My son's TB skin test is still very positive looking, hard and very swollen. He has pain in his wrist. It has been five days. It is quite positive looking. I'm very concerned. Is it possible he just took longer to react to the skin test? Should I worry about it? I'm beginning to think he needs to go to the doctor. Is it possible that not all people respond in 48 to 72 hours? It looked worse after 72 hours and has not resided. Tomorrow will be 7 days since administration and it has not gone away. He is having trouble using his wrist, putting pressure on it. His arm is not swollen except for the big lump where the TB test is. It is like a pale mound with a round red, burned stiff feeling center the size of a dime or penny. The swelling around it is getting harder too. The whole swollen area is about the width of his arm. Can someone help?

First off no more TB tests for him EVER. I tested positive in 91 with a quater sized reaction. Again tested possitive in 99 when the ARMY made me. The reaction that time was all down my arm near my hand. Strange it didnt go up my arm much. After doing research I learned the dangers of a second test after a positive showed up. That second reaction did not need medical attention. there was no numbness but a bunch of itching.

After my first positive I took a drug called INH for 6 months. They say that will kill the TB so it will not develop later in life. well now it is 08 and I have never had any signs of active TB. See if your local health dept can help you since insurance is a concern. They might be able to get you the needed drug for your son to take. They could have come out with something new by now. But yes he needs to be seen by a doctor since he is possitive so he can begin treatment for it. I would not worry much about the rash. It will take a couple of weeks for that to go away.

Good luck
-Del

Del--
They said his test was negative! TWo doctors! It still hasn't gone away! I had a day's worth of training as a medical assistant on this stuff and used to get them all the time as a kid and when mine were negative, you couldn't even tell where I got them. Now, they have it documented as an "allergic reaction" so he will never get diagnosed. I'm on anti TB therapy and he is currently sick with bad bronchitis and they won't xray him. They will never read him as positive, because they will say he is allergic. And like you said, I'm afraid for him to have another. His was like a dime or penny inside, raised with a bunch of tiny bubbles, like a pizza, not one big bubble, and it itched him alot. The whole area around his arm was swollen and still is. All the doctor cares about is what the health dept says and she is really ignorant and read it only after two days instead of three. I took him into the ER and the nurse said it was positive but the doctor said no. I believe the nurse. I should have made them do a chest xray.

I wish he had insurance. We are really in a bind. Sometime he will need the test repeated because I think it is positive, if I can get someone with a clue to read it. This young girl was too lazy to do the work required if it was positive, I feel. And the doctor just pinched the skin together where the redness was and because he could pinch it together said it was negative.

I have never had a test read like that. They did not use a pen or ruler or anything. I put a post above about a second PPD test since so many people come up "allergic" supposedly. I mean, isn't that the point, if you are positive you will be allergic to it?

I'm sorry to hear about your reaction. At least you have a diagnosis. I got sick, and even though I only had a small amount in my lungs it attacked my endocrine system they think and that made me really ill, not so much from the infection but from the endocrine not working as well. But the jury's still out on me. I'm on INH and am doing really well, even with severe steatohepatitis with macrovesicular ballooning in every cell and some "insignificant" fibrosis, I am making it through and my temperature has risen to normal and my skin pigmentation is better and my spine is better. All this just on Isoniazid. Sometimes I think there is a realm of infection between latent and serious active disease in otherwise relatively healthy people and it sure took a toll on my immune system. My kidney and UT problems and GI problems have cleared up too. Could be a coincidence, or maybe just that my immune system doesn't have to work so hard because I'm on the isoniazid.

It's not so bad. Even with liver damage, I'm making it through with minimum side effects. Actually I have a ton of energy and feel slimmer. I actually feel worse when I don't take it. My sister is a nurse and she took it too and she said that she wishes she could go back on it she felt great on it.

Take care Del and hope everything is going okay. I told my son we wil get some Benedryl. I just wish they would have done a chest xray. It sure looked positive to me.

What the_____________. An allergic reaction???????? What are doctors learning now days. They just after that insurance payment or yours? Allergic or not it should be assumed possitive and treated. I would fear for my life if I had another test done. A quater size then an arm size. who knows what another test would do, an arm and chest sized??? I dont even want to know. Just reviewed you post. Your son would most definatly meet the requirements for medicaid, but is your income low enough?

In some states if you make to much for medicaid they have another option that has very low co-pays and monthly payments. (assuming you are in USA). You will need to search your state for such information. Call your local DFACS they can assist you on getting stuff set up and would have knowledge of a state funded healthcare. State funded programs usualy work the same as medicaid but with premiums and co-pays. I doubt all this will be in place before the reaction goes away but if approved it usualy rolls back 3 months. Lets just hope he can be seen before the reaction is gone to avoid another test.

If you can take pictures of it. That way the doctor will have an idea of the result. You want a propper reading without further testing. At least the pictures will be a warning sign to the new doctor before he decides on another test.

Good luck
-Del

Doctors are learning crap medicine to avoid treating what is already an epidemic in the rest of the world. As we commit our tax dollars to solving the world's problems, we can't afford to properly treat those in this country. The bottom line is: nobody cares, it costs the US govt money to treat my son because we have no insurance and he doesn't qualify for medicaid because when he lives with me they count my social security and the value of my car and tell me that it is too much for just two people. I try to tell them he is a separate person, that I can't afford to support him. But how can I make him homeless? He is trying to work to find a job. Its hard. There is just nothing around. He wanted to join the miliatry but found out when he tunred 18 that he has epilepsy and they won't take him. Maybe just as well. He planned his whole life to go.

Anyway, now it's a mess. Doctors are doing much less screeening for cancers and everything else, and alot of it is discriminatory towards women, and we just keep accepting it because those who know don't do anything and most of us just believe our doctors are acting in our best interest when they are playing the odds sometimes with our lives. And because they test based on statistics, the testing proves the statistics--- in other words if you never seldom screen women for thyroid cancerwhen they have a lump but always screen men, men will show up with more thyroid cancer, even though historically, many more women end up having it. So after so many women are let go because they have more cancer but also have more benign proglems in order to save money, the statistics prove themselves.

There are some really illogical people that are putting forth some unethical guidelines that the insurance companies just love. This is the problem. When TB becomes a huge problem in the US, then getting treatment will be limited to those who can afford to pay. Right now, they just deny anyone.

I've been to three doctors and none of them will go against an ignorant health dept nurse's aide. I just need to anonymously take him to a big city health dept and get him tested if I can. I'm worried about his arm, but I don't know what else to do. His imimune system is not real good like mine and I don't want him to reinfect me or others or more importantly, get really sick and disfigured and damaged like me.

Take care and thanks for the kind replies.

That is a sad thing to hear. About the doctors and stuff. Do call your local DFCS to see if your state offers an alternative to medicaid. Usualy when a state does have such a program the qualifying income is higher.

-Del

Yes, I'm sorry to ramble. He is trying to get some work. The doctor makes adeal to see him occasionally to keep him on his epilepsy medicine. we will jsut have to figure it out. Maybe we will get someone in govt. that will solve this mess. I hope so. Thanks for being so kind. I'm sorry to go on. Just not feeling well.