The Maddening Itch of Pityriasis Rosea

One cool, spring evening while I was driving home from work, my back started itching. It was just a small itch, so I rubbed my back against the seat back and didn’t think too much about it. However, within few minutes I could feel the itch quickly spreading to my entire back and around to my sides. I was squirming so much, rubbing my back on the seat, that a passer-by would have thought I was having some kind of convulsion. Luckily I was not too far from home and wondered all the way there, what could be causing this. Had I eaten something that caused an allergic reaction? I racked my brain trying to think of what could be going on.

I reached my house, burst through the door and started stripping my clothes off as I headed toward the bathroom. I turned the water faucet in the shower on cold, stripped the rest of my clothes off and stepped inside. The cold water, although shocking at first, brought some relief to the itching and after about five minutes, I stepped out of the shower and looked at my back in my bathroom mirror. My entire back and sides were covered with red, irregular, circular splotches, of various sizes that were slight raised. The itching quickly returned and I knew I had to get some kind of ointment put on this rash right away. I called my sister on the phone, briefly told her what was wrong and asked her to go to the drug store and buy any kind of anti-itch cream they had on the shelf and to please bring it over. I told her I might be in the shower and to just come on in.

My sister showed up a short time later with some calamine lotion as she was not sure what to buy, and she helped me apply it to my back. This helped tremendously with the itching and I finally was able to relax a little. We were both trying to figure out what this was and what could have caused it. I told her it had to be something I had eaten, but I couldn’t think what that something might be.

By bedtime the rash was almost gone, and once again I started to just think of it as a fluke thing, not worrying about it too much and went to bed. Around two o’clock in the morning, the itching returned with a vengeance. This time it was not only on my back and sides, but on my legs and even the bottom of my feet. It was the same red, blotchy rash as before. I took another cold shower and applied more calamine lotion. After some time the itching started to ease up, but I wasn’t able to sleep the rest of the night. I called my doctor in the morning as I still had the rash and the itching and luckily, I was able to get in to see him right away.

The doctor looked me over and told me I had Pityriasis Rosea. He said the floral or rose pattern the rash made was the best indication of the diagnosis. When I thought about it, the rash did resemble flower petals. I asked what Pityriasis Rosea was and how I got it. He told me no one knew for sure what it was or how one got it, except that some experts believed it to be some sort of virus. He told me I might have it for a few days, weeks or even a month and besides what I was already doing to treat it, there was not much else he could give me. He told me to stay calm, don’t get too hot and to let it run its course. He did suggest I take oatmeal bathes and try Wibi lotion, which would help cool my skin. Talk about a discouraging diagnosis.

On my way home I stopped at the drug store and bought several bottles of calamine lotion, a bottle of Wibi lotion and some Aveeno oatmeal bath. When I returned home, I looked up Pityriasis Rosea on the internet and did not find out much more than my doctor had told me already.

I did learn that Pityriasis Rosea did not leave any permanent marks, unless you were darker-skinned which the rash might leave behind some brown spots before completely fading. It also was not supposed to be contagious, although my oldest son broke out with it too, right after me. I learned that a person can sometimes feel ill with this virus, having a sore throat or upper respiratory infection. But I felt fine other than the itching.

After about four weeks of sporadic break-outs, intense itching, wakeful nights, and carrying calamine lotion around with me everywhere, the rash finally went away for good and I was no longer plagued by this virus.

Source: WebMD