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Comment by dylanz | Hacker News Reader

This is great to see, and I didn’t know that there was a shortage or dermatologists. Just a few months ago my entire body got all blotchy and I ended up having to go to a dermatologist to get a biopsy. It ended up being full body Granuloma Annulare which is both rare an incurable. With no other options, I’ll be trying to cure it with diet.

That said, it couldn’t be diagnosed by sight alone. It looked very similar to many other skin diseases, and mine in particular comes in many different forms. I’ll obviously be following this research!

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I'm sorry.

FWIW, I got a lot of mileage out of Dr Terry Wahls' thesis about proper, adequate nutrition for mitigating autoimmune diseases. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Wahls

Also, scanning articles about granuloma annulare, I see light therapy is sometimes helpful. I've done both PUVA and UVB for my condition (GVHD). Both helped, differently, and may give you some relief, or at least get you over the hump. Alas, both are hard to sustain.

As a lifelong patient who has been screwed multiple times by dermatologists, I strongly encourage everyone to

1) Never accept "no" or "I don't know" as an answer. Some one out there has answers for you. Keep searching.

2) Progress marches on and eventually help will arrive. Set up google news alerts for your health conditions (and misc possible treatment technologies). Stay current on the options. Because your doctor's won't be providing that service for you.

That's all great advice, and ugh... sorry about the GVHD. Light therapy is definitely on my list and great point about setting up a Google News alert. Thank you for the comment!

I recommend you try Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). I had to drink the ugliest medicinal tea imaginable for a while, but after that my skin problems had miraculously disappeared.

Do you know what the ingredients were? I know some people who have creams from a Chinese medicine doctor that seem to work for them.

Unfortunately not. But I remember there was some really weird stuff in there. Anything from minerals to insect skins. It is customised to whatever the diagnosis is.

Obligatory disclaimer that much of TCM is unstudied, and that which is isn't all that promising. https://nccih.nih.gov/health/whatiscam/chinesemed.htm

This is definitely on my list in a few months if the diet changes I'm making haven't helped (I'm trying to stay in Ketosis for a few months). I studied Chinese martial arts for most of my life so some TCM treatments have worked for other things in my past.

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