Hi guys! For the last couple of months I've had ongoing problems with the tape area around my wafer. It all started when I had an extra long course of antibiotics. I got a nasty weeping rash that itched like crazy. Nystatin seemed to help some but it would always come back. Finally I used a steroid/antifungal cream from my PCP and it worked wonders. I've been cutting the tape off the wafers and everything will be doing fine but then I'll decide to try leaving the tape on and the rash comes back. It will sometimes take wearing the tape for a week and a half or two weeks before it comes back which makes me think that it's not an allergy but some form of yeast laying dormant and coming back as soon as it's covered.

I wear a belt to help keep the wafer on and I'm really ok with it, but I've found that showering without the tape on is difficult and taking a bath is out of the question. I've tried using HyTape but water gets under it and makes both it and my wafer pull away. For a shower, the only solution seems to be covering the area with plastic wrap taped on with HyTape. It's annoying to have to do this and moisture still gets under and affects the wafer's sticking ability. A bath just makes the whole thing come off.

Anyone have any suggestions about, 1. How to get rid of this rash once and for all and/or 2. An easier way to shower/bathe without the paper tape?

Thank you!
Erin

Hi Erin,

Sometimes my skin around the wafer gets irritated and I found that cocoa butter works. It looks like a thick stick of chap stick and the only ingredient is cocoa butter. I put it on the skin around the wafer not directly on the wafer before I go to bed and usually just after 1 night maybe 2 nights my skin irritation goes away.

Hope you can get your skin feeling better soon!!!

Scott

Hi Erin,

If you think that you still a fungal infection then you may have to tackle it for a bit longer. I know it's tempting to stop using whatever meds you've been using once the rash seems to have got better but as you have discovered it can lie dormant and you need to get rid of it once and for all.

I know you've probably tried everything but have you asked your doctor for Diflucan? I used to get terrible yeast infections every time I took antibiotics and one Diflucan just never did the trick. I had to take it weekly for 6 weeks or more along with topical treatments. Even if you think it has healed you should carry on the treatment for at least a week or two (a month would be better) after your symptoms have gone to make sure that you have really killed it all off.

I haven't had a really bad yeast inefection since I started using probiotics about 6 years ago. I dicovered quite by accident while taking part in trials for VSL#3 that it not only kept my pouchitis at bay but also my fungal problems. I still take probiotics now (OTC ones because I no longer qualify for VSL) as well as eating lots off live plain yogurt even though I no longer have my j-pouch.

Now all that really didn't help with your problem of how to keep your wafer on did it? I think you are just going to have to stick to what you are doing until you have really got rid of this rash once and for all but perhaps there will be someone else along with some other ideas.

Take care.

Shell