Gritty Bumps

Hmm alopicea I've seen made more like perfect circles

Thank you so much Garzie, that really puts me at ease.

Hi Garzie,

My bad, didn't mean to stray away from the gritty bump topic! Not sure why I posted it in this thread.

In regards to them increasing with xylitol in addition to the bromelain, I truly think this is the fall out from effective treatment. I have these bumps all over my arms and legs now ever since I started lumbrokinase. It's gotten out of control for me too.

The odds that you would have that with different biofilm busters and I with lumbrokinase, and then in both of our cases we had them before treatment but then they got a lot worse. I just think that it makes sense that it's part of the treatment.

You might actually be able to see it on the picture I posted about my hair missing. If you look closely you can see the red bumps all over. They look like goosebumps due to the poor picture quality but they are actually the red gritty bumps.

Thank you Garzie 🙂 all the best to you too !!

some good histological images in that paper Rainy

my own gritty bumps also seem a bit different

mine seem to be in the pore or the hair follicle mostly ( in the paper they seem to be in the surface layer of the skin in between the pores) and in my case consists of a ball of hard waxy white / off-white coloured material which presumably the pore is trying to push towards the surface.

sometimes this happens and the gritty little core will rub off or come away while washing - more often the pore becomes blocked or inflamed and will not heal until the hard core comes out - often resulting in a very slow to heal little lesion and often leaves a scar.

the areas most strongly affected in my case are my upper arms and shoulders - over time this process is making quite a mess of me

i dont know if its more likely bart or lyme that is driving this - i suspect lyme as my skin there looks like many photos i have seen of lyme patients.

it is also hard to know what exactly the mechanism is - i think its different to that described in the paper - where lyme seems to cause upregulation in skin cells - leading to scaly growths in teh skin surface = as in my case it seems to be something being secreted in the pores

i wonder if its debris and dead white blood cells building up from my immune system trying to mop up infection in the skin ( both bart and lyme are present in the skin tissues ) and it seems to happen more when i am treating and herxing - which is again related to white blood cells phagocytosing bacteria - so it kind of fits - also seems to have a day or so's delay before it starts after a herx - and then the flare in skin stuff seems to last a week or two

its frustrating - but what can you do - i have tried many things topically

since oregano oil seems to be active for both lyme and bart and seems to break down biofilms - so i have been experimenting lately with applying this topically - diluted around 20:1 in coconut oil and rubbed in - too early to know if its helping - but will update you if it somehow brings dramatic results

the other thing i have thought about is a 5% dapsone ointment - as i see that is sometimes used topically for bacterial skin infections - and Morgellons

although we see mainly papers on bulls eye Rash and ACA for lyme - and bart streaks for Bartonella this is again what so often happens - and knowledge is reduced to a kind of cartoon stereotype of a disease - when, in fact, as your paper is an example, a search of all the available literature will show a very wide array of skin symptoms including many types of rashes, hypopigmentation and hyper pigmentation and well as texture and skin thickness changes with both Lyme and Bart - so its good to make people aware of the wide variety of manifestations that are possible.

Post Edited (Garzie) : 4/27/2022 8:13:31 AM (GMT-6)

For those who have this ongoing, have you tried any of these:

- Neem oil topically
- TUDCA regularly
- Boluoke lumbrokinase (from my understanding it can take months to have a noticeable effect)

Neem oil is worth a try.
TUDCA helps detoxification, which could be involved.
Boluoke is a strong supplement to break down fibrin gumming up the works.

EDIT: What about bentonite clay or green clay applied as a paste?

Post Edited (WalkingbyFaith) : 4/27/2022 9:23:08 AM (GMT-6)

WalkingbyFaith: Thank you for those ideas! I really like TUDCA and use it on and off for herx reactions. Also, I've used lumbrokinase. Unfortunately, they didn't have any benefit on my skin. Neem oil is a new one for me though, I think I had a toothpaste with that in it at one point in time, I will look into the oil, thank you! I will also look into the clays 🙂. Sounds like a good idea.

Garzie: That's really interesting about the 6 month effect. I can't think of any reason for that off the top of my head... hmm.. or maybe it changes the structure/composition of the bacteria on the skin? Ivermectin is an interesting one, I'm currently using it orally and am noticing it also gives me some relief from herxheimer reactions.

I will keep you posted too.

Quick update: I have temporarily halted the Urea lotion because I'm not very consistent with it and I hate feeling greasy all the time. I haven't used it long enough to have a verdict on it though.

I do have some good news (hopefully). I started applying ketoconazole shampoo to my arm. It has 2% ketoconazole in it. It's an anti-fungal but it also works against other skin issues that are not related to fungi. I'm only doing my right arm so I can compare with my left.

If this works we can at least narrow it down a few options less. I'm not saying it has to be a fungal issue by the way (it could be), but I just wanted to give it a try and see what happens, regardless of what mechanism it works by.

Funny thing is, at the same time that my gritty bumps appeared I also had flaking skin on my head, inside my ear and behind my ear. And those things actually resolved with this exact same shampoo. (yes I put the shampoo in my ear lol) So it's worth a shot.

It smells nice and doesn't leave me greasy either.

Ok I didn't want to wait so I made a quick ivermectin lotion (not like the video because I don't have all the supplies).

Fun fact: a few drops of water will completely dissolve an ivermectin tablet. Very water soluble. I mixed it with a regular lotion.

I put it on my left arm. My right arm has the ketoconazole on it. So let's see which one wins 🤣

Also, Ivermectin crosses the skin barrier very easily, I've read that from multiple sources that I can't find right now but will search for.

Thank you for that Garzie, your comment is very helpful as always.

What dosage ketoconazole shampoo were you using if you don't mind me asking?
I have the 2% shampoo, I'm wondering if maybe it would help you to have it more concentrated like that?
If they don't sell it I can send you some, I'll pay for it too, it's the least I can do after all the help you've provided us with.

In regards to the experiment, my right arm (ketoconazole) has become more red, I'm trying to keep an open mind about it, as it doesn't necessarily have to imply a bad thing (in the beginning anyway).

The left arm (ivermectin) has actually seen improvement. It's about 15% less inflammed. And by that I mean it just looks calmer, less red, less irritated etc. The red dots are still there, but they aren't "screaming" at me for help haha.

Keep in mind this result is after applying it only once (trying not to burn through my ivermectin stash too fast). I actually did the second round just now. So quite impressive result so far.

I'm in the process of buying Soolantra, which is the original ivermectin cream. That way I can save my pills for other things.

More info on Soolantra here: https://www.soolantra.com

Oh and for our international readers it's called Ivrea Lotion in India.
And Vastreka in some European countries.

I'm not affiliated by the way, just did some research on it the last hour or so haha.

hey Rainy - thanks for the updates

and for the very kind offer of the ketoconazole shampoo - that is very much appreciated and thoughtful of you - but really there is no need to repay me for anything - i am happy to help in any way i can - where i can.

it was the 2% version i used i think - this one
https://www.boots.com/nizoral-anti-dandruff-shampoo-60ml-10025089

i haven't used it for a while - for me it wasn't 100% effective - just gave around 50% relief and so due to the expense i did not continue. since the problem is i think systemic - so have since mainly focussed on treating that - but the scalp and even my ears tend to flare whenever i add a new agent for bart or step up the dose of something

very interesting and promising experiment with the two agents - especially the ivermectin

thanks for the photo update - a picture is worth a thousand words - that's certainly a noticeable difference

the little red evenly spaced dots look very much like the skin on my legs