OK, this might be TMI but has anyone else suddenly blossomed into a huge case of hives with no apparent provocation? I have ingested nothing I have not many times before, worn nothing new, used no new soap/makeup/moisturizer/any other personal product, am not unusally stressed, have not experienced temperature extremes, have not encountered anything fur-bearing except R:tAG, yet last night at about 9:45 large red ITCHY ITCHY ITCHY welts started appearing on my knees* as I watched in fascinated horror. In the next few hours, welts appeared on my elbows. When I woke up this morning, after liberal application of various unguents so's I could sleep, I had additional welts on, well, areas that my bathing suit covers. Now, sitting (uncomfortably) at work, I am noting that my ears and eyelids seem a bit hot, itchy and swollen.
In the few times I've had hives before, they've appeared within a few minutes of eating something. Clear cause-and-effect. Not the case here; I ate about an hour and fifteen minutes before the eruption and, as I said, it was all stuff I've eaten before.**
The only thing even remotely out of the ordinary is that a house about three blocks away from us had a big termite-fogging circus tent thingy over it two days ago. I can't see myself being that sensitive, though. I'd constantly be one big walking hive, living in such an industrialized place.
So what's keeping me from picking up a couple of plastic forks from the lunchroom and scratching myself raw? Drooling over this:
The iPhone
And I'm not the only one.
* The fronts, not the backs. The backs of my knees are where I get stress-triggered eczema. Y'all know way too much about my personal dermatological issues now, don't you?
** A bacon-wrapped turkey "mignon" from Trader Joe's (we'd already eaten two others from the same package with no ill effects), two small potatoes (mashed), and steamed green beans. The green beans were organic, even.
A friend of mine had something similar happen about six months ago. She was sleeping and woke up because the skin behind her ears were itchy, to find an angry red rash behind her ears that blossomed down her neck, around her eyes, and onto her arms and the backs and fronts of her legs within a few hours. The rash stayed on her arms and legs for a month, and she had not changed anything in her usual routine. She thought it might be her detergent, but nothing she tried to change to a hypoallergenic alternative helped. It just faded eventually and she never found an answer to the problem. Her doctor had no answers, except non itching stuff to put on her legs. Afterward however, she developed an allergy to jalepenos when she had never had any problems before with them and ate them all the time. The body is weird.
I want an Iphone now :)
Damn! Had she eaten jalapenos right before the rash or anything? I'm not sure I could put up with this for a month. ITCHY!!!!!
I have no food allergies right now that I know of, and I don't want any. My hivey experiences before were from pesticides, I figger (once from a carrot, once from an apple).
I just came back from a sushi lunch. I'm not sure if it's a good idea or a bad to try new types of sushi during a hive outbreak.
Go iPhone! =)
Go to the Doctor. Thus saith, the rilla.
Listen to the Rilla. She is wise.
The Rilla, she is wise but she knoweth not the hassles involved in tangling with the medical-industrial complex down here.
I am happy to say that the hives went away all on their own and I have not discovered any alterations in my allergy roster yet. In the true spirit of scientific curiosity I recreated the meal of that hivey night for yesterday's supper (everything from the same packages). No ill effects. The hives, they remain a mystery.
I still want an iPhone, though.
Yes.
I have had this happen. It appears to be environmental, but almost completely untrackdownable. I broke out in hives for two days (though my reaction was not nearly as bad as yours sounds) when the neighbour across the street was spraying herbicide or pesticide. The wind was blowing *away* from our house, but apparently, that poison is very poisonous.
Also, according to my doctor, if your ...erm... homocysteine levels are low, you can get these reactions. Stock up on vitamin B.
Just good to hear you are all better. As I may not be so wise but I do care.