How I killed pityriasis rosea in 2 weeks
Sharing my PR "journey" here in case it helps anyone else.
- Day 1: What I now know to be a herald patch appeared on my back. Thought it was a weird mosquito bite. Very itchy. It was red, slightly raised, and elongated oval shaped. It looked almost like an inflamed scratch.
- Day 2: Another weird patch (herald patch #2?) appeared on my neck. Also very itchy. Thought it was another weird bite.
- Day 3: Rash begins to spread to my shoulder/chest area. Start using Benadryl anti-itch cream, which didn't really help. Started researching everything on the internet, trying to figure out what this is.
- Day 4: new patches appearing on my legs, arms, butt, stomach, chest, back. Itch is unbearable and nothing seems to help. Started going down the rabbit hole of PR and found this sub, among others. My symptoms matched exactly what others described and most common photos, except some of my rash spots were slightly raised, which was confusing. In hindsight, this was probably from the scratching, which I really tried sincerely to avoid, but I'm not sure I've had anything that felt so itchy in my life and it overwhelmed my self-control.
- Day 6 (Friday): start indoor tanning bed (12 min - I don't burn easily). Felt like it helped immediately. BUT then the itch returns later that day with a vengeance. Seems to get worse with alcohol. Itch makes me feel like I want to crawl out of my skin, especially at night.
- Day 7: Rash seems to have mostly stoped spreading, but the itch makes me want to die and wakes me up at night. Start buying and applying every anti-itch product possible - topicals: hydrocortisone, antifungal cream, sarna lotion, cerave moisturizing cream; oral: Zyrtec, Benadryl. Start Zyrtec during the day, Benadryl at night along with topical products. Itch still wakes me up at night, even with Benadryl. Hydrocortisone and Sarna only slightly dull it.
- Day 8: Continue all the anti-itch products. Family in town, can’t go tanning. Try to hide all the patches. I don’t feel like doing anything but scratch my whole body until it bleeds. Can’t sleep because the itch is unbearable.
- Day 9: Continue everything above. Tanning bed again. Add 1000mg valacyclovir daily. Itch mostly okay during the day, but have to reapply Sarna lotion religiously throughout the day. Herald patch on back is darker/brownish and flaky. Itch still so bad it wakes me up at night.
- Day 10: Taking 2000mg valacyclovir. See above. Rash still not spreading more, but itch still horrible and wakes me up at night. Back herald patch very flaky/thin skin on top flaking off. Neck/shoulder patches seeming to get lighter in color.
- Day 11: Still very itchy and couldn’t sleep through the night. Laid out in the sun for 45 min.
- Day 12: Feeling less itchy and patches seem to be fading slightly. Could finally sleep through the night without waking up unbearably itchy. Stopped Zyrtec and Benadryl.
- Day 13: Feeling less itchy and patches seem to be fading slightly. Getting as much sun as possible. Still using hydrocortisone and Sarna just in case.
- Day 14-19: Getting as much sun as possible and continued tanning bed every 2-3 days when I couldn't get at least 10-15 min of sun. Eventually stopped using hydrocortisone and Sarna lotion when the itch finally stopped. Rash still not spreading, but all original spots from the first week are still visible.
- Day 20: Itching fully gone, but spots remain. Herald patches are mostly faded, and sort of flaked off for the most part. But other patches are fading slower and still more visible.
What I think was the most effective: SUN. Like the actual, real sun. If you can't get real sun, then tanning/sunbed. I read something about UVA/UVB rays and the tanning bed having vast majority UVB, so maybe that's why. Sarna lotion IN THE FRIDGE was the best itch relief.
What I would do over: Load up on Sarna lotion and hydrotortisone from day 1. Probably push for prescription topical steroid cream and/or oral steroids because the itch for me was so, so bad. (Guess I was one of the unlucky ones.) Start Valacyclovir 2000mg/day from the gate. Start sun/tanning earlier (it was raining where I am during week 1, so couldn't get much sun, and I think the tanning bed was the most effective alternative). Avoid all alcohol, which is hard, because who doesn't want a beer when laying out in the sun?
If you're going through this, I'm so sorry. It was a nightmare for me, and the only saving grace was that I seemed to have kicked it in 2 weeks. You're not alone. Best of luck.