What the hell?? I'm suddenly covered in hives

[jgraz]

I've never had this happen before. I started feeling itchy and now my scalp, neck, chest and back are covering in raised red splotches. Has this ever happend to anyone else?

[Swamp Rat]

1. It's the 'junkyard itch'

:D

[Lyric]

2. Is your throat itchy too?

If your throat is itchy, you should go to the hospital just to be safe. If not, try some Benadryl. Hope you feel better. :hug:

[regnaD kciN]

3. Yep...

It probably has to do with some pollen or something that's out right now. I used to get attacks like that around Easter and in the fall. Benadryl does work wonders, but it also knocks me out for the next half-day or so. YMMV. :shrug:

[colinmom71]

4. Yep. I had a sudden onset allergy pop up once...

Back when I was in high school, I had a sudden onset allergy occur to chlorine bleach and bleach "alternatives" in laundry detergents. My mom had bought a new detergent with bleach we'd never tried before, and I broke out in itchy hives over most of my body for two or three days. I've since had no other sensitivities or allergies pop up to other detergents so I just avoid ones with bleaching agents.

Have you been using a new detergent or body soap or shampoo? You may have a sensitivity to one of their ingredients or to any new ingredients added to your usual products...

My mom though has a history of several sudden onset allergies that started around the age I am now. She can't have several foods like sour cream or chocolate (which before she could eat and enjoy with no problems), or her face swells up. We think it's more a reaction to certain types of food preservatives since she's had reactions to say one brand of a certain food but not to a different brand of that same food. On those allergen foods that we could look up ingredients for, they would share a certain preservative in common while the non-allergen brands did not... Sorry, but I can't remember which one preservative it was for now.

Benadryl helped reduce my hive symptoms after we figured out it was the detergent on my clothes that were the problem. Same for my mom if she eats a food that she reacts to. It will make you drowsy though, so take a dose of Benadryl and plan for a nice nap afterwards.

Hope this helps and good luck.

[zabet]

5. I am not trying to scare you but....

hives are generally aa allergic reaction. It is also a
warning sign of anaphylactic shock reaction to an allergy.
Severe reactions of anaphylactic usually begin with a few
lesser outbreaks such as hives when exposed to the irritant
for the first few times as the allery manifests. As the
allergy manifests, the anaphylactic shock becomes worse with
each reation and becomes life threatening, needing the affected
person to often carry an EpiPen.
I was an EMT for years and carry an EpiPen with me every day
due to an allergy that developed when I was 38 years old.
I would advise, if this happens again, try to be aware of
anything that may have caused it and seek medical attention
and advice. You may need to see an allergy specialist.

[dropkickpa]

6. All the time

I have tons of allergies and dermagraphitis, so my skin is usually the first thing to react, usually with hives (you should see me after putting on somehing washed in Tide). Now that I am on 2 allergy medicines year-round, outbreaks occur with MUCH less frequency (about 1-2x/month). I used to take benadryl (before rx's were being taken), but it made me so freakin loopy that I'd be useless until it wore off.

[sleepyhead]

7. Not to me, but to my husband.

All of a sudden. He would wake up with huge red welts all over. We were convinced we had bedbugs (eeeewwwww!) and even called in an exterminator, but there was no evidence of that. (We covered the mattress and box springs with hypoallergenic covers anyway just to make sure.) The dermatologist said it was idiopathic urticaria (in other words, hives from an unknown source) and told him to take a Claritin every night at bedtime. That seems to have worked.

[Radio_Lady]

8. You're allergic to something. Just happened last week to my 9-year-old granddaughter.

She visited a friend who owned a cat. She might have inherited this allergy from me. I have to admire cats from afar.

What have you just touched? Or eaten?

Benadryl over the counter usually works. If not, see a doctor.

[cobalt1999]

9. You pissed off God.

He's smiting you for something. Confess the error of your ways. :rofl:

[QueenOfCalifornia]

18. HEY.... YOU MAY BE CORRECT!!!

Check to see if the hives pattern is in the shape of a lightning bolt....

[jgraz]

21. They spell out 6 6 6. Is that bad?

[Blue Diadem]

10. My daughter had that a few times,

She got them when she was tiny..2 and maybe 4. Again when she was 12 or so. Her Ped. said it happened so infrequently that there was no sense in putting her through the scratch tests of those days. Not sure what they do now. At 12 they thought she was allergic to certain grasses since she'd been at a sporting event and had sat on the grass. She hasn't had them since she was 12,(she's 30) other than an occasional one or two spots.

OH..forgot that nerves can bring them on too. She got them at 7, mixed with chicken pox. Over 100 spots on her face but 1/2 or more went away after being given something to calm her nerves.

[halobeam]

11. my son had that happen

you need to find the source.

It can be extremely exhausting. We first had an allergist test for food allergies. Then we tested him for environmental allergies. When nothing showed, we had to eliminate everything from his diet that he couldn't get tested for, including such as artificial flavoring, preservatives, additives and that pretty much had him eating a very limited variety of food, in the beginning. Then we would re-introduce a food each week. This process took about four months.

We found out he was allergic to an additive, a red food dye. Once in a blue moon, he would "sneak" a fruit roll-up or something w/ red dye in it. He hadn't broken out, and then one day, we got a strawberry drink from Dunkin' Donuts and BAM.. (leaving us to discover it's a particular red dye number since there are many red dye's out there, so something in that was the kicker, btw Dunkin' couldn't tell us which they used, it was super-secret recipe..OMG).

