Symptoms? Help

[jackwashere]

Hello, I was wondering if anyone could tell me if what I have been experiencing is consistent with scleroderma. I know to get an accurate diagnosis I would have to see a doctor, but in the mean time I would like to see what other people familiar with the disease think.

Over the past year I have been experiencing skin hardening over the first joint of two of my fingers and thumb on one hand. The skin will thicken up, get darker and shiny and start itching. The thickening goes down after a few weeks and then pops up again a few months later. It started off with one of my fingers and progressed to the other two.

Also even after it seems to go down completely, the skin in those areas seem slightly harder than the skin on the fingers that weren't affected at all. This started about the same time I contracted scabies, and although I got rid of the scabies within a few weeks, the skin thing has persisted. These are the only symptoms I am experiencing. Thank you for any help anyone can provide me!

[jeffn]

I'm no doc. For what it is worth I have never read about a correlation between SD and scabies, perhaps though, I just have not run across one. Just did a couple quick searches of "scabies+scleroderma" and nothing came up. The skin thickening and itching on my fingers never came and went once it was there it was there until my treatment kicked in. Do you think it could be caused by bacteria left from the scabies? I think I would go back to whoever treated you and ask. A visit to a Rheumy might be in order too.

[grammie]

I too haven't heard of the skin thickening and then getting better and starting in again to thicken. I agree with Jeff that you should go back to the doctor and get it checked out. Good luck

grammie