Ringworm...or fungal infection of some sort!

[bandgeek]

On Tuesday I noticed I had quite few red patches om my stomach and back. They have spread a bit since then, and most of them definitely look ringlike. The doctor said it was a fungal infection, and I have pills to take plus caneston cream.

How long do these things last for? I'm only on day 2 of treatment so perhaps my expectations that I would wake up this morning and it would have disappeared were a bit unrealistic

I'm worried it's going to spread all over and I just feel absolutely horrible with it! Urgh!

if it is fungal it will def take longer than 2 days. Finish your course of tablets and use the cream for up to 10 days after symptoms appear to have gone

whereabouts are they exactly? Do they start near your belly button and go all the way round to your back? are they painful?

I just ask because I was diagnosed with a fungal infection and it turned out to be shingles. They are ring-like.

Where and how did this start; did you initially see just one patch (this is called a herald patch)?.

Some fungal infections can be misdiagnosed, it may be that you actually have pityriasis rosea. The way it has spread makes me think of this.

Mine started on my stomach and spread to my back. I was misdiagnosed as having ringworm when it was actually pityriasis.

Thanks for you replies. I just noticed a few patches on my sides and back on Tuesday, and there are few more bits now, including a couple on the top of my arms and it is itching slightly but not painful. They are not as red looking as they were.

How long did the pityriasis last for? I've been googling and it looks a bit like that, but then again it looks like ringworm as well so I don't know! Did it spread a lot?

I've got patches of psoriasis as well (pretty certain it's not that) and this is just making me feel worse about myself. I have been depressed and anxious recently and I feel I take everything out of proportion at the moment

could also be discoid eczema as it can be misdiagnosed as ringworm too.

Mine spread across my stomach and back. I think it can appear mainly on the trunk and arms too.

When I had pityriasis it itched a bit at times as well. It was almost oval shaped in nature with a patch of "normal" skin in the middle, quite pink looking in colour (I could certainly see the patches clearly), some were about a quarter of an inch across, some were bigger than others, they appeared as patches on the skin amongst normal skin. The herald patch on my back had some scaling to it (but the derm only saw that through a magnifying glass). I'm giving you a description of what I can remember about it as it may assist further.

I went to see a dermatologist (self referred) in the end because I wanted to be completely sure after what I had been told at the GPs surgery. She took one look at it and said it was pityriasis rosea. It lasted three months which is about normal for this condition. BTW I had no treatment for it, I had to let it disappear on its own.

Thanks, that's really good to know. I think if I knew it wasn't going to spread anywhere all that visible I would be ok (God knows, after 2 large babies and a c-section my stomach hasn't seen the light of day for years anyway )

Guess I'll just have to wait and see how it goes. I have an appointment at the doctors on Tuesday for something unrelated anyway so I can always mention it there again if it has spread any more