I still have the epi pen, cuz he's too young for me to feel comfortable that he will think every single time, "hmm does this have red dye in it?"

Suffice to say, PLEASE listen to the advice of the EMT who responded to you. Get an EPI pen, have benadryl with you at all times too, and FIND THE SOURCE.

Good luck...sorry to hear you are going through this.

[Kajsa]

12. Yep, it's an allergy.

I broke out in hives once after drinking eggnog.
My brother and SO got them also after drinking it.
It must have been the brand because it never happened before.

That was the last time I had eggnog. :scared:

Take Benedryl and if it doesn't get better, see a doctor.

Good luck!

:hi:

[Generic Brad]

13. What did you last eat?

Peanuts? Strawberries? Tomatoes? Soy? You might want to have a doctor test you for food allergies if pollen is ruled out.

[jgraz]

20. Sushi

I certainly hope I'm not allergic to sushi! :scared:

[zonkers]

32. I bet it is/was the seafood.

[jgraz]

34. Hmmm...never had a reaction to seafood in my life

And I eat sushi once or twice a week.

[Jade Fox]

14. It's a creepy experience......

isn't it? I've had it happen a few times in my life. They just went away on their own.

[Evoman]

15. Did you sin?

Maybe god hates you.

[jgraz]

19. Dude, if that was the cause, I'd have dissolve into one big hive years ago

[davsand]

16. I notice you have not checked back in--are you ok?

I'm seriously worried about you given how long this thread has been going on. More often than not, allergic reactions with all over hives are due to something consumed--like a drug or a food. I react that way to certain antibiotics that are penicillin or one of its derivatives.

My Doc told me after my first bout of hives from Amoxicillin that if anybody comes near me with a prescription pad or a needle that I need to scream really loudly that I am allergic to penicillin. He said that the second reaction can be a whole lot worse than the first, and that a second exposure could kill me.

Have you called the Doc yet?

Can you please just post long enough to say you are ok?


Laura

[jgraz]

22. I'm fine. Two benadryl tend to knock you out for a while

But thanks for the concern :pals:

[davsand]

23. I'm glad to hear you are ok.

I do hope your hives have abated. The itching can be awful not to mention unsightly. (I swear I looked like the dog's dinner when I had that reaction!)

Did you figure out yet what you reacted to?


Laura

[jgraz]

25. Hives are still there. They started about an hour after I went out for sushi

I've never had this reaction before. I wonder if it was something *in* the fish rather than the fish itself. If I had to guess, I'd say the uni w/quail egg might have done it.



This is really annoying.

[grasswire]

28. sushi!

Any puffer fish in that plate?

[jgraz]

31. heh - No puffer fish, but there was sea urchin

That's the current leading candidate right now.

[QueenOfCalifornia]

17. Fun isn't it?

I get them when I am ultra stressed out -

A cold virus can also set them off....

WHAT EVER YOU DO.... DON'T SCRATCH THEM!!!!!

[Maestro]

24. Did you recently see any of the following people?

1) Bill O'Leilly
2) Rush Limpballs
3) Darth Cheney
4) Shrub
5) Ann Coulter
6) Michelle Malkin
7) Brit Hume
8) Michael Savage
9) Ted Nugent
10) RimJob from Freepville

If so, this could cause the hives. Go to doc and ask for prednisone. :) Sorry to hear this, seriously, but prednisone will take care of it.

[jgraz]

26. lol -- I think I got an extra few hives just reading those names

Now that you mention it, I watching Rahm "The Enabler" Emanuel on Real Time. That certainly could have done it.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

27. Happened to me once.

It turned out to be a sweater I'd been given- I still don't know if it was the sweater itself of something it had been washed in. I only know the hives were EXTREMELY painful- they rapidly turned into blood blisters and took weeks to heal.

[Nikia]

29. I erupted into hives once around late spring/early summer

I came out from work, watered my plants, made hamburger helper (a flavor that I had eaten a few times in the past year) and ate it, and wrapped up in a blanket from my bed sitting at my computer. Then I started feeling itchy on my wrists and hands. I decided to take a shower. When I took off my clothes and stepped into the shower, I noticed that most of my body was covered in hives. I ended up calling the hospital because I was freaked out, but didn't know whether I should go in or not. They told me to use benadryl and call my doctor the next day if the hives didn't disappear.
Despite use of benadryl cream, I was itchy enough half the night to keep me awake. I finally dosed off to find about half of the hives gone. By the time I got done with work, the hives had completely cleared up.
I still don't know what caused the hives. It was very windy that day so something may have blown on me. I had allergy testing a few years ago, though, and I am not allergic to any of the allergens that they tested on me.

[zonkers]

30. Me too. Not kidding. Bumps all over. Thought it was spider bites but maybe it was

the mussels I ate last night. Weird to see this post.

[jgraz]

33. Oh wow. You don't think it could be ...

TERRORISTS????? :scared: :scared: :scared: :scared:


Quick, someone call Rudy Giuliani!! He'll protect us!

[jgraz]

35. OK, took another dose of Benadryl. I'll probably be out for a few hours

This is NOT fun. :(

But thanks for all the advice.