Comment by giardini | Hacker News Reader

Comment by giardini | Hacker News Reader

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I asked two friends about my itching woes. Both are gardeners so have dealt with maddening itches. Their response: "I ask my doctor and he gives me a prednisone pill. The itching disappears; 3 days later I'm OK."

In the case of the fungus, prednisone would have been a mistake, but I nonetheless sometimes feel I am a target for a form of alternative medicine. Why didn't _I_ get a prednisone pill instead of a tub of corticosteroid lard?

As for chiggers: in college I got a serious case of chiggers from a romantic blanket evening in the Texas desert. We two were apparently the only mammals within miles as every chigger available mobilized to fulfill its Darwinian destiny. Next morning I awoke up with a maddening itch everywhere (and I do mean _everywhere_) that lasted until the chiggers died (~3 days IIRC). Best treatment was to take as hot a shower as possible [The only thing better than sex is steaming hot water on chigger bites - it's like the Scratch of God]. Rest 30 minutes and repeat. I've heard a hair dryer works too. Thanks to your recommendation I'll keep the tub of steroid cream around just in case.

Prednisone pills are substantially more dangerous than cortisone cream, no? The one time I've taken prednisone, I had pretty severe mood swings, which is just one of a dozen notable side effects.

Yes, prednisone is the 5-4-3-2-1 dose to wean you off. Had it recently for bad lung burning from bronchitis, and can work slipped discs in back.

Prednisone is common to reduce inflammation in patients with Crohn's disease or Ulcerative Colitis.

I think my dad also takes it in much lower doses for asthma.

But, it has horrible affects both long and short term.

I work with a guy who was given prednisone to treat some problem or other. It wasn't some high dose, and he didn't take it for long, but he was unlucky. The capillaries feeding the network around his hip sockets essentially all died, and he started having a lot of pain walking, then started using a cane (he was in his late 40s). A couple years later he had a double hip replacement.

Prednisone won't cause that. Its a very safe anti inflammatory.

Not really.

http://www.mayoclinic.org/steroids/art-20045692?pg=2

Its pretty safe. Those are side effects of larger and consistent doses. You dont go from having veins to dying veins in a day from a prednisone dose.

There's a difference between "very safe" and being reasonably safe in smaller doses over a short term.

FWIW by the time the chigger "bite" itches, it's probably long gone. Not actually a bite, but they inject a solvent around a hair follicle and slurp up the dissolved skin. The solvent causes the maddening itch.

Google "Hells itch"; it's worse than chiggers. Had it twice. First time I needed a steroid injection. Second time 20 years later I knew what it was and heavily dosed myself with Benadryl for 2 days.

What on earth is a chigger.

The common name for Trombiculidae, a family of mites related to ticks which feed on the skin of mammals and cause skin rashes in the process. Species include the harvest mite native to Europe and the berry bugs native to the southern US, midwest and Mexico.

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