell out of me. 

No wonder I got an infection.

How is it possible to get eczema in your nails?

At the end of my blog I will show you two of my better nails. As I write this I wonder if Remicade is worth it. Then I wonder if I stop the infusions will the damn eczema go away? I am also wondering why my nails don't itch. And now my mind is off and running too fast for me to put it all down.

I have too many things to ponder right now so I shall follow up next week.  Thanks for reading and may peace be with each of you.