I am being colonised by a fungal infection

[Beachingtons]

Help!

In late January DD2 brought athlete’s foot home from nursery. I thought it was hand, foot and mouth at first, but she was scratching intensely and crying about it at night, so when it didn’t clear up by mid-Feb using OTC creams, I took her to the doctor and she was prescribed an anti fungal cream. She cosleeps.

By this point, I’d developed a rash on both sides of my groin that was SO intensely itchy, especially at night. I started applying Canesten immediately. I saw the pharmacist who said it could take two weeks to go. After two weeks, it was still awful and had spread further and to my armpits. It’s keeping me awake at night and I’m regularly taking ibuprofen to relieve the itch. I cried on the phone to the doctors, who brought me in to have it swabbed, but haven’t had the results yet.

This week, I started using Daktarin. This has taken the itch from my groin and it seems to be healing there, but it’s still spread to my armpits, knee pits, and today I’ve noticed new patches under my watch strap.

Things I have been doing for weeks:

• no exercise, sex or anything remotely sweaty
• keeping DD’s feet covered
• showering daily or twice daily
• replacing towels and clothes on every use
• wearing only loose cotton, and no underwear/bra unless necessary
• using Head & Shoulders on my hair and the patches
• wearing cotton pyjamas at night, changing bedsheets every couple of days
• drinking diluted apple cider vinegar
• applying either Canesten, or now Daktarin, three times a day to washed skin

I’ve had ringworm a few times in the past but it’s gone within a few weeks with Canesten application.

What the hell is going on?!

I will look this up, thank you.

I’m scared I’ve either got some kind of mad mutant resistant fungus (possibly unlikely as DH hasn’t got it and DD’s hasn’t spread) or it’s something to do with my immune system. But what and how can I fix it?!

Does the rash on you have a particular smell?
I had a very persistent itchy rash in armpits, underboobs , tops of thighs and it was called intertrigo.

It was a devil to get diagnosed ,I was at the docs at least 3 times and saw a nurse practitioner but she kept giving different treatments that didn't work.
In the end I sent photos to the doctor and a run down of all symptoms and she prescribed a cream that started working instantly- the relief!

Doesn’t smell of anything as far as I can tell.

Do you remember the name of the cream?

I once experienced something like you’re describing and it was actually scabies. The most intensely, unbearably itchy thing I’ve ever experienced.

Hmm. A few people have suggested this. It really looks fungal to me and the Daktacort seems to have stopped the itching though. Would that happen if it was scabies?

Hiya @Beachingtons I remember the cream was an anti fungal and anti bacterial combined jobby. It was yellow. I've had a look online at docs notes to find name of it but they dont go back that far.

It was during the Pandemic times and it went on for months- I thought it was linked to covid as I worked in a nursery at the time and we were all still attending.

So it needs to be more than an anti fungal is my suggestion but i'm no doctor !

Was it Nystaform-HC? That’s what DD was prescribed

No definitely not that

Hibiscrub will work for athlete’s foot and ringworm. Perhaps try having a bath with weak hibiscrub each night for a few nights and see if it brings relief.

Trimovate!

It was trimovate I was prescribed- its a triple action cream. It was amazing. I hope that is some help.

Yes Daktacort can stop itching even if it isn’t fungal, because it also contains steroids.

Daktarin is just anti fungal I believe (do check) so you could try this as a diagnostic.

If you become sure it is fungal then Terbafine as a pp suggested will do the trick. It is serious heavy duty and with potential liver side effects so not to be taken lightly. But it got rid of systemic athletes foot for me which nothing else had done after years of trying (I was prescribed it for fungal nail).

Also as a pp said: stay off sugar and white carbs.

You can get tea tree oil soap too.

I am a bit scared to bathe. Surely that’s just sitting in the spores in a warm environment?

I had similar. Nizarol over the counter dandruff shampoo foamed up and applied as a body wash and left to work for five minutes before rinsing really helped to clear it up.

I think mine was caused by low ferretin levels though. I was iron deficient but not anaemic. Once I got that under control the problem disappeared. Being iron deficient can really impact your immune system even without anaemia.

INTERESTING. I do feel like something is up with my immune system. I had blood tests a few years ago and my ferritin level was borderline.

How did you get it under control?

I’m really prone to fungal skin infections. I only have to go barefoot for a minute in a public pool changing room or hold onto the handrail on busy public transport like the tube and I’ll have picked something up. Last year I started using a tea tree balm and it’s v effective.

My DH also used nizarol for his skin rash, I can’t remember what the Dr said the problem was but Nizarol made it go, I remember as I had to wash his back with it, but his rash wasn’t particularly itchy but looked like ringworm (but it wasn’t)

Dd had intertrigo once, it turned fungal so that might be what the smell was? I don’t remember hers having a smell but know fungal infections can have a smell to them. I don’t think intertrigo by itself smells but it was years ago now so can’t remember everything the Dr said.

Op I’d definitely get scabies ruled out, was the swab to check for various things? I don’t think otc creams will be enough by the sounds of it. Nizoral shampoo can be used as a body wash for fungal infections but be warned it could sting. You need to lather it up and then leave on the skin for a few minutes before rinsing. It takes time to improve fungal infections though, I think I had to use it every day for a week before things improved, then every other day for another week and told to use it once a week for maintenance after that.

Have you tried a mild otc hydrocortisone cream? It might help calm the inflammation and itching but check with the pharmacist first. It sounds like you caught this from dd, although it could be a coincidence that you got intertrigo at the same time and it then turned fungal I suppose,

Will the GP prescribe anything before the swab results come back? I would personally push for anti fungal tablets, and an anti fungal plus antibiotic cream even before the results come back. We didn’t have to wait to try treatment when dd had the fungal intertrigo, the swab results just came back a week or so later and confirmed what the GP thought it was

Agree with using nizoral or similar shampoo as a body wash. For my husband who sweats a lot in a hot country and was getting fungal infections in his groin, washing in the treatment shampoo and using anti fungal powder worked best.

Eradicil from V Pharma in every wash load. Expensive but stop reinfection.

I had a rash that wouldn't go away and had to stop cancer treatment for nearly two months whilst it was being dealt with as the GP had misdiagnosed it and it ended up spreading all over my body, even my face (GP prescribed thick moisturisers which just spread it around) luckily my oncologist stepped in and said he thought it was fungal.

Flucanozole, eradicil and canestan cream all worked well together. I now use eradicil in every wash.

Sympathies to the OP, it really affects your self esteem too.

I’m going back to the pharmacy tonight to get Nizarol shampoo.

It’s not Daktarin I’m using, it’s Daktacort (just checked) which has hydrocortisone in. It’s also got miconazole which I assume is similar to the active ingredient in Nizarol, ketoconazole?

I have tried diluted tea tree oil swabs at the start but it didn’t help. I will keep an eye out for the body products though, especially if this comes back. 😭

You mentioned Lupus-that could be relevant, surely?
What medication are you on ?

Based on where the rash is, I would definitely say it sounds like athlete's foot which has spread. It likes sweaty crevices. I had it once in my armpits, and boy did it itch. Daktarin saw it off. DH has had it around his unmentionables - I think the polite term is jock itch.

I have also had ringworm (thanks stray cat) and it was very different - on my legs, definite circle pattern.

Scabies is pretty rare.

The other thought is impetigo. That went round the nursery like wildfire a few years ago....but adults rarely get it as their immune systems can normally keep it at bay.

Of course, if your immune system is a bit flaky it will take full advantage. Hopefully your GP can escalate things once they've done swabs. You might need a combined fungicide/antibiotic if the scratching has made the skin infected.