A Rash for the Ages

This is an embarrassing topic but because I'm me, you know I'm willing to toss that to the side if I can help someone.  It's important to note I am not a doctor, so if the symptoms sound familiar to you, you need to see yours before treating it on your own.  It may be a simple rash but there could be fungal or bacterial components that can worsen into a secondary staph infection which can be deadly.  I will have a list of what I used at the bottom so you can run them by your doc.

One day after two days of cleaning furiously in the basement and finishing up a strength sesh, I felt a sensation like I needed to scratch under my hang.  (Gut)  The Mr headed upstairs and when I went to rub the area, it was searing pain.  I freaked out and grabbed one of my body wipes I usually use after a workout and I swore I was going to see blood it felt so raw.  There wasn't and I looked as best I could and it looked like Satan had taken up residence in my crevice.  Because vows usually include for richer for poorer,  "my condolences but can you take a look at this" and health, I asked the Mr if he could look since I couldn't get the full picture.  He's color blind so when HE says something is red, it's red.  I had him look up 'skin fold rash' and it was my old friend intertrigo.  I had it once in a place I couldn't see so this was my first experience with being able to actually see it.  Let's see if a gif will sum up what I saw:

source

Yep, that's about right.  

Intertrigo is a friction rash that you can get anywhere skin rubs.  Under your boobs, armpits, thighs, butt cheeks, elbows, under your tummy, thigh cracks and basically any overlap in chub.  Like, chubby babies get this rash between those little chunky arms and legs everyone says they want to figuratively eat.  Mine was under the right side of my gut hang and a little on top of my right thigh where it rubbed.  I asked the Mr if he ever had anything like that before and he said no.  So knowing that our local dermatologist and doctors are always a minimum 4 days to get into, I started looking on medical websites and of course Reddit because I always like to pepper in real world experience to round things out.  The most important thing was getting it clean so I took a shower and not for TMI but too late, I uh, trimmed up the secret garden.  I didn't want to give any places to accumulate excess sweat and given my grief journey of the previous months, you can imagine bushwhacking wasn't high on my priority list.  I used some unscented mild soap to get everything initially clean down yonder.  We already had antifungal soap so I used that in case there was a fungal component and gently blotted dry and used a blow dryer on the cool setting to get things extra dry.  As I was laying down after sprinkling some remedy anti fungal powder I use under the ta ta's in the summer, I sent a freak out note to my friend asking if she ever had a rash like that and confirmed she had and the most important thing was keeping it dry.

I remembered that I bought some Domeboro rash soaks several years ago when the Mr got a rash after gardening.  Some people on Reddit swore by it for drying up about any rash out there so I mixed it up in 16 oz of filtered water and soaked a washcloth in it and wrung it out until it wasn't dry but not dripping either.  I put a towel on the bed, laid down and draped the washcloth over the area, set an alarm for 30 minutes and watched TV.  It was soothing in the moment which was nice and afterward, I used the cool blow dryer again to get it dry.  I put on some cortisone 10 and made sure I rubbed it in really well and did the blow dryer over it again so as not to create more moisture.  I had Triple Paste zinc oxide cream so I gently rubbed that in before bed and put two large gauze strips over it in case any moisture tried to accumulate overnight.  I was up late so I ordered these cotton strips to better absorb under there.

In the morning, I used witch hazel pads to gently remove the zinc cream so I could see what it looked like.  Not much improvement but slightly less hellfire red here and there but the rawness was still there.  I did another Domeboro rash soak which would be my morning and night routine for two more days to continue to dry things out.  Then cool blow dryer after, sprinkling of antifungal powder and gauze until the cotton strips arrived and a layer of triple paste before bed after cleaning and drying with gauze overnight.  I attempted to go back in the basement on day two for light cleaning but the second there was a rise in body temperature and the slightest bit of moisture down below despite copious amounts of cornstarch powder and gauze, it would get painful so I had to back off.  

When the cotton strips arrived I gave them a thorough washing in unscented detergent and exchanged those for the gauze and kept repeating all of my steps.  It took two days of soaks in the morning and night to get the rash to back off, and dry out but there was still tenderness there as the skin healed.  I got some antibacterial ointment to rub in after showers at night before drying it then applying the zinc to seal it in.  If there was any trace of rubbing or moisture... powder city sweetheart.  As the rash heals, it goes from red to a tan color and it may or may not be permanent.  Let me tell you that prevention is absolutely a must because being proactive is always preferable to reactive.  This didn't even happen during a warm spell so regardless of how much I hate trying to wash off zinc oxide from my fingers, it's going to have to be a necessary evil to keep that demon at bay.  It took about 2 1/2 days for it to see almost complete clearance visually but the little twinges of rawness let me know to continue with my cotton and Lady AMB powder to keep things dry and happy.  I was very happy it was not a prolonged suffering especially with a lot of cleaning on those days.  I honestly think the rash soak did the most to make it retreat the fastest but obviously in conjunction with everything else.  One thing I will say is that because of the link to ovarian cancer to talc powders, I would never use anything other than a cornstarch based powder if the rash is in the nether regions which is why I use Lady AMB powder.  That stuff is great under da boobs and pretty much anywhere with the addition of calamine in case itching occurs.  That's something to keep in stock all of the time in this house.

Again, rashes in folds can easily get infected which is why you should always go to a doctor.  Mine occurred going into a weekend so I didn't have a choice but to treat mine on my own initially.

What I used to treat my intertrigo rash:

Domeboro rash soaks 

Cortisone 10 cream 

Triple paste zinc oxide cream 

Remedy anti fungal powder 

Lady AMB Powder

Antibacterial ointment 

Witch hazel pads 

Large gauze pads 

Cotton rash strips 

Tea Tree Antifungal soap 

Sensitive skin unscented soap 

I would honestly keep these things on hand anyway.  The soaks are wonderful for poison ivy and contact dermatitis rashes which I wish I knew 4 years ago when I got a horrible rash after cutting down a morning glory plant.  The zinc paste for anti friction under boobs and thigh cracks for exercise and same with those cotton pads.  Just keep a lingerie bag at your laundry basket and throw them in that so on laundry day they get chucked in with everything else.

Be proactive before you have to be reactive.  

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