God, I can't sleep.

[conuly]

I'm itchy and hivey all over - on my back, my hands, my feet - and I just don't know why. Took a shower, didn't help. Slathered myself in Benadryl, didn't help. Tried watching the Veronica Mars movie, which I didn't get to see earlier, didn't help. (Although I did like the movie! Poor SPOILER and what happened to them! It was SPOILER during that scene when SPOILER, wasn't it?)

I need to walk around or something, maybe that will distract me from the itching.

Comments

[kyrielle]

Much sympathy.

And some ideas - please ignore the rest of this if you don't want ideas. I've spent a sad amount of my life dealing with various itchy skin reactions. :P

Did you get dressed after the shower, and/or crawl into bed? And if so - any new laundry products lately? (I spent a large part of childhood restricted to one laundry product because if Mom tried other things, I itched like holy whoa.) Or is your soap that you washed with a new product, or did you use a new shampoo (which washes over a lot of your body when rinsing off)?

Although otherwise - if it's not a contact reaction - full-body would be systemic. Could be something you ate or something you breathed, but it's a more serious reaction than if it were in just one small area. Unless, of course, it's all over because whatever contact allergen was involved was all over. :P

Have you taken an oral anti-histamine? If it is systemic, that would help where a topical might not. (And caladryl or calamine lotion - but I prefer caladryl clear because, well, pink is not fun - will often help itching even if not the underlying cause. Cortisone sometimes helps, but more often with non-hivey things, in my experience.)

[siderea]

Sounds like chicken pox.

Please get in touch w/ medical care. I understand CP in adults is more serious than in kids, and any severe rash/itch can be a harbinger of anaphylaxis.

PS If you are having trouble breathing (feels like asthma or your throat closing) get to an ER.

PPS discontinue all use of aspirin and tylenol (acetominophen) immediately, because Reye's syndrome.

[conuly]

Hm, that's a possibility. You know, my sister and nieces have had sore throats these past few days. Of course, Jenn had CP when Ana was born.

I don't necessarily think this IS it - I have had ongoing issues with hives since the summer, and I was definitely raising welts where I scratched - but I'll hie me to the doctor shortly. Not, I think, until Jenn gets home unless I start feeling worse. The itching subsided substantially once I took a benadryl (I'd forgotten we had benadryl pills, just cream, which I keep by my bed nowadays), does benadryl work on chicken pox?

[conuly]

I took a benadryl sometime after writing this post. I'd forgotten we had them! Good thing I remembered. It did subside enough for me to sleep, and I've been much less itchy since then.

No new laundry products, though I probably need to change my sheets.....

No new soaps.

I know I get hives due to stress, and, once they're triggered, due to scratching or any contact with a hivey part of the body (just like this, actually!), but I'm fairly certain I have at least one other, secondary trigger. That is, the stress can give me hives, but most likely stress means I get hives when exposed to... something. Which I don't know what it is.

Itching subsided somewhat when I went to the store today, and if that happens again when I pick up Eva it's either psychosomatic or it's something in the house. Or, as Sidera suggests, an actual disease, but god I hope not.

[conuly]

Definitely NOT chicken pox, rash is totally different. But it might be *strep*. Damn, I hope not, that's a nuisance.

[siderea]

I seem to recall it helped some.

[siderea]

Whoa.

[conuly]

Well, it's a nuisance, but it's not as much of a hassle as chicken pox. We just need to run by the doctor, take the rapid strep test, pick up antibiotics, and wait.

Why the hell am I always blindsided by strep? Every time, I go "Damn, wait, is this it?" like, a week after the fact.