Posted 1/15/2011 8:22 AM (GMT 0)
Everyone out there suffering from PG especially those in the northern middle of the US, and in Northwest Ontario, you may want to ask your doctor if you've been tested for Blastomycosis. This is a fungal disease that has symptoms that are very similar to PG. It can kill if not treated properly. Chest infections usually finish you off and I came close twice.
I picked up the fungus at Lake of the Woods, moved to Thailand and then the disease emerged. I was diagnosed with PG. Horrible. Asians don't get Blastomycosis, so they weren't looking. When I returned to Canada even the doctor there thought I had PG just from looking at my wounds.
A deep tissue biopsy (and it must be deep and taken from the painful purple edge of your wounds) was sent to the lab at Thunder Bay in Ontario. Two weeks later I got the good news. Blasto is easily treated by just taking 2 pills per day. The pills are expensive in Canada so I returned to Thailand where they are dirt cheap. Most of my wounds are healed although three small stubborn areas still remain. But most importantly the pain is mostly gone and I can walk again.
After 4 years of basically being housebound in Thailand, my muscles atrophied. So now I am slowly building them up again. I don't want to get everybody's hopes up, but it might be prudent to ask your doctor if you've been tested for Blastomycosis. Good luck.https://www.healingwell.com/community/emoticons/turn.gif