Well I'm back from the doctor -- RealityFans

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Date Posted: 19:47:44 05/30/02 Thu
Author: Cari
Subject: Well I'm back from the doctor
In reply to: WE67 's message, "Excuse me for butting in, Cari" on 17:30:45 05/30/02 Thu

First, they had a ringworm epidemic at my son's school. Naturally he caught it. Ringworm, in case you don't already know has nothing to do with worms and isn't necessarily ring shaped. It's a fungal infection similar to athletes foot. My son had it on the left upper side of the back of his head. He started to develop a scaley patch which I initially thought was dry scalp and treated with medicated cream. The school hadn't told me at that point they were having a ringworm epidemic in the lower grades.

As the spot got larger he lost some of his hair. I decided it might be fungal and started treating it with Tinactin in spray form. That's an anti-fungal agent. When it kept getting worse, at the recommendation of the pharmacist, I switched to Lotrimin creme. After a week a large red bump had developed with white scabs and some pus, so I took him to our family physician.

He diagnosed it as ringworm or Tinea infectus of something like that. He gave me a ten day supply of an anti-fungal pill and prescribed Lotrisone at $62.50 and tube. I carefully scrubbed his head with a special shampoo, cleaned the area and cut his hair so short he almost has none. Tinea thrives on dead skin and perspiration. It is also spread by perspiration. His hair grows so thick and so tight to his head, that combined with his dark complexion and how figorously he plays makes him sweat like a trouper. I knew the short hair would also give me a better view of the problem and let me treat it more easily.

Over the last 7 days he has gotten gradually worse. The bump got larger, redder, more sore, and little white spots like you usually see with strep throat broke out all over it. then a couple of days ago, I noticed a large lump forming under the skin about an inch or two below this spot. It wasn't warm, it didn't like an infection; but it was hard and sore to the touch. I really thought it was a tumor of some kind. I pretended to be quite blase about it, but I was scared to death. The family doctor referred us to a specialist which is where we went today.

The specialist thought this was such a unique case he took pictures of it. My son thought it cool. I thought, just what I need a son with a unique illness. The infected spot which has now grown to 2-3 inches in diameter and is raise almost an inch is ringworm or tinea. The lump is where the infection has invaded a lymph node. That shows what I know, I didn't know we had lymph nodes on the back of our head. This is about halfway between the back center of his head and the ear and about even with the top half of the ear or an inch or so above the neckline. It is almost 2 inches in diameter and raise up about 3/4 of an inch.

The specialist told me it would take at least a 2 month regime of the anti-fungal pill, of which he had been given a 10 day supply. He said the expensive cream was worthless and may even had made it worse. Fortunately, he thought the worst was over and we were probably past the contagious phase. So he did need attention, but I was fussing over the potentially bleak possibilities unnecessarily. Like I said paranoid and over-protective mother alert!

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Replies:

Hey, don't beat yourself up! We ALL do it! I have the -- WE67, 19:54:21 05/30/02 Thu
- I used to swear by Tinactin in liquid form only -- Cari, 20:24:06 05/30/02 Thu
  - You're right. My father used to swear by Tinactin, but my husband -- WE67, 20:32:10 05/30/02 Thu
    - $6 over the counter for stuff that's diluted and doesn't work or... -- Cari, 20:35:56 05/30/02 Thu
      - Fits the typical pharmaceutical profile for sure. -- WE67, 20:42:57 05/30/02 Thu
        They know as much as we love our pets -- Cari, 21:03:26 05/30/02 Thu
        OH, sister! Don't EVEN get me started! I so TA!! (NT) -- WE67, 21:11:58 05/30/02 Thu
Pretty freightening but glad wasn't more serious! -- Oback, 07:32:31 05/31/02 Fri
- He's fine, nothing really fazes him! -- Cari, 07:41:18 05/31/02 Fri