As mentioned before, I was on the low nickel diet in January - it slightly cleared up the itchy skin reaction I was having (shins was/is the main area, elbows, lower scalp, hips, and hives usually occurring on my stomach and forearms). Since it didn't completely clear, my dermatologist suggested a Balsam of Peru free diet b/c I had tested positive to that on my patch test as well. Didn't help at all! In fact, everything seemed to worsen within two weeks. So I've been back on the low nickel diet since then and had a follow up appointment recently.
I think he may be stumped b/c the low nickel diet should have made a bigger difference. My shins are...well let's face it - disgusting! Does anyone else experience the worst spot on their shins?
So he wants to try Cyclosporine, which suppresses the immune system, I believe, and try to flip the switch in my body to "convince" that it doesn't need to react to nickel...or whatever the cause. It supposedly begins to work within a week! Has anyone ever tried this drug?
Here's the kicker...the darn insurance company (I'm being nice in my choice of words) asked for a pre-authorization (um, isn't that the prescription my doctor wrote??), we sent that in, and then they denied it...interesting thing is that it costs $500. Would you like to take a guess why they denied it? Grrrrr....