[dllfo]

Sorry to bother you, but my Atypical Trigeminal Neuralgia and Restless Legs Syndrome have been on a rampage. Upped my Tegretol to 1200mg a day, Mirapex to 2mg a day. Normal for me is Tegretol, 400mg a day and Mirapex 1mg a day.

Lots of family stress lately, maybe that kicked off my "nerves" --- but I was seen by my Primary Care Physician and told I had "hives". Took 40mg of Prednisone for 5 days, got better. Now the red spots with a white-yellow center are back. There aren't that many of them, like twenty on my right leg and twenty on my left leg, a dozen on each arm. Sometimes they itch. I was given Fluoclinonide USP, .05% cream for that. It works.

Any idea if this "rash" --- these "hives" could be side effect of the meds? Just curious. I am a 65 yr old male, fair complexion. I stay inside most of the time (bad air days) and was told to avoid the sun when possible due to meds.

I am seeing a Dermatologist in about a month, my Neurologist in a few weeks.

Any ideas?? Wife thought it might be Shingles, I had them about 34 years ago, right after a horrible, horrible severe bout with Chicken Pox at age 31. Flight Surgeon in the Air Force said I had Shingles. Miserable time. Worse than now.

[dllfo]

We think we have an answer to my current problem. Hormone treatments apparently triggered my natural system and my Testosterone climbed back towards normal.

They thought I had prostate cancer in 1999. I guess they lowered my Testosterone levels to keep from "feeding the cancer". I really don't remember how it happened but my Testosterone levels dropped into the high 100s to high 200s for ten years. I recently switched Urologists and he doubled the Androgel. In the past I might have hit the low end of normal with 10 grams a day, but this time my levels went up over 700 (on a scale of approx. 225 to 850).

Now about the skin problem. It is going away as my body adapts back to its natural state (?????). Almost totally cleared up the rash.

Did not mean to bore you, but hormones were something I would not have thought of. Go figure.

[Koala77]

Hi there dllfo. Unfortunately our resident expert on medications is away at the moment, so in her absence I looked up Tegretol, Mirapex and Androgel for you.

As to be expected, all three medications have side effects and among them I found skin rash listed for all three.

The rash you describe does not however sound like a typical drug rash to me, and as your doctor has already seen the rash, I'd be inclined to believe what he said about the rash being hives, rather than drug-related.

Shingles are extremely painful, start as blisters then scab over like chicken pox. They follow a nerve so will be present on one side of the body only ... in a line that often looks like a stripe.

I hope that helps, but if you're still concerned about side effects, or have any questions at all about the medications that you're taking, please post over in the Medication Forum. I'm sure mrsD will be able to answer you when she returns. Here's the link: http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forum72.